Compassus Announces New CEO, Leverages Services in Value-Based Care World

Compassus this week had a swivel in its executive leadership, recently announcing that David Grams will be taking the reins as the company’s new CEO.

Staffing, quality-driven patient outcomes and payer partnerships will be key areas of focus for the company as it leverages a “full continuum” of care in an evolving value-based payment landscape, according to Grams.

Gram has been with Compassus since 2020, serving as its president and charged with leading the company’s strategic direction, growth, innovation and clinical and financial performance. Prior to Compassus, he held an executive role at DaVita Healthcare Partners.

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He succeeds Jim Deals, who will remain at Compassus as the chairman of the board.

“I am confident David is the right leader to steer Compassus through the evolution of home-based care while focusing on increasing access to quality health care services and improving patients’ quality of life,” said Deal in a statement. “I look forward to supporting the company’s continued growth.”

One of the nation’s largest hospice providers, Tennessee-based Compassus offers community-based services that also include home health, infusion therapy and palliative care. The company operates nearly 200 locations across 30 states; it served upwards of 129,000 patients last year.

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Compassus has been building steam in the hospice space, doubling down on its presence in the market. The company in November 2020 unveiled a de novo in Pennsylvania, along with two additional hospice locations in October that year and three de novos in the final months of 2019.

Additionally in November, Compassus added a community-based palliative care program in Oklahoma to its service line in the Muskogee, Tulsa and Vinita areas.

Grams indicated that delving deeper into offering a full continuum of care would be a key to the company’s strategic growth plans on the horizon, as well as building out its workforce and leveraging its service line in the value-based care arena.

“We continue to invest in the best clinical workforce, industry-leading technologies and processes, and innovative clinical models that drive quality outcomes for patients, families, as well as our system and payer partners,” said Grams. “As value-based care changes the landscape of health care, we look forward to further leveraging our expertise in delivering a full continuum of standard to complex and advanced illness care in the home.”

Value-based payment models have been making waves in the hospice industry and beyond since taking effect at the start of last year. Models that opened up to hospice include the direct contracting program and the value-based insurance design (VBID) model, often called the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in.

Providers and payers thus far have had varying perspectives about where hospices fit into the mold of value-based payment arrangements, with some providers seeing gaps between how the carve-in is designed and how it is performing. Nevertheless, an evolving payment landscape has been on the radar of hospice leaders in operational and financial decision-making.

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