St. Croix Launches Minnesota De Novo

Minnesota-based St. Croix Hospice continues to stretch its footprint across the Midwest with a de novo located in the southern region of its home state.

Opening a new location in Albert Lea, Minn., will help improve access to more communities in the area, according to St. Croix CEO Heath Bartness. The hospice has provided services in and around these communities for some time. The de novo is a “natural extension” of its clinical team and services, he stated in a company announcement.

Adding an additional location in the southeastern portion of the state means that staff will not have to travel as far to see patients and will be able to do more home visits, according to Jamie Hanson, St. Croix Hospice’s clinical director in Minnesota.

Advertisement

“[This] enables us to improve our response time for urgent patient needs,” said Hanson in the announcement. “Less travel also improves job satisfaction for our care teams who are able to spend more time with patients and families and less time on the road.”

Prolific workforce shortages have left hospices increasingly stretched thin in their ability to reach and respond to patients in need. Many have focused on ways to improve employee satisfaction in their retention efforts.

By employing clinicians from the local community, staff can reach patients more efficiently, according to Bartness.

Advertisement

St. Croix, a portfolio company of the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, delivers hospice care in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and in its home state of Minnesota. The company has been on a growth trajectory for at least the past three years, focused on Midwestern markets.

Most recently, St. Croix expanded in July with a new location in Missouri, and launched another in Nebraska in March prior to that.

Acquisitions have also fueled the company’s growth. Last month it acquired Michigan-based Corpore Sano Hospice, after purchasing Illinois-based Lexington Hospice Care earlier this summer. Financial terms for these transactions were undisclosed.

St. Croix has no plans to slow down its expansion, Bartness previously told Hospice News.

This newest Minnesota location marks its fifth de novo in 2022 alone. Growing demand is pushing a need for end-of-life care in the Land of a 1,000 Lakes.

Seniors are projected to make up nearly a quarter (23%) of the state’s overall population by 2030, a up from 16.7% currently, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Minnesota ranked 12th in the nation in hospice utilization during 2018 with 52.7% of its Medicare decedents electing hospice, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. This tipped just past the national average of roughly 50% that year.

Companies featured in this article:

, , , ,