M&A and Financing Newsflash: Anthem Completes Acquisition of Aspire Health

Anthem Finalizes Deal for Aspire Health Months Ahead of Schedule 

Insurer Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) has completed its acquisition of Aspire Health, the nation’s largest provider of non-hospice, community-based palliative care.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Indianapolis-based Anthem and its affiliated companies provide products and services to more than 74 million people. Originally formed in 2004 when WellPoint Health Networks Inc. and Anthem, Inc. merged, the insurance company is currently an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, serving members in more than a dozen states.

Nashville-based Aspire Health, co-founded in 2013 by Brad Smith and former U.S. Senator William First, strives to improve patient quality of life through specialized medical care focused on symptoms, pain and stress. The company, which contracts with more than 20 health plans to serve consumers in 25 states, provides nurse practitioner home visits as part of its 24-hour support.

Anthem’s acquisition of Aspire will allow the insurer to expand its capabilities and serve a broader set of consumers in home settings and outside of the hospital, according to the insurer. The deal will add to Anthem’s expanding inventory of clinical care services, which already includes CareMore and AIM.

The transaction was originally expected to close in the third quarter of 2018. It is projected to be neutral to earnings this year and accretive to earnings in 2019.

Aspire will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anthem.

Evergreen Commons, Atrio Home Care to Collaborate on In-Home Care Services 

Evergreen Commons Inc.—a community center and care organization for older adults in Holland, Michigan—has entered into a collaborative agreement with Atrio Home Care.

The collaboration between Evergreen Commons and Atrio Home Care will allow the community center to continue providing in-home services, which it has done for more than three decades, Holland Sentinel reported. It will also allow Evergreen Commons to increase the availability of those services.

Michigan-based Atrio Home Care was formed in 2017 as a joint venture between Resthaven, Holland Home and Clark Retirement’s home care companies, according to Holland Sentinel. In total, the joint venture provides in-home health care and home care services to more than 2,500 mostly elderly patients in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Barry, Ionia and Montcalm counties in Michigan.

Assisted Living Locators Partners with Paragon Home Resources

Assisted Living Locators, a nationwide senior care referral and placement agency, is partnering with Paragon Home Resources to provide home transition services.

Arizona-based Assisted Living Locators is a free referral service that helps patients and families find short- and long-term care options, including in-home care, independent living, assisted living and memory care, and retirement apartments.

Texas-based Paragon Home Resources is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paragon Global Resources, Inc., an industry leader in relocation, real estate and mortgage services. Its services include home management, facilitating forward or reverse mortgages, real estate sales, sorting and moving household belongings and referrals to assist with elder care needs.

As part of the partnership, Paragon will provide Assisted Living Locators’ clients with relocating and real estate services to help with their living transitions.

Partners HealthCare Reaches Agreement with Circulation 

Partners HealthCare has entered into an agreement with digital transportation platform Circulation to coordinate medical transportation for patients.

Boston-based non-profit Partners HealthCare—founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital—is an integrated health care system with operations across the continuum of care. In addition to two academic medical centers, the system includes community and speciality hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers and home health services. Partners HealthCare is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School as well.

Circulation, also located in Boston, is a health care transportation platform that works with ridesharing services Uber and Lyft to provide affordable ways for patients to travel to medical appointments. Its advisors and investors include insurance giant Humana (NYSE: HUM) and Utah-based health system Intermountain Healthcare, along with Flare Capital Partners, Echo Health Ventures and several other organizations.

About 3.6 million patients across the United States miss at least one medical appointment due to lack of access to transportation, according to Circulation.

So far, more than 2,500 health facilities in more than 40 states have used the transportation platform.

Written by Robert Holly