Compassus has signed an agreement to form a joint venture with the health system Providence. The partnership will include home health care, hospice, community-based palliative care and home care services. It is the latest example of Compassus’ overarching joint venture growth strategy.
“Providence at Home with Compassus” will be the name of the venture. In Lubbock, Texas, Providence’s Covenant Health hospice program will be rebranded as Covenant Health at Home with Compassus.
Compassus will manage operations within the joint venture, which includes 24 home health hospice locations in Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington; 17 hospice and palliative care locations in Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas; and home care services in Southern California.
Mike Asselta was named the CEO of Compassus earlier this year. In a recent discussion with Home Health Care News, he emphasized the importance of the company’s joint ventures.
“This is a core part of our strategy,” Asselta said. “We think that our alignment with health systems gives us a different and more interesting view on what the opportunity is with home care – home health, hospice, home infusion included. Those [service lines] are all part of our strategy with these JVs, and there will be more. This is a strategy that Compassus will continue pressing into.”
Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, Compassus provides a wide range of home-based care services. It has about 7,000 team members serving more than 270 locations across 30 states. It also recently partnered with Bon Secours Mercy Health, OhioHealth and Ascension.
Meanwhile, Providence is a nonprofit health system based in Renton, Washington. In addition to providing home-based care to its patients, the organization has 51 hospitals, more than 800 non-acute facilities, and assisted living facilities across the Western U.S.
The deal is still subject to regulatory review.
“As Compassus is growing its home health footprint across the U.S., we’re gaining assets with these joint ventures,” Asselta said. “We’re gaining more assets, more programs and people on the ground to serve. The other thing is, we’re getting a terrific brand name in the market for us to go out and address the community. There are a lot of health systems in these catchment areas with our joint ventures that don’t have their own home health or or home care assets at large. So it gives us an opportunity to take our joint venture and market to the communities with that terrific branding.”
Providence said that it chose Compassus due to the latter’s “proven track record for high-quality home-based care,” as well as its “technology and devices” that will further support nurses and caregivers.
“Serving people in their home, many of whom are at their most vulnerable, is sacred work and a deeply held part of the Providence mission. As our communities age, we have been thoughtfully evaluating how to best meet the growing need for these services,” Terri Warren, Providence’s chief of community services, said in a statement. “Compassus shares our commitment to these services and will enable us to expand access to care in the comfort of home.”