JourneyCare adds home health

JourneyCare — Illinois’ largest nonprofit community-based hospice and palliative care provider — is expanding into the home health space. To do so, the provider has purchased Northwestern Memorial HealthCare’s home health and hospice programs.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Among its offerings, the Glenview, Illinois-based JourneyCare provides adult and pediatric palliative and hospice care, in addition to house call and chronic care management services. JourneyCare currently serves 13 counties in the Chicago area and throughout northern Illinois.

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is the corporate parent for the Northwestern Medicine health system, which operates across 200 different sites and 10 hospitals, including Chicago’s 894-bed academic medical center Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“Both organizations are mission-driven and committed to [serving] the community as nonprofit providers,” Sarah Boburka, JourneyCare president and CEO, said in a press release announcing the news. “This is the right thing for patients and the community at large, giving more access and more specialized health care options to improve overall quality of life.”

JourneyCare did not offer home health services prior to the acquisition, which somewhat bucks recent M&A trends.

Over the past few years, it has been home health companies that have more regularly ventured into the hospice space through dealmaking, looking to diversify their businesses prior to the implementation of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) on Jan. 1. Examples of hospice and palliative care providers turning their attention to home health care have been less common.

The acquisition, however, is in-line with the trend of hospitals and health systems outsourcing their home health offerings.

LHC Group finalizes joint venture

Lafayette, Louisiana-based LHC Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) has finalized its previously announced joint venture agreement with New Jersey-based AtlantiCare, a member of the Geisinger health system.

LHC Group first outlined its JV plans with AtlantiCare and Geisinger Home Health and Hospice in Pennsylvania in February. Its agreement with Geisinger Home Health and Hospice was finalized in April.

Agencies partnering with LHC Group as a result of the joint venture arrangement represent annualized revenue of about $35 million, according to the company. In total, the JVs with Geisinger and AtlantiCare add a combined 13 new home health and hospice locations to LHC Group’s footprint.

“If it’s possible, we’re more bullish on the JV strategy than we’ve been in the past, and we’ve been very bullish on it in the past,” LHC Group CEO Keith Myers told investors and analysts during a February year-end conference call. “I think [we’re] more bullish because we continuously learn and improve our processes.”

Greystone Health Network acquires The Ponce Therapy Care Center

Greystone Healthcare Management Corp., a manager of health care facilities and home health agencies in Florida, has acquired The Ponce Therapy Care Center.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Tampa with location throughout Florida, Greystone Healthcare Management Corp. is comprised of 28 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and assisted living communities, in addition to home health and home care agencies.

The Ponce Therapy Center — which recently underwent a $3 million renovation project in 2017 — includes 24 private and 48 semi-private rooms.