Three of the nation’s for-profit hospice companies have hit the accelerator on revenue growth, achieving triple-digit percentages.

Each of these organizations — Traditions Health, Fortis Health and HealthFlex Hospice — appeared on Inc. magazine’s 2024 listing of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.

To be eligible for the list, companies must be privately held, for-profit and independent and reach certain thresholds for revenue growth. They also undergo a multiphase vetting process. The list excludes nonprofits, creating the possibility that organizations in that sector may have also experienced similar growth.

The 2024 list included companies from every state and Puerto Rico, ranging in size from one employee to more than 262,000, Inc. reported. Their revenues fell between close to $2 million and $15.5 billion.

Fortis Health

Fortis Health came in at number 1,239 on the list, having achieved 417% growth between 2020 and 2023.

Fortis offers home health, hospice, palliative and personal care services under four brands, Valeo Home Health and Hospice, Select Home Health, Physiocare Home Health and Physiocare Hospice. The company is backed by the private equity firm Grant Avenue Capital.

The Utah-based operator acquired the Physiocare assets in January for an undisclosed amount.

Acquisitions have been a cornerstone of Fortis’s growth strategy. The company’s acquisition strategy includes plans to build density in its existing service regions, as well as expand to new markets, CEO Rob Radics told Hospice News in 2023.

“One thing we think is quite important is to have real regional density, to have some real presence in a market,” Grant Avenue Capital Managing Partner Buddy Gumina previously told Hospice News. “Though what’s critical in any kind of buy-and-build is that you’ve got to make sure you also stand up the right kind of infrastructure foundation.”

HealthFlex Hospice

Oakland, California-based Healthflex has made Inc.’s list several years running. On this year’s list, the company reached number 1,732 with a growth rate of 302%.

HealthFlex, which was established by a group of nurses, provides home health, hospice, palliative care, social work and personal care. The company has more than quadrupled in size since its founding in 2012.

Currently, the home health and hospice provider serves the entire San Francisco Bay area, as well as Santa Clara, Solano and Contra Costa counties. Healthflex expanded last year to Sacramento. For the time being, home health is the company’s largest business line.

Traditions Health

Franklin, Tennessee-based Traditions Health reached number 2,389 this year with 218% growth.

Texas-headquartered Traditions provides hospice, home health and palliative care as well as consulting services across 18 states. The company is a portfolio company of the family-owned investment firm Dorilton Capital Advisors.

Acquisitions are a key driver of growth. Traditions has completed more than a dozen transactions during the last four years.

Traditions in 2022 acquired San Diego-based Sonata Hospice, as well as Cadence Hospice, Pacific Crest Hospice and Sonata Hospice of Riverside County, all in California. The company also stepped into the Nevada market with the purchase of Sonata Hospice of Las Vegas. Also that year, Traditions Health purchased ​​Kansas-based Serenity Health Management. These transactions followed a series of deals that occurred the prior year.

However, during the past two years, Traditions has slowed down on deals to focus on other avenues to growth, according to Tom Moreland, the newly appointed senior vice president of hospice operations at Traditions Health.

“The foundation is set,” Moreland recently told Hospice News. “We’ve, over the last five years, done a multitude of acquisitions, and we’ve pulled back on that in the last 12 to 18 months, to really build our culture to grow organically.”