Option Care Health (NYSE: OPCH), the home-based and alternate site infusion services provider, had one heck of a 2023. But, about six months removed from its failed attempt to acquire Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), it still remains a home-based care provider worth paying attention to.
On Tuesday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the company’s leaders laid out their strategy moving forward. They also didn’t take future home health M&A off the table, but did offer a few key caveats.
In October, Option Care Health CEO John C. Rademacher explained that home health and hospice were unique service lines that would have created an “end-to-end continuum” in the home for the company.
Still, he also explained that Amedisys was the apple of the company’s eye, and not just home health and hospice generally.
“We really thought the Amedisys was unique in its capability set,” Rademacher said. “Certainly with its reach, in the star ratings, as well as some of its additional capabilities with Contessa Health and some of the other aspects of that. So, not all home health assets are created equal on that.”
Based in Bannockburn, Illinois, Option Care Health is one of the nation’s largest independent providers of home and alternate site infusion services. It provides those services across all 50 states, with over 7,500 team members and 4,500 clinicians underneath its umbrella.
Option Care Health agreed to acquire Amedisys – one of the largest home health and hospice companies in the country – in May of last year. In June, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum lured Amedisys away with a superior, all-cash offer for Amedisys. That deal is still pending.
On Tuesday, CFO Mike Shapiro explained that there were acquisitive opportunities still out there, but that the company was not looking for a splashy “M&A headline.”
“The good news is we’re in a position where we have, again, a very strong performing base business,” Shapiro said. “We don’t feel the pressure. Of all the things John and I think about, getting an M&A headline is not one of them. And so we have the ability to be very patient and thoughtful.”
Rademacher added that Option Care Health “learned a lot from the Amedisys exercise.”
“We see a number of very attractive opportunities on the M&A front that we think can be both strategic … and compelling [economically],” he said.
Both Rademacher and Shapiro seemed to suggest more M&A was on the way for the company in the near-term future.
“The good news is this isn’t a large neighborhood,” Shapiro said. “We know the folks that live on the street, we know those providers and those assets that are attractive. And we’re not just waiting for a banker to ring our bell, we proactively correspond with folks that we think would represent an attractive combination. More to come on this front.”
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