Transactions: Intermountain Health Acquires Advent Home Health; Empath, Trustbridge Pursue Affiliation

Advent Home Health joins Intermountain Health

On Sept. 5, Intermountain Health announced that the Nevada-based Advent Home Health had officially joined its network. 

The Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health has a network that spans across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Kansas. It has a health plan, 33 hospitals, 385 clinics and Intermountain at Home, which provides primary care, acute care and home health care.

Advent Health, meanwhile, is a Las Vegas-based provider of nursing care, therapy, rehab and medical social work services.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

“The addition of Advent Home Health underscores our commitment to increasing access to home care for a greater number of individuals – and especially at-risk patients – in southern Nevada,” Ryan Christensen, region VP of medical group operations for Intermountain Health, said in a statement. “This focus on providing care to patients in the comfort of their own home, particularly those who may have recently been discharged from the hospital or those with long-term health conditions, helps contribute to improved outcomes, fewer hospital readmissions, and continuity of care.”

Moving forward, Advent Home Health will operate as Intermountain Health Homecare.

“We’re excited to join with Intermountain to share our expertise and continue caring for patients throughout the Las Vegas Valley,” Claudine Wynot, a nursing administrator for Intermountain Health Homecare, said in a statement. “This is an important development for our communities as we work to ensure patients have access to high-quality, value-based care.”

At Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference last month, Intermountain at Home Medical Director Dr. Nathan Starr laid out Intermountain Health’s lofty near- and long-term home-based care goals.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Advent Home Health team to Intermountain, expanding our ability to care for patients across their entire journey,” Dr. Cara Camiolo, region chief medical officer for Intermountain Health, also said in a statement. “Delivering convenient, affordable care to patients in the home setting not only contributes to their positive experience with health care, but to their overall health outcomes.”

Empath Health, Trustbridge on path to merger

Empath Health and Trustbridge – two nonprofit post-acute care providers – have signed a memorandum of understanding to begin an affiliation process.

The Clearwater, Florida-based Empath Health provides hospice, home health care, palliative care, grief services, all-inclusive elder care, primary care, physician services and more. It is the parent company of 17 affiliates and two philanthropic foundations.

Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trustbridge provides palliative care, hospice care, grief support services, pharmacy services and durable medical equipment.

“We’re going to be able to save some money financially on health insurance and on bringing contracts together and that sort of thing,” Trustbridge COO Tarrah Lowry Lowry told Hospice News. “We can look at both programs and see things that Trustbridge is really good at and the things the Empath is really good at and be able to share our best practices. That is going to make both of us even better.”

Discussions began over a year ago, Empath Health CEO Jonathan Fleece said.

“Trustbridge, when they learned about Empath’s expansion into a lot of our full-life care services — home health, our complete care division, which includes PACE and other value-based initiatives — they started to get intrigued and interested about how our direction towards could bring new services and programs to the Palm Beach, Broward County, south Florida area,” Fleece said.

Ultimately, the transaction will widen the service capabilities and scale of Empath Health, expanding it into Florida’s East Coast.

Each organization’s leaders believe the move would give the combined organization a better chance at competing with larger organizations, especially in payer negotiations, as Lowry mentioned.

“We believe strongly that, especially for the not-for-profits, to continue to thrive we have to be creating new systems, clinical models, care team models, processes, technology and innovation,” Fleece said. “We have to be creating all of those fundamental components to providing extraordinary care. We have to create those models in a standardized way so that we can continue to scale and grow and have more resources to put to the clinical focus.”

Pennant acquires Valor HospiceCare

On the first day of September, The Pennant Group (Nasdaq: PNTG) announced the acquisition of Valor HospiceCare.

The company also acquired the Idaho-based Bluebird Home Health, Bluebird Hospice and Bluebird Home Care in June.

“We are pleased to expand our operations in the state of Arizona, complementing our Emblem Hospice and Agape Hospice agencies in Tucson and Green Valley, and expanding into Sierra Vista with Valor HospiceCare,” Pennant CEO Brent Guerisoli said in a statement. “Valor has a long standing and deep connection in the communities it serves, and we are honored to carry on this progress, providing life-changing service to the residents of Tucson, Green Valley, and Sierra Vista and their surrounding communities.”

Pennant is a holding company of independent operating subsidiaries, including 99 home health and hospice agencies and 51 senior living communities located across Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The company considers home health and hospice M&A to be a core pillar of its near-term strategy.

Evergreen Healthcare Group acquires EmpRes Healthcare’s facility-based operations

Evergreen Healthcare Group is acquiring 46 senior care facilities from EmpRes Healthcare Management, which is the owner of the home-based care provider Eden Health. Those facilities will operate as EmpRes Operated by Evergreen moving forward.

Eden Health is not a part of the deal, however. EmpRes CEO Brent Weil will now lead Eden Health moving forward.

“With the separation of EmpRes and Eden, I am excited to continue leading Eden Health,” Weil said in a statement. “This move allows us to concentrate on our strengths while ensuring that EmpRes centers are in capable hands with Evergreen Healthcare Group. Our shared dedication to quality care assures a bright future for both organizations.”

Based in Washington, Eden Health provides home health, hospice and private-duty care services in 43 locations across eight states.

Together in Caring acquires Inspire Care of Central New York’s care management practice

Together in Caring has acquired Inspire Care of Central New York’s care management practice. The latter’s physical care practice was not included in the deal.

“For over 12 years, Inspire Care has been a model of excellence in the private duty elder care management field thanks to the leadership of owner Rebecca Auyer and her team,” Together in Caring CEO Mark McDermott said in a statement. “We are so proud to inherit their success and have the chance to help build on it.”

Inspire Care of Central New York will continue to operate under the same name.

Based in Rochester, New York, Together in Caring providers care management and care coordination services. It helps families find senior living and home care for loved ones as they age.