Business Briefs: Bayshore HealthCare, Lincare Holdings

Bayshore HealthCare Acquires Alpha Home Health Care

Victoria, BC-based home health care provider Bayshore HealthCare acquired Alpha Home Health Care, another home health care provider that has been based in Victoria for more than 40 years.

The sale was completed May 31, and was prompted by the retirement of Alpha’s president and second-generation owner, Don Swindell, a press release noted.

Alpha’s 28-plus caregivers will be transferred to Bayshore HealthCare’s home health care division and will retain their patients.

Lincare Holdings Inc. Acquires Indianapolis Medical Equipment Firm

Respiratory therapy company Lincare Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCR) has acquired Indianapolis-based medical equipment firm Home Health Depot Inc. Declining Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates were cited as one reason Home Health Depot’s high growth has dropped off in the last several years.

The deal between Home Health Depot and Clearwater, Florida-based Lincare, a subsidiary of German gases, engineering and health care company The Linde Group, closed on June 28. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Home Health Depot was co-owned by former medical equipment salesman David Hartley, who acquired the company in 2004, and Nate Feltman, who was Indiana’s secretary of commerce from 2006 to 2008.

Simione Healthcare Consultants Grows Talent Acquisition Services

Simione Healthcare Consultants expanded its talent acquisition reach with the purchase of Healthcare Concepts, Inc., a Memphis-based executive recruitment firm that specializes in the home care and hospice industry.

Simione, based in Hamden, Connecticut, focuses on solving home care and hospice challenges related to operations, finance, compliance and risk, sales and marketing, cost reporting, mergers and acquisitions and information technology.

The transaction integrates the Healthcare Concepts team with Exact Recruiting, a health care talent enterprise company acquired by Simione in April.

Healthcare Concepts was founded in 1980 by Laurel Reisman, and served post-acute providers with recruitment and interim management services. The company additionally provided startup consulting and clinical publications for home care providers.

Two Oregon Hospitals Partner With Allevant Solutions To Develop Transitional Care Program

Catholic Health Initiatives St. Anthony Hospital (CHISAH) in Pendleton, Oregon, and Good Shepherd Health Care System (GSHCS) in Hermiston, Oregon, have partnered with Allevant Solutions, a joint venture of Mayo Clinic and Select Medical, to establish an enhanced transitional care program.

Transitional care is an evidence-based program for patients that do not require the extensive care offered in a hospital, but still have nursing, therapy or respiratory needs that may not be met in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, said CHI St. Anthony Clinical Informatics Manager Becky Miltenberger and GSHCS Case management Manager Debbie Neal in a press release.

The new program is modeled on the Mayo Clinic’s implementation of similar programs in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and is designed to meet the needs of post-acute patients in rural America.

The hospital-based transitional care program is supported by high nurse to patient ratios, regular bedside rounds and the ability to address sudden changes in condition with onsite physicians, the press release states.

Right At Home Partners With Non-Profit To Donate Wheelchairs

Right at Home, an Omaha, Nebraska-based top franchisor that provides home care services and caregiver staffing services, has partnered with global non-profit Free Wheelchair Mission to collect wheelchairs for people with disabilities in developing countries.

Thus far, Right at Home has raised $132,711, enough for about 4,950 wheelchairs. Free Wheelchair Mission aims to donate 70,000 to 80,000 chairs annually.

Written by Elizabeth Jakaitis