Though the hospice space remains fragmented, mergers and acquisitions are driving up market share, particularly for large providers. Along with service diversification and application of emerging technologies, M&A is helping to drive growth among the organizations named in LexisNexis Top 100 Hospices of 2019. With 4.5% of market share, VITAS Healthcare, a subsidiary of Chemed […]
VITAS Healthcare has seen substantial growth in same-store admissions during the third quarter of the year, boosting its revenues, according to financial results posted by the hospice provider’s parent company, Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE). VITAS admissions rose 4.4% from Q3 2018’s numbers to 17,131 patients. This is slightly stronger than the company’s second-quarter 2019 admissions […]
Debate continues about how the hospice industry, as well as regulators, should respond to the reports on hospice care issued in July by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that included recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on changing their processes for […]
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals partially affirmed a decision in favor of Arkansas-based hospice provider AseraCare in False Claims Act (FCA) case that has widespread implications for the hospice industry. The appellate court agreed with the Northern District of Alabama that a mere difference of physician’s opinions on a terminal patient’s prognosis does not […]
VITAS Healthcare, a hospice subsidiary of Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE), has received two certificates of need in Florida, signaling that the company is expanding its operations across a region known as the Treasure Coast. The Miami-based hospice provider will also build a new 16-bed freestanding inpatient facility in southwest Miami-Dade County. In addition to hospice […]
National and regional hospice chains seem unfazed by proposed Medicare payment rebasing for fiscal year 2020—confident that the updates will not adversely affect their businesses—though smaller organizations may take a more significant hit. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in late April released its annual proposed rule that outlines the agency’s regulatory […]
VITAS Healthcare, the largest hospice provider in the United States, showed positive margins for the first quarter of 2019 despite a decline in admissions, according to a quarterly earnings report from its parent company, Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CME). VITAS’ gross margins for routine home care services reached 52.7 percent during the first quarter, a 60 […]