Business Briefs: LHC Group Names Executive VP, CFO and Treasurer

LHC Group Names Josh Profit Executive Vice President, CFO and Treasurer

LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG), a national provider of home health care, hospice, community-based services and long-term acute care hospitals, as named Joshua L. Proffitt as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. He has served as LHC Group’s executive vice president, corporate development and general counsel since August 2012.

His new role will become effective April 30, 2016.

“Josh Profitt has demonstrated his exceptional talent, drive and work ethic throughout his career at LHC Group, and we are pleased to announce that he has been named to this new position of increased responsibility,” Keith G. Myers, LHC Group’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We are very confident of Josh’s ability to lead our strong financial team.”

Proffitt joined LHC Group in 2008 as vice president, assistant general counsel and assisted director of acquisitions. Prior to LHC Group, he served as a senior associate in the Corporate Healthcare Practice Group at Alston & Bird LLP, which he joined in 2002.

Proffitt will replace Dionne E. Viator, LHC Group’s current executive vice president, CFO and treasurer. Viator is leaving to pursue other interests, according to the provider.

Two Colorado Home Health Agencies to Merge

Two major home health care agencies are planing to merge: The Colorado Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) and the Rehabilitation & Visiting Nurse Association (RVNA) will combine their operations on May 1. The merger aims to help the agencies better compete with larger health systems.

The combined firm will keep the name Colorado VNA.

Colorado VNA currently operates in 15 Front Range counties, from Boulder to Pueblo. Colorado VNA provided 227,810 home visits in 2015 and generated $22.8 million in revenue last year. RVNA operates in Larimer and Weld counties.

RVNA will keep its leadership and operations in Greeley. Its administrative functions will be moved to the Denver headquarters of the combined companies. RVNA CEO Lori Follett will become the vice president and chief business development officer for the new organization.

Carriage Inn Home Care Changes Name

In-home care, skilled therapy and nursing provider, Carriage Inn Home Care, has changed its name to Capital Health Home Care. The provider has been in business for more than 33 years and operates in the Ohio Valley.

The company has always been a part of the Capital Health Care network, which comprises home health, long-term care and hospice. Capital Health Home Care has offices in Wintersville and Weirton, Ohio.

“Over the next few months you will see changes in our logo, the colors that we use and the way that we look in print and advertising,” said Shari Jo Watkins, regional administrator. “What you won’t see is a change in staffing, leadership, ownership and the way we care for you and your family.”

Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care Joins Care Synergy

Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care will become affiliated with Care Synergy, a not-for-profit organization that supports, sustains and helps other community-based palliative care organizations grow in Colorado.

As an affiliate of Care Synergy, Pikes Peak will continue to provide end-of-life and palliative care in El Paso County, while benefitting from Care Synergy’s resurrect and broader market presence.

Other affiliates of Care Synergy include The Denver Hospice, Halcyon Hospice and Pathways Hospice. Each affiliate will continue to act as independent not-for-profit hospice and palliative care providers in their respective communities.

Liberty Partners Group Hires New Principal

Eric Berger has joined Liberty Partners Group, a leading government relations and strategic communications form, as a prinicpal. His role become effective April 1, 2016.

Berger has more than two decades of policy and communications experience, with an extensive record in the health care sectors. He most recently served as the CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, a coalition of leading home health care providers.

Before leading Partnership, Berger served as senior vice president of public policy and communications for DaVita, a national kidney care provider that prevented reimbursement cuts and achieved enactment of Medicare bundled payment reform. He also served as vice president of government relations and public policy for US Oncology from 1998 to 2005. He previously was a member of the professional staff of the Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, working on Medicare, Medicaid, FDA and health insurance legislation.

Written by Amy Baxter