AccentCare and Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care have cleared all regulatory hurdles and officially merged, the post-acute care providers announced Tuesday.
The Dallas, Texas-based AccentCare is ranked as the fifth-largest home health provider in the nation in terms of overall market share, according to LexisNexis statistics. Similarly, the Rosemont, Illinois-based Seasons is listed as the fifth-largest hospice provider in the U.S.
The two providers — along with AccentCare’s private equity sponsor, Advent International — were able to finalize their merger agreement in a little over a month’s time. The companies initially unveiled their industry-shaping plans on Nov. 16, with AccentCare CEO Steve Rodgers digging into the strategy during the Home Health Care New Capital+Strategy event on Dec. 8.
“We’ve had a very successful hospice business internally at AccentCare,” Rodgers said at the event. “But it hasn’t necessarily been one at scale.”
Prior to the merger, those operations formed “about a $70 million hospice business,” the CEO noted. That number will grow substantially with Seasons, which offers compassionate care through 31 programs in 19 states.
AccentCare leadership began identifying areas to invest in last year. After deciding to “go big” on hospice, the company weighed tuck-in options while also reviewing some of the larger, high-quality providers up for grabs.
Seasons’ reputation, investment in its workforce and geographic footprint made it a natural fit, Rodgers said.
“From a culture standpoint, they’re very culturally aligned with AccentCare, which is one of the No. 1 things we always look for,” he said. “The second piece, though, really had to do with them being in big urban marketplaces, just like AccentCare tends to be in larger urban marketplaces.”
Together, the combined organization will operate more than 225 sites of care across 26 states, employing nearly 30,000 workers.
Additionally, the merged enterprise will maintain several dozen joint ventures and partnerships with health systems, physician practices and payers.
The combined AccentCare-Seasons will be headquartered in Dallas, with its hospice division still based out of Rosemont. It will care for more than 175,000 patients and families each year.
“Season gives us the whole continuum of care, kind of across the board, in addition to being able to supplement these partnerships we have out there in the marketplace,” Rodgers said. “We can bring new services into [those partnerships].”
Seasons subsidiaries included in the merger include Health Resource Solutions, a home health provider in Illinois, Nebraska and Indiana with a patient census of about 2,500. Gareda, a personal care business in Illinois that serves about 4,500 clients a year, is also included.
“The last piece, I’d say, that got us excited about [Seasons] is they have a very mature palliative care group,” Rodgers added. “And I think we all know that the complexity of the patients we are responsible for taking care of is increasing.”
Guggenheim Securities served as the exclusive financial advisor to Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care in the transaction.
“We’re thrilled to head into the New Year as one organization,” Seasons CEO Todd Stern said in a Tuesday press release. “The impact that we’re able to have together, with combined resources and new technologies, will only enhance the patient experience and quality of care for the individuals we serve and the partners who count on us.”
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