Residential Hospice has acquired Illinois-based Safe Haven Hospice from the senior living provider Christian Horizons for an undisclosed sum.
The transaction expands Residential’s presence in four Illinois counties. The company is a division of Graham Healthcare Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC).
“With the addition of Safe Haven Hospice, we are poised for expansion throughout Central Illinois as we continue our mission of making hospice care more accessible to our communities,” said Justin DeWitte, CEO of Residential Hospice, in a statement. “We share a commitment of putting patients and families first by providing exceptional care focused on optimizing the quality of life, comfort and dignity of our patients.”
By 2030, seniors are projected to make up nearly a quarter (22.3%) of the overall Illinois population, up from 16.6% currently, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 57,000 Illinois residents enrolled in hospice during 2021, a utilization rate of about 47%, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Residential has been on a growth trajectory in recent years.
Earlier in 2023, the hospice provider expanded its partnership with Chicago-based NorthShore–Edward-Elmhurst Health, a hospital system. The initial partnership between the two companies was established about 15 years ago, but NorthShore folded its in-house hospice and community-based palliative care programs into Residential early this year.
Residential Hospice has “preferred provider” status for hospice services at the health system, NorthShore indicated in a press release.
In 2022, the company acquired Comfort Hospice in Missouri and Grace Hospice in Ohio from the health care company U.S. Medical Management. Financial terms were undisclosed. The transaction marked Residential’s first entry into the Missouri and Ohio markets.
Residential’s parent company Graham Healthcare Group also owns the home-based care providers Residential Home Health, Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Healthcare@Home and Mary Free Bed at Home. Combined, these companies employ roughly 2,800 staff who serve more than 13,000 patients across seven states.
The company’s backer, Graham Holdings Company, emerged from the family of Philip and Katherine Graham, former owners and publishers of The Washington Post newspaper. The Washington Post Company began investing in businesses outside of news publishing during the late 1940s. In 2012, the company purchased its first hospice provider, Celtic Healthcare.
A year later, the Washington Post Company sold its news assets to Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO Jeffrey Bezos and reorganized under the Graham Holdings name. Graham went on to acquire Residential Hospice in 2014.
Celtic and Residental merged in 2016 to form Graham Healthcare Group. In 2018, the holding company formed a new health care investment arm, Graham Healthcare Capital. The firm’s investments range in size from $3 million to $30 million in companies that earn between $5 million and $75 million in annual revenue.
