M&A and Finance News: Humana Completes Curo Purchase

Humana, PE Firms Finalize Curo Purchase

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and private equity firms TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe have competed their previously announced $1.4 billion acquisition of Curo Health Services.

Louisville-based based Humana and the two PE firms plan on combining Mooresville, North Carolina-based Curo with the hospice business of Kindred at Home to create the country’s largest hospice operator.

Humana has a 40% stake in Curo under terms of the deal.

The insurance giant’s decision to pursue hospice over primary care reflects an overarching strategy of focusing on health care in the home, along with end-of-life care. Some have criticized the move, warning that for-profit companies such as Humana may try to sign people up for hospice care who are not terminally ill.

Curo Health Services, previously owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, provides hospice care to patients at 245 locations in 22 states.

Trios Home Health Care Acquired by Cornerstone Health Care

Washington-based Kennewick Public Hospital District (KPHD) has signed an agreement with Iron Bridge Healthcare, Inc.—doing business as Columbia River Home Health, a local affiliate of home health, hospice and home care services provider Cornerstone Healthcare, Inc.—to sell its Trios Home Health Care operations for $1.1 million.

KPHD emerged from Chapter 9 bankruptcy on June 20, which paved the way for Trio Health’s acquisition by RCCH Healthcare. That acquisition, expected to close in late July or early August, did not include Trios Home Health Care.

Trios Home Health Care employs 10 registered nurses, four physical therapists, one occupational therapist and three support and administrative staff members to deliver in-home care to during more than 12,800 patients visits a year.

Current employees have been offered positions with Cornerstone or the option to stay on at Trios Health in different roles.

LifeCare Health Partners Closes on Home Health, Personal Care Deals

LifeCare Health Partners has closed on its acquisitions of EverCare Health Services, a provider of personal care and transitional support, as well as its purchase of Care First Home Health Care, which offers skilled nursing, physical therapy and home health care services.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The two acquisitions are part of a strategic push by Plano, Texas-based LifeCare to provide more home-based services.

LifeCare Health encompasses the LifeCare Family of Hospitals and other post-acute services, including transitional care, inpatient and outpatient behavioral health treatment and, increasingly, home-based care. It has operations in nine states overall, offering in-home services in Nevada, Texas and Florida. LifeCare Health, a subsidiary of privately held LifeCare Holdings, LLC, has about 4,500 employees and a current home health census of about 1,600 patients.

Vitas Healthcare Breaks Ground on New Inpatient Hospice Unit

Vitas Healthcare, one of the largest hospice providers in the United States, has broken ground on a new inpatient hospice unit at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Construction on Dallas-based Vitas’ new inpatient hospice unit is expanded to wrap up in early 2019, according to the company. The facility will provide care for patients in 14 counties. Vitas currently operates 28 inpatient units nationwide.

The new unit will be the company’s third in the Dallas and Fort Worth markets and provide care for more than 800 patients a year.

The 13,000 square foot inpatient hospice unit is a $2.8 million renovation project.

In general, inpatient hospice care is reserved for patients whose conditions are no longer manageable in a home setting.

Hospice providers wrongfully moving at-home patients into inpatient facilities or fraudulently reporting that inpatient services were delivered is an issue that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General plans on investigating moving forward. Reimbursement rates for inpatient hospice care are higher than rates for home-based care.

Written by Robert Holly