Business Briefs: Addus Enters Virginia, Brightree’s Scotland Office

Addus HomeCare Enters Virginia Through Acquisition of BestCare HomeCare

Addus HomeCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ADUS), a comprehensive provider of home and community-based services that are mainly provided in the home, personal in nature and concentrated on the dual eligible population, announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of the personal care business of Five Points Healthcare of Virginia, LLC, effective Nov. 9.

Based in Woodbridge, Virginia, BestCare HomeCare serves individuals in 11 counties in Northern Virginia and reported annualized revenues of about $5.7 million for the first nine months of 2015.

Addus expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in 2015, excluding transaction costs. The purchase price was not disclosed.

“The purchase of the personal care business of BestCare provides Addus entry into Virginia,” Addus CEO and President Mark Heaney said in a prepared statement. “The state has a managed Medicaid project underway and has plans to transition long-term home and community-based services for approximately 70,000 Medicaid enrollees statewide into an integrated managed care program beginning mid-year 2017. This transaction is consistent with a primary strategic focus for Addus on states implementing or planning the near-term transition of care for this population to MCOs. We believe this transition represents a significant long-term growth opportunity for Addus, and we welcome the employees of BestCare to Addus.”

Addus also announced it has executed a credit agreement that boosts its credit facilities to $100 million, up from $55 million. Under the new modified credit agreement, Addus has access to a term loan of as much as $25 million, with the remaining $75 million available as a revolving credit facility.

Addus has not accessed the term loan yet and currently has $58.3 million available as part of the revolving credit facility. The credit agreement has an accordion feature that allows the credit facility to be expanded to a total of $150 million, with access to a term loan of as much as $25 million and with the remaining $125 million available as a revolving credit facility.

“We have completed a significant expansion of our credit facility to enhance our ability to grow, both organically and through acquisitions,” said Don Klink, Addus’ chief financial officer. “In addition to strong positive demographic trends, these growth opportunities reflect the continuing transition by many states of care for their dual eligible populations to managed care organizations. Consistent with our recently completed acquisition of BestCare HomeCare, which has annualized revenues of approximately $5.7 million, and our pending acquisition of $47 million-revenue South Shore Home Health Services, we continue to focus on markets where the MCO transition has occurred, is underway or is anticipated in the near term.”

Brightree Celebrates Launch of New Office in Glasgow, Scotland

Boston, Massachusetts-based Brightree has officially launched its new office in Glasgow, Scotland.

The move is anticipated to create more than 100 high-value software development jobs over the next two years, part of a planned investment of about $50 million over the next four years in Scotland.

Brightree is the leading provider of cloud-based software to improve clinical and business performance in the U.S. post-acute care industry. The company serves over 2,500 organizations in the home medical equipment (HME), hospice, home health, private duty, orthotic and prosthetic, HME pharmacy, home infusion, and rehab home care segments.

Dave Cormack, Brightree president and CEO, was born in Scotland and attended the opening event for the new Glasgow office. Cormack said he recognized an opportunity in his home country to add capacity to Brightree’s U.S.-based development team.

“We recognized that tapping into the highly educated engineering skills base in Scotland would give us access to a wealth of talent in the fields of software development, and quality assurance, which are the cornerstones necessary for Brightree to deliver on its aggressive product expansion plans,” Cormack said in a news release. “We were attracted to the Scottish work ethic and the world-class level of expertise. Our new team members here are working with modern state-of-the-art development tools and can easily collaborate with our team in the U.S. to accelerate development of our industry-leading technology solutions.”

The Glasgow office is Brightree’s second center of excellence development facility in Scotland. Brightree’s Aberdeen development center opened in 2012. The company’s presence in Scotland has resulted the creation of 35 jobs to date.

“Encouraging global businesses like this to invest and expand here is a top priority for the Scottish Government. We have a thriving global business community in ICT that attracts talent from all over the world, and we’re continually investing in research that will drive the future through our world-class universities and innovation centres,” said Jamie Hepburn, Scotland’s Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health.

Bring the Vote Home Launches New Website and Comprehensive Senior Polling Initiative

Bring The Vote Home (BTVH), a country-wide initiative that is surveying seniors on a wide variety of issues, released the results of polling data from more than 2,000 registered voters older than 65.

The data revealed broadly held concerns that cut across political party lines: 63% of respondents disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, and 69% believe 2016 presidential candidates from both the Democratic and Republican parties are not paying enough attention to issues impacting seniors.

“These poll results should grab the attention of every candidate’s campaign as they strategize for the coming year,” Eric Berger, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, said in a prepared statement. “This polling data reveals that American seniors want a candidate who will be an advocate for them on issues specific to those over 65, including health care.”

The BTVH poll also found that individual states have room to improve helping seniors cast their vote, with only 4 in 10 seniors indicating their state does a good job educating homebound seniors on how to register or obtain an absentee ballot.

For this reason, BTVH created a new website that offers seniors, disabled Americans and their health care clinicians the information they need to register to vote and obtain an absentee ballot.

BTVH was initially developed so that homebound Medicare home health patients could completely participate in the democratic process by enabling them register to vote and receive absentee ballots. BTVH has expanded to provide additional resources, including information about their lawmakers’ views on home health and senior polling data on the opinions and views of American seniors.

“Through its voter registration, absentee ballot, candidate information, and monthly polling programs, Bring The Vote Home is working to enable all seniors—homebound and otherwise—to be full and equal participants in America’s democratic process,” Berger said.

The BTVH survey was done as part of a Morning Consult Poll between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1. The poll surveyed 2,003 registered voters, age 65 and older, and has a margin error of two percentage points.

Brett I. Cohen Named Chief Operating Officer of Civitas Solutions

Civitas Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: CIVI) named Brett I. Cohen as its new chief operating officer, a role that has been vacant since Bruce Nardella was promoted to chief executive officer last year. Cohen is scheduled to assume his new role on Nov. 30.

As COO, Cohen will immediately oversee the company’s services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities and at-risk youth within its human services segment. Civitas’ adult day health operations and specialty rehabilitation services will keep reporting to Nardella in the near term prior to transitioning to Cohen.

“Brett Cohen is an impressive healthcare executive,” Nardella said in a news release. “He is bright, insightful, and extremely well prepared for this role. Healthcare is increasingly more complex, and Brett possesses a terrific ability to digest difficult challenges and effectively develop and execute strategic responses.”

Cohen most recently served as corporate vice president, inpatient services for Fresenius Medical Care, where he led the turnaround of one of the company’s divisions. Cohen served as vice president, operations for Kindred Healthcare from 2009 to 2012, , where he was responsible for operations, sales and marketing, and business development for the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities in Kindred’s East Region.

“The Civitas team has generated impressive momentum in recent years, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues to expand existing services, explore new paths for growth and innovation, and, most importantly, continue the organization’s pursuit of clinical and service excellence for each individual served,” Cohen said in the release.

Civitas Solutions, Inc. is a provider of home- and community-based health and human services to must-serve individuals with developmental, intellectual, behavioral or physical disabilities and other special needs in 35 states.

New Century Hospice Announces Acquisition of Autumn Bridge Hospice in Oklahoma City

Dallas-based New Century Hospice, one of the biggest regional hospices in the United States, announced it has acquired 100% of the member interests in Autumn Bridge, LLC, a hospice provider based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, effective Oct. 31. Purchase price and terms were not disclosed.

New Century Hospice now operates 18 locations in 6 states, including Georgia, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia.

“We are excited about expanding our service area in Oklahoma to now include Oklahoma City,” David Gasmire, New Century Hospice chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “The fine folks at Autumn Bridge Hospice have a focus on quality care and compliance and have a culture of service and teamwork which makes it a perfect fit with New Century Hospice.”

Gasmire also revealed that this acquisition is part of New Century Hospice’s strategy to expand outside of Tulsa and into more central regions of Oklahoma.

The acquisition of Autumn Bridge Hospice represents the sixth acquisition in three years for New Century Hospice. Autumn Bridge Hospice will start conducting business as New Century Hospice of Oklahoma City after an undisclosed time of integration and transition.

AMC Health and Comprehensive Home Care Partner to Provide Enhanced Telehealth Solutions to Patients

New York City-based AMC Health, a provider of proven “real-time” virtual care solutions, and Comprehensive Home Care, a home health company, announced that they will collaborate on a remote patient monitoring program that will help patients with both post-acute and chronic illness adhere to treatment plans and improve their health.

AMC Health offers a “real-time” remote patient engagement solution to home health agencies that are looking to improve and manage care efficiency and quality of care.

Comprehensive Home Care has been providing in home telemonitoring services to its population for more than 10 years. In an attempt to more strongly align with their mission and aim of increasing the standards of home health care, it chose AMC Health to provide enhanced telecare solutions to its patients.

With more than 12 years of experience working with over 50 home care agencies, AMC Health’s cloud-based CareConsole platform analyzes biometric data gathered via FDA-approved devices and transmitted through home and mobile gateways, aggregating these results with symptom and education evaluations, and resulting in clear clinical action plans to improve compliance.

“This partnership will leverage Comprehensive Home Care’s strong track record of providing high-quality care and AMC Health’s proven remote patient monitoring and engagement solutions, all for the benefit of empowering patients to more actively manage their health at home,” said Garrett Bragg, president and CEO for Comprehensive Home Care, a licensed, Medicare-certified and CHAP-accredited home health care agency that is owned and operated by Florida-based Comprehensive Wellness Services, Inc.

League for Blind and Disabled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Begin Offering Home Health Care

The League for the Blind and Disabled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is opening a home health division to meet the needs of an aging population with disabilities who wish to stay at home.

The League’s soon-to-launch Home Health Division is expected to provide a home care nurse who can set up and, if required, administer medications.

“This is a perfect fit for a disability rights organization like the League,” President and CEO David Nelson said in a prepared statement. “We’re about people with disabilities staying in the community and being part of the community. It hits our core value system very hard.”

The agency has offered home care services such as cleaning, cooking, shopping and transportation for individuals with hearing loss, vision loss or other long-term disabilities since 2008.

“But if they need medical care, they (currently) can’t stay with us,” Nelson said.

Though the agency’s initial concentration was serving the blind, today The League provides a variety of services to over 1,000 individuals of all ages who have cognitive, physical or mental disabilities through its Independent Living Services Division, through Deaf Link and through its nonmedical home attendant care services called Home Care+.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson