Elara Caring — the PE-backed home health, hospice and personal care giant created as the result of a three-way merger in 2018 — has a new top executive at the helm.
The Addison, Texas-based company announced Friday that Medicare Advantage (MA) veteran Scott Powers is taking over as CEO, effective immediately. Powers replaces G. Scott Herman, who led Elara Caring since its formation and through its subsequent rebranding efforts, which just hit a major milestone in August.
Herman is leaving Elara Caring “to pursue other opportunities,” according to the company.
“[Herman’s] vision was critical as we merged three regional home health care providers into Elara Caring in 2018,” spokesman Chris Hardman told Home Health Care News in an email. “We will continue to follow his vision, with a focus on high-quality care and operational excellence.”
Comprised of 35,000 caregivers, Elara Caring currently serves more than 60,000 patients plus family members across hundreds of locations in 16 states. Overall, the company’s geographic footprint stretches across the Northeast, Midwest and South.
Named after one of Jupiter’s moons, Elara Caring is backed by Blue Wolf Capital Partners and Kelso & Company.
The private equity firms created Elara Caring by bringing together Great Lakes Caring, National Home Health Care and Jordan Health Services.
“At Elara Caring, our number one priority is to deliver high-quality care to the 60,000 patients we serve across the nation,” Adam Blumenthal, founder and managing partner of Blue Wolf Capital Partners, said in a statement. “We are very excited to have Scott Powers as the new CEO at Elara Caring. [Powers] is a proven operational leader, and we believe he is the best person to lead the company into the next phase of its evolution.”
While it’s unclear exactly what that next phase entails, it’s likely that behavioral health services will continue to play an important role.
Elara Caring made behavioral health a point of focus under Herman, who previously told HHCN that the service line accounted for about $76 million of the company’s total annual revenue — about $1.2 billion overall.
“Patients that have physical ailments are obviously very engaged, but chronic mental illness is something that the industry is really becoming attuned to,” Herman told HHCN in May. “A lot of organizations are ill-equipped to manage it.”
As CEO, Powers is tasked with completing the integration of Elara Caring, enhancing its processes and achieving the company’s growth objectives.
Before joining Elara Caring, Powers served as president and COO at Alignment Healthcare, a company designed to deliver MA plans to older adults.
Andy Slavitt — the acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator under President Barack Obama — is currently managing director of Alignment Healthcare. Similar to other MA entities, Alignment publicly touted a list of home- and community-focused benefits related to social determinants of health on Tuesday.
Powers is leaving Alignment Healthcare at a time when the MA company is reportedly approaching $1 billion in sales and rapidly expanding its reach.
Prior to his role at Alignment, Powers served in senior executive roles at Cambia Health Solutions, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alvarez & Marsal and Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC).
The experience in the payer world will likely work to Elara Caring’s advantage moving forward, as more and more plans pursue stronger relationships with home health and home care providers alike.
“Our mission will not change,” Powers said in a statement. “We are committed to providing the Right Care, at the Right Time, in the Right Place. The company has made strong inroads over the past year, and I’m honored to bring my operational and patient-focused experience to help deliver high-quality care and accelerated growth.”
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