Hospice News explores the issues garnering growing attention in end-of-life care delivery in seven of this year’s “hidden gem” stories. Topics span trends related to program integrity, workforce development, health equity, service diversification and the keys to hospices’ growth strategies. Hospice Investors to Watch Hospice merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has seen a cooling period […]
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The rationale behind the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against Optum and Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) is multi-faceted, citing potential adverse impacts on competition, home-based care workers and payers. Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) in June 2023 penned its agreement to acquire Amedisys in an all-cash transaction of $101 per share, or about $3.3 […]
Executives from UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) and Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) reportedly will meet with U.S. Justice Department officials in an effort to seal their pending deal. Amedisys has indicated that it expects the deal to close in Q4. However, the Justice Department (DOJ) has been making inquiries into the transaction and reportedly has been considering […]
The recent divestment of home health locations by Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) likely will give the company a smoother course towards closing its acquisition by the UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) subsidiary Optum. Last week, Amedisys announced the sale of the locations to the home health and hospice provider VitalCaring for an undisclosed amount, according to a […]
In case you missed it, Hospice News has launched a new specialty publication for palliative care professionals. You can subscribe to Palliative Care News here: Subscribe today! The U.S. Justice Department is investigating UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) due to antitrust concerns. During the past two years, the insurance giant has completed a slew of acquisitions […]
Though the number of hospice M&A deals plummeted in 2023 compared to prior years, deals are still being made, and the industry may see a rebound in 2024. Transaction volume declined in the hospice and home-based care space in 2023, following the two record-breaking prior years. Only three hospice deals took place in the third […]
Moving into 2024, more hospices see joint ventures or similar partnerships to be a major growth engine. Nearly half of 143 respondents to Hospice News’ 2024 Outlook Survey, conducted with Homecare Homebase, said that joint ventures and partnerships were the growth tactics they planned to pursue the most this year. More than 62% of the […]
For $27 million, HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) has acquired Brookdale Senior Living’s (NYSE: BKD) 20% stake in a hospice, home health and therapy joint venture between the two companies. HCA now owns 100% of the business. The joint venture formed in 2021 when the senior housing operator sold an 80% stake in its health care […]
Private equity firms typically turn around and sell an asset within three to five years post-acquisition. However, some may slow that cycle down in today’s economic environment. The presence of private equity firms in the hospice arena has expanded exponentially during the past several years. But this year, deal volume slowed across the board. While […]
A rich mix of hospice merger and acquisition (M&A) activity at the end of 2023 is fueling trends into next year. Hospice M&A activity has diverged from the frenzied pace set in recent years. The hospice space in the last five years has seen record-breaking multiples, a prevalence of private equity-backed platform transactions and large-scale […]