HouseWorks Lands Atlantic Homelife Senior Care; Help at Home Completes Multiple Acquisitions

HouseWorks makes move in key market

The independent home care company HouseWorks has acquired Atlantic Homelife Senior Care. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Boston, HouseWorks offers mainly private-pay in-home care services to older adults in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, plus Philadelphia and parts of Maine. In addition to traditional home care services, HouseWorks — founded more than two decades ago — also helps clients with certain home-modification needs.

While announcing the news, HouseWorks described Atlantic Homelife Senior Care as “one of the leading private home care providers serving Seacoast New Hampshire and Southern Maine.”

“The acquisition creates one of the largest private-pay companies in the Seacoast New Hampshire and Southern Maine region, with more than 200 caregivers between Atlantic Homelife Senior Care and Extended Family, which HouseWorks acquired in 2019,” HouseWorks CEO Michael Trigilio told Home Health Care News in an email.

Atlantic Homelife, based in Dover, New Hampshire, has been providing in-home care since 2011.

The company is led by founder and registered nurse Martha Berk, who will continue to helm the company following the closing.

Help at Home buys Meridius Health, Altamaha’s home care division

Chicago-based Help at Home has acquired two home care assets: Pennsylvania-based Meridius Health and the non-clinical business of Georgia-based Altamaha HomeCare. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Help at Home provides home care to 67,000 clients through 169 locations spread across 13 states. It employs nearly 30,000 caregivers across its footprint, with Meridius Health and Altamaha adding roughly 300 in-home care professionals.

The acquisitions are part of Help at Home’s larger inorganic growth strategy, which is focused on building concentration in existing markets to better serve clients and support caregivers.

“Our local market density combined with our national scale and capabilities has enabled us to build a differentiated infrastructure to support our clients, caregivers and [payer] partners,” Chief Growth and Strategy Officer Elina Onitskansky said in a statement. “It’s this unique market positioning, as well as our reputation as a trusted brand, that makes Help at Home a compelling acquisition partner in the home care space.”

The M&A activity for Help at Home comes the same month it launched “HealthyMATCH,” a new model of care designed to equip caregivers with the right digital tools to log important health information.

Excelin closes on home health, hospice deals

Excelin Health, a super-regional home health and hospice platform, has acquired three Texas-based hospice providers as well as a home health business in Lafayette, Louisiana, for undisclosed sums.

Strategically, the purchases allow Excelin to expand into new markets and offer new services in existing ones, according to the company. The home health deal was for Grace Home Health, which delivers nursing and therapy care to patients mostly living in Lafayette, Eunice and New Iberia.

Grace was founded in 2015 by Tim Bergeron. Moving forward, the provider’s locations will be added to Excelin’s 19 other branch locations, which operate in several major metropolitan and rural markets in Texas and California.

Dallas, Texas-based Excelin is a Corinthian Capital portfolio company.

“The acquisitions of Texas hospice licenses and Grace Home Health represent Excelin’s fourth and fifth investments as part of our consolidation strategy in the home health and hospice space”, Jackson Yang, vice president of Corinthian and a board member of Excelin, said in a press release. “We are very excited about Excelin’s expansion into Louisiana in partnership with the Grace team, who we believe shares our goals of building a leading home health provider focused on driving better patient outcomes. Our view remains that the post-acute care model will continue to evolve and shift to a cost-effective home-based care setting.”

New York-based Corinthian Capital is a PE firm targeting investments in services, niche manufacturing and distribution with EBITDA between $5 million and $30 million.

As of last November, Excelin had roughly 500 employees and served about 2,000 clients.

Encompass Health, Baptist Health expand home health JV

Encompass Health Corp. (NYSE: EHC) and Baptist Health South Florida have expanded a joint venture agreement to include the Baptist Health home health agency in Miami. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Baptist Health South Florida is the largest health care organization in the region, with 11 hospitals, several outpatient centers and tens of thousands of employees.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based Encompass Health offers both facility-based and home-based care through its network of in-patient rehab hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. Its overall footprint includes 144 hospitals, 249 home health locations and 95 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico.

“We are excited about expanding our partnership with Baptist Health South Florida,” Barb Jacobsmeyer, chief executive officer of Encompass Health’s home health and hospice business, said in a statement. “As a national provider of home health and hospice services, we look forward to continuing to help Baptist Health South Florida further enhance its mission of improving the health and well-being of individuals and to promote the sanctity and preservation of life, in the communities they serve.”

The JV expansion will add Encompass Health’s home health services to the Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, complementing its existing in-patient rehab services in the market.

Encompass Health continues to explore strategic alternatives for its home health and hospice business, likely via either a potential sale or spinoff.

Amedisys opens new home health centers

Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) has closed on its acquisition of regulatory assets allowing the company to establish home health centers serving the Charlotte and Raleigh markets in North Carolina.

Under the terms of the agreement, Amedisys acquired the right to expand certified home health services in Mecklenburg County and Wake County, along with the surrounding counties of Union, Wayne, Wilson, Stanley and Anson.

Amedisys will open two startup centers to serve patients in the Charlotte and Raleigh markets, providing access to more than 350,000 Medicare beneficiaries and more than 100,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees.

“Expanding our footprint across these two key medical markets enables us to provide high-quality care to more patients in coordination with numerous forward-thinking health care providers,” Amedisys Home Health President Tammy Peebles-Forrest said in a statement.

The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys delivers home health, hospice and other in-home care services across 527 care centers in 38 states and the District of Columbia.