Bayada, Jefferson Health Form Home Care, Hospice Joint Venture

Bayada Home Health Care will form a joint venture with the hospital system Jefferson Health. The enterprise, branded as Jefferson Health at Home, will provide home health and hospice care to Jefferson’s patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

The two organizations will jointly manage the partnership, which will leverage Jefferson’s current home-based care services with Bayada’s scale and care management systems. The companies expect the venture to be finalized during the spring of 2022.

“The pandemic heightened demand for hospital services delivered at home,” said Bruce Meyer, M.D., president of Jefferson Health. “Now, with Bayada and Jefferson aligned, we’re able to leverage their best post-acute-care practices across an expanded geographic footprint while lowering the total cost of care without compromising access or quality.”

Bayada’s footprint extends across 22 states, including 347 locations. The company has an international presence with locations in Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The Jefferson venture builds on the company’s track record of developing health system partnerships. The nonprofit provider in June entered into a similar joint venture with VCU Health System, serving Richmond, Va., and surrounding communities. That venture is called VCU Health at Home.

Earlier this year, the company launched a joint venture with the Baptist Health hospital system in Florida, known as Baptist Home Health Care by Bayada. In July 2020, Bayada Home Health Care announced it would establish a joint venture with Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS), one of the nation’s largest hospital systems and health care providers.

The Jefferson agreement also includes an academic affiliation which will create new training opportunities for Jefferson students, particularly those at the Jefferson College of Nursing. They join a range of hospice providers that have begun collaborating with academic institutions in an effort to repopulate the industry’s workforce amid widespread labor shortages, including LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) and Highpoint Health, among others.

Bringing care to the home is a trend that began in earnest long before the pandemic, but the pace has accelerated — a boon for both patients and providers. A side effect of public anxiety about entering hospitals and facility-based care settings is that more care is moving towards the home.

The range of health care services available in the home is expanding, including new offerings such as hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home programs, growing access to palliative care and rising availability of home-based primary care.

“This partnership is a revolutionary step toward a future with home at the center of health care,” said David Baiada, CEO of Bayada Home Health Care. “Bayada’s management, operational and clinical expertise, paired with Jefferson Health’s clinical vision and commitment to innovation, will continue to transform health care in the Philadelphia region, and we will use this platform to launch bold and innovative digital health care experiences at home — where people want to be most.”