Transactions: Traditions Health Enters Kansas Home Health Market; 24 Hour Home Care Acquires Bright Moon Care

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Traditions Health announces Serenity Health Management acquisition

Traditions Health continues to be acquisitive.

The College Station, Texas-based home health and hospice agency announced the acquisition of Serenity Health Management last week, moving it into Kansas for the first time from a home health perspective.

Serenity is also a provider of both home health and hospice with locations in both Wichita and Hutchinson.

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“I am extremely excited to strengthen our existing presence in Kansas,” David Klementz, president and CEO of Traditions, said in a press release. “We could not be more thrilled to welcome the incoming employees and patients into the Traditions family.”

Prior to his appointment as president and CEO of Traditions last year, Klementz was the chief strategy officer at Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC).

Traditions Health provides home health, hospice and palliative care to more than 7,500 patients across 17 states. It is a portfolio company of the investment firm Dorilton Capital Advisors.

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The M&A firm Agenda Health served as the advisor to Serenity in the deal. Though Traditions already has an established hospice footprint in Kansas, the acquisition will now allow it to provide home health care services in the state as well.

“This was a great launching pad for [Traditions] because the seller was one of the leaders in the state growing very rapidly and owner-founded, which buyers tend to like,” Agenda Health CEO Al Veach told Home Health Care News. “This family-owned business hasn’t been changing hands. It was a good fit for Dorilton, the funding partner and Traditions, the flagship.”

At this point, Veach still believes home health care offers great buying opportunities for acquisitive providers, particularly compared to hospice, which is coming more at a premium price.

Because a hospice footprint was already established in the state for Traditions, bringing home health into the picture made sense from a strategic standpoint.

“I’m seeing a trend towards an interest in combination businesses, so that you get good value out of the purchase of the home health, but of course you get the feed that comes into the hospice,” Veach said. “All of these things drive referrals into these other segments. Building those ecosystems seems to be the focus, more so than any particular leg of that ecosystem.”

24 Hour Home Care acquires Bright Moon Care

The Los Angeles-based 24 Hour Home Care has acquired Bright Moon Care Services. The deal was made effective on Feb. 28.

TEAM Services Group – a portfolio company of Alpine Investors – acquired 24 Hour Home Care at the end of last year. The company had been independent up until that point.

With a primary investor now involved, it’s becoming more aggressive in its M&A strategy, and is aiming to become “one of the largest home care providers in the nation. The Bright Moon Care Services acquisition will allow the company to expand into Ventura County, California.

“This is a great opportunity to impact more lives by combining a shared purpose and bringing a forward-thinking agency under the 24 Hour Home Care brand,” Ryan Iwamoto, president and co-founder of 24 Hour Home Care, said in a statement. “Acquiring Bright Moon Care Services bolsters our core offering, strengthens our key community relationships and further defines our footprint in Ventura County.”

Currently, 24 Hour Home Care has about 20 locations across California, Arizona and Texas.

“Joining the 24 Hour Home Care brand was a synergistic fit and simply made sense,” Vineet Dua, the founder of Bright Moon Care Services, said in a statement. “After experiencing the ups and downs of the home care industry as a privately held owner, I was thrilled to experience a seamless acquisition process and look forward to continued positive client outcomes in the Ventura area.”

The Los Angeles-based health system PIH Health also recently launched an in-home care business line with 24 Hour Home Care.

WellSky announces TapCloud acquisition

The post-acute software and technology company WellSky has announced that it intends to acquire TapCloud.

TapCloud is a virtual engagement technology company that helps “patients, caregivers and clinicians communicate crucial information in real time to achieve better health outcomes.” To do so, it utilizes its AI-driven platform, which is designed to enable providers to deploy care interventions aimed at reducing preventable hospital readmissions.

“WellSky is connecting every part of health and community care, and TapCloud represents a significant addition to our suite of solutions,” WellSky CEO Bill Miller said in a statement. “By adding these robust capabilities, WellSky will further extend our position as the leading technology and analytics partner across the continuum.”

WellSky also recently announced that it has rebranded Healthify, which it acquired last year, to WellSky Social Care Coordination.

That acquisition was made to help bolster the company’s ability to “facilitate better care coordination between payers, providers, health systems and community organizations.”

“Together, WellSky and TapCloud will enable providers to make evidence-based decisions, powered by actionable analytics,” Miller said. “With this new level of patient visibility, our clients can achieve better outcomes, lower costs, and ultimately, succeed in value-based care.”

ChristianaCare launches Hospital-at-Home Program

In tandem with Medically Home, the nonprofit regional health system ChristianaCare has launched its own hospital-at-home program.

Since December, it has cared for more than a dozen patients in the program.

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare’s network includes primary care, outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals comprised of 1,299 beds and a freestanding emergency department, among other care centers and services.

“One of the things we’ve learned in a short time about the hospital care at home program is how patient-centered this approach is and how we’re able to customize the care we deliver,” Sarah Schenck, the medical director of the program, said in a press release. “Most of the things we can do in the hospital we can also do at home. And it turns out patients really prefer that venue.”

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program has allowed hundreds of health systems and hospitals to provide hospital-level care in patients’ homes since the onset of COVID-19.

Some have already provided care to more than 1,000 patients, while others like ChristianaCare are still getting started.

Thus, the beneficiaries of the program are hoping that the waiver gets extended past the public health emergency, which it is currently tied to.

Walgreens and VillageMD move into New Hampshire

Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) and VillageMD – a home- and community-focused primary care provider – announced plans recently to expand primary care practices into the state of New Hampshire.

The goal is to first open a practice in April in Hooksett, with other locations coming after in Manchester and Nashua.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has invested over $6 billion in VillageMD over the last couple of years. Together, the organizations are looking to transform primary care in the U.S., taking on more high-risk and underserved patient populations on the way.

VillageMD and Walgreens are aiming to open 600 Village Medical at Walgreens primary care practices in more than 30 U.S. markets by 2025. By 2027, they hope that number reaches 1,000, with more than half being located in “medically underserved communities.”

“Combining VillageMD’s expertise in primary care with Walgreens experienced pharmacy teams and community presence means we’re now able to offer more patients an accessible, comprehensive and convenient health care experience,” Jeffrey Corbett, a Village Medical primary care physician, said in a statement. “We want to remove as many barriers and obstacles to health care as we can while offering high-quality, trusted care.”

As of 2018, approximately 77,000 New Hampshire residents lacked access to health care coverage, according to the press release.

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