Business Briefs: LHC, HealthSouth, Partnership for Medicaid Home-Based Care

Partnership for Medicaid Home-Based Care Announces Additional Founding Members and Board of Directors

The Partnership for Medicaid Home-Based Care announced that Centene and All Metro have joined as founding members of the partnership. The partnership is a group of national home care provider organizations looking to advance the delivery and integrity of high-quality, cost-effective Medicaid home-based care through engagement with government leaders and across the Medicaid home-based care stakeholder community.

“All Metro and Centene bring a valuable perspective to the Medicaid Partnership and will enhance our efforts to ensure home-based care is available to all those who need it,” said Dave Totaro, chairman of the Medicaid Partnership. “We are proud to welcome All Metro and Centene to the Medicaid Partnership and look forward to working with them as we strive to elevate and address the policy issues most impacting our consumers and the home-based services they depend upon.”

The partnership also announced its 2015-2016 Board of Directors. David J. Totaro of Bayada Home Health Care will serve as chairman; Darby Anderson of Addus HomeCare will serve as vice chairman; Sherl Brand of VNA Health Group will serve as secretary; and Gale Bohling of ResCare will serve as treasurer.

Additional Board of Directors include Sean Schwinghammer of Caring Associates, Steve Jakubcanin of AccentCare, Michael Monson of Centene, Richard Keller of All Metro Health Care, Barbara McCann of Interim HealthCare, Gregg A. Davis of Sutter Care at Home, David Tramontana of Home Care by Blackstone, Vicki Hoak of The Council of State Home Care Associations and Michelle Bentzien-Purrington of Molina Healthcare.

The partnership is also set to launch an advocacy program to educate federal policy makers on the delivery of home-based care to guarantee Medicaid policies are crafted that protect and strengthen the delivery of cost-effective, home-based care.

GreatCall Inc. Acquires Lively Inc.

San Diego-based GreatCall Inc., a leader in developing usable technology for active aging, has acquired the assets of Lively Inc., a connected home health platform for older adults. GreatCall said the acquisition is an important step in the development of its connected health portfolio, as well as its commitment to growth.

“GreatCall’s leadership in active aging is rooted in customer knowledge. With a deep understanding of the needs of our customers, we have been uniquely positioned to build awareness of key issues and develop products and services that address the needs of both older adults and their caregivers,” GreatCall CEO David Inns said. “Acquiring Lively builds upon that ideal and as we move forward into our second decade, we will continue to innovate, build our customer base and develop our connected health platform based on that foundation.”

Lively, founded in 2012, developed a safety watch and a system of passive activity sensors to notify relatives and share daily routines. “We are excited that the Lively platform will build upon GreatCall’s leadership in active aging,” Lively CEO and co-founder Iggy Fanlo said. Lively’s products are set to be supported by the GreatCall Customer Care team and will eventually be managed on the GreatCall platform.

“As GreatCall looks at consolidating the fragmented active aging space, we see this acquisition as a strategic move for our connected health platform,” said Brian Berning, GreatCall chief financial officer. “We will continue to innovate new products and services but we will also acquire synergistic opportunities.”

LHC Group Completes Two Home Health Acquisitions in Kentucky

Lafayette, Louisiana-based LHC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LHCG), a national provider of hospice, home health, community-based, and comprehensive pre-and post-acute health care services, announced the completion of two home health acquisitions in Kentucky and the addition of hospice to its joint venture with Missouri Delta Medical Center in Missouri.

Specifically LHC completed the previously announced acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Nurses Registry and Home Health Corp., which took effect Nov. 11. Additionally, LHC acquired substantially all of the assets of The Visiting Nurses Association of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, Inc.’s Kentucky home health operations, effective Dec. 1. The combined licensed home health service area of these two home health acquisitions spans 19 counties in Kentucky with an estimated population of about 1.2 million and over 150,000 individuals older than 65 years of age.

Estimated combined annualized revenue from these transactions is about $7.6 million and is expected to be dilutive to LHC Group’s fourth-quarter 2015 earnings per diluted share by about 2 cents due to transaction and integration costs, but accretive to LHC Group’s 2016 earnings by approximately 2 cents to 3 cents per diluted share.

LHC Group also said that it and its hospital partner, Missouri Delta Medical Center, have signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Four Oaks Hospice in Dexter, Missouri, with trailing 12-month revenue of $1.1 million. The transaction is anticipated to close on Jan. 1, 2016. The joint venture is now set to include all three service delivery options of LHC Group’s in-home tri-level of care delivery model, consisting of home health, hospice and community-based services, providing care to individuals in Southeast Missouri.

Central Nebraska Home Care Changes Name

Central Nebraska Home Care, a full-service health care organization that provides home respiratory care throughout Grand Island, Nebraska, and Kearney, Nebraska, changed its name to CHI Health at Home, effective Dec. 1.

As part of the CHI Health family, the organization believes this alignment will result in a stronger, more unified structure as it cares for patients in Nebraska and parts of Iowa.

CHI Health at Home is operated and owned by CHI Health at Home in Cincinnati, Ohio, the national home health service provider for Catholic Health Initiatives.

HealthSouth Appoints Patrick Darby As Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) announced that it has named Patrick Darby as its executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Darby is set to replace John Whittington, who announced his retirement earlier this year after serving in this role for the past nine-and-a-half years. Darby is scheduled to assume his new position in mid-February 2016.

“We are delighted that Patrick will be joining HealthSouth’s executive team,” said HealthSouth President and CEO Jay Grinney. “In his role as general counsel, Patrick will manage the company’s legal and real estate departments, play a key role in all development activities as HealthSouth continues to expand its inpatient rehabilitation, home health and hospice service lines, coordinate all legal activities associated with future capital structure initiatives, and coordinate regulatory and compliance matters of the company.”

Darby has practiced law with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP for 25 years, and has served as a partner at the firm since January 1997.

HealthSouth is one of the country’s largest providers of post-acute healthcare services, offering both home-based and facility-based post-acute services in 34 states and Puerto Rico through its network of home health agencies, hospice agencies and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals.

Medalogix Announces Doctors’ Choice Home Health as Newest Client

Nashville-based Medalogix, a leading home health and hospice analytics company, has partnered with Doctors’ Choice Home Health, a certified Medicare and ACHC-accredited home health company serving Northeast Florida.

Doctors’ Choice is deploying Touch, Medalogix’s analytics-based population health management solution, which helps home health providers increase touch points with the most at-risk patients to drive referrals and avoid unnecessary readmissions.

“Medalogix is a wonderful analytics and workflow solution that allows us to focus on increasing touch points with patients who are at risk for readmission,” said Kathy Edwards, director of operations at Doctors’ Choice Home Health.

“We’re proud to work with Doctors’ Choice in their charge to leverage technology to reduce hospital readmissions and improve patient care,” said Dan Hogan, CEO of Medalogix. “They’re a progressive team dedicated to providing the best in home health care.

Presently, Medalogix offers two home health solutions: Medalogix Touch and Bridge. Touch is a population health management technology that identifies individuals who are at the highest risk of transferring off home health census and those who would benefit from an additional care episode. After identifying the relevant individuals, Touch equips providers with an automated calling component that schedules appropriate follow-up calls and a watchlist module that helps monitor high-risk patients approaching the end of their episodes.

Bridge, meanwhile, identifies individuals who could benefit from hospice care and then equips providers with organizational workflows to guarantee the right patients hear about their end of life options at the correct time. The solution is meant to be particularly useful for dual home health and hospice providers, adding operational efficiency and predictive insights to their hospice transition process.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson