The largest nonprofit home health care provider in New Jersey, the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group (VNAHG), has signed a letter of intent to merge with the Visiting Nurse Association of Ohio (VNAO), which will become an affiliate of VNAHG.
VNAHG hopes of grow as an organization to continue to stay relevant, attract new talent and innovate in the home health space.
As the largest nonprofit VNA in New Jersey and the second largest VNA in the country, VNAHG is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, and serves over 120,000 people in the state. The VNAO is headquartered in Cleveland and provides care in 17 counties in Ohio that range from home-based hospice and health care to mental health services.
“The VNO has a similar history and legacy to our organization’s,” Steve Landers, MD, MPH, president and CEO of VNAHG, told Home Health Care News. “They had some financial challenges and were looking for a partner—some of it depended on our situations at the time.”
VNAO is bringing its mental health services component to VNAHG, which the provider did not have before.
“One of the special things about VNAO is that they are a certified community mental health agency,” Dr. Landers said. “Another important area of emphasis for the future of New Jersey is improving care for people with mental illness. We are excited to learn from their model and approaches to home psychiatric nursing in Ohio and see if we can use some ideas and approaches in New Jersey.”
Through this partnership, VNAHG will have the opportunity to work with VNAO board chair Elizabeth Madigan who is one of the leading home care researchers in the country, added Dr. Landers.
“To get to team up with people like this is very special,” he said. “We have some great people around the table. This is really going to allow us to reach new heights and make a bigger difference in the communities we serve.”
Once the merger is complete, Dr. Landers will serve as CEO and president of the combined organizations.
Written by Alana Stramowski
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