Contessa Wins Another Health System Partner; $1.5M Acquisition to Round Out New Post-Acute Care Company

Ascension Saint Thomas, Contessa partner to offer home recovery care

Ascension Saint Thomas is partnering with Contessa to bring hospital-level care into the home starting this fall.

The pair will do so through Nashville-based Contessa’s home recovery care program, which is built to provide in-home acute care for a fraction of the cost of a hospital.

Also based in Nashville, Ascension Saint Thomas operates nine hospitals throughout Tennessee, where it also has a network of joint ventures and partners. It’s the first health system in the state to adopt Contessa’s home recovery care program.

Home recovery care will be available to patients with acute conditions that aren’t life threatening. Some examples include heart failure, dehydration or pneumonia.

Additionally, patients must first be checked out by a Saint Thomas doctor to make sure at-home treatment is appropriate. They’ll also be monitored for 30 days.

The deal marks Contessa’s fourth partnership with a major health system since the company was founded in 2015. Since then, the hospital-at-home startup has raised nearly $30 million, with its latest round led by Health Velocity Capital.

Earlier this year, Chicago-based nonprofit-based CommonSpirit Health also teamed up with Contessa to roll out the model. Other partners include Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic Health System and New York-based Mount Sinai Hospital.

Contessa CEO Travis Messina predicts partnerships could double to eight by 2020, he previously told HHCN.

“We are the only organization that has secured reimbursement from several national health plans and countless regional plans,” Messina said. “The CommonSpirit footprint enables us to bring [our home recovery care model] to states across the country.”

Albany home health agency selling for $1.5M

Spring Valley, New York-based Marquis Home Care is in the process of acquiring Albany-based Living Resources Certified Home Health Agency Inc. for $1.5 million.

When the deal goes through, business partners Neil Zelman and Eric Newhouse plan to use Living Resources to round out their service offerings and ultimately created a new company: Marquis Certified Home Care LLC.

Currently, Marquis Home Care offers nonmedical, personal care services, while Zelman also operates eight assisted living facilities throughout New York state.

“With the ever-evolving way that health care is going today, individuals are living longer, they’re healthier than ever, and by providing higher quality of care within these facilities, it allows them to live a higher quality of life,” Zelman told the Albany Business Review.

Living Resources specializes in serving people with disabilities. The home health agency served 525 people with six employees in 2016. Meanwhile, Living Resources Home Care Agency Inc., which is also part of the deal, served 550 patients in 2015 with 37 employees, according to the Albany Business Review.

Zelman doesn’t plan to change how Living Resources currently operates.