Intermountain Launches At-Home Clinical Services, Ensign Expands Home Health Portfolio

Intermountain launches home-based clinical care program

Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare — a health system with 22 hospitals, more than 180 clinics and its own health insurance plan — is adding home-based clinical care to its list of services.

The new offerings, which are set to roll out over the next few months, will include primary care, some hospital-level services and palliative care for patients with chronic conditions.

The goal of the program, called Intermountain at Home, is to prevent or shorten hospital admissions and avoid readmissions by offering patients care in the comfort of their own homes.

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Currently, heart failure patients admitted to an Intermountain hospital have an average stay of 4.6 days and a 30-day rehospitalization rate of 21.7%, according to the health system.

“This innovative program is designed around people, supporting first and foremost our patients who are at risk for hospitalization or complications, along with their families,” Rajesh Shrestha, Intermountain’s chief operating officer of community-based care, said in a press release announcing the news. “It will help us keep our patients comfortable and at home, continually connected with caregivers who will monitor their health status through Intermountain’s advanced clinical information systems when we’re not with them.”

Intermountain Homecare & Hospice currently offers home-based post-acute, palliative and hospice care. Meanwhile, Intermountain at Home will offer checkups, remote monitoring, urgent care and dialysis, among other services.

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The news comes several months after Intermountain partnered with Minnesota-based Lifesprk last year to form Homespire, a private-duty home care company.

Lifesprk is a provider of in-home care services and one of the fastest growing companies in Minneapolis.

Intermountain at Home will include daily living support from Homespire, with a focus on social determinants of health, according to the press release announcing the news.

Ensign expands home health portfolio with new acquisition

Cornerstone Healthcare, the Ensign Group’s (Nasdaq: ENSG) home health and hospice portfolio subsidiary, has acquired a new home health and hospice operator to bolster its Texas presence.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

On March 1, Cornerstone took over operations of All County Home Care and Hospice in Boerne, Texas, part of the greater San Antonio area.

Cornerstone affiliates operate more than 40 agencies across 12 western states. The Idaho-based company is part of the Ensign Group, whose subsidiaries provide a variety of post-acute services in at least 16 states.

The acquisition is a strategic move to supplement Ensign’s skilled nursing presence in the greater San Antonio area, Christopher Christensen, Ensign’s president and chief executive officer, said in a release announcing the deal.

Additionally, there will likely be more strategic acquisitions in the company’s future. Cornerstone will continue to look to acquire high-performing and struggling home health, hospice and home care operations across the country, according to the release.

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