Choice Health at Home is acquiring the Oklahoma City-based Accentra Home Health and Hospice. The company has also closed on $260 million of new leveraged capital to continue expanding throughout the Southwestern U.S., Choice CEO David Jackson told Home Health Care News.

Since its founding, Choice has executed nearly 50 deals. Since its recapitalization – it is backed by Coltala Holdings and Trive Capital – the company has executed 20 deals. Based in Texas, Choice also has a presence in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

The acquisition of Accentra Home Health will significantly bolster Choice’s Oklahoma footprint. Following integration, it will be able to cover 90% of the state’s urban and rural geographies, according to the company. Accentra will also eventually rebrand to Choice Health at Home.

Jackson was impressed by Accentra’s continuum focus, and specifically how its home health and hospice arms interacted with each other. With Choice’s focus on building the continuum in the home, Accentra was a perfect fit in one of its existing markets.

“This will improve the lives of our nurses, there will be less travel time and more density of patients in the metro areas,” Jackson said. “But also, it gives us the license numbers in the state to really be able to reach out and touch people in the rural areas as well. So, from a strategic planning perspective, we want to cover the Southwest, with Oklahoma included. Within that, we’re really intent on providing care in rural and urban settings, and this gives us the opportunity to do so.”

Choice provides home health care, hospice, home care and rehab services across the aforementioned states. On its end, Accentra provides home health and hospice, with an about 500-patient census.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Joining forces with Choice Health at Home marks a pivotal chapter in our journey to redefine home health care in Oklahoma,” Accentra CEO Trent Smith said in a statement shared with HHCN. “Since founding Accentra, we’ve led the company through transformative industry changes – from PDGM to the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. … This merger is not merely a growth opportunity – it’s a testament to our unwavering commitment to providing every Oklahoman with exceptional, cutting-edge health care right at their doorstep.”

In addition to leading Accentra, Smith is the founder of Apricot, a home health AI platform that helps clinicians reduce their documentation time. Multiple home health providers – including Choice – are already using Apricot as a way to reduce turnover and increase productivity.

“Our strategic acquisitions and innovative initiatives, including our role in the development of Apricot, the industry’s first AI-driven documentation tool, have set new benchmarks in care efficiency,” Smith continued. “This fully integrated, innovative AI solution has revolutionized our operations, slashing documentation time for our clinical team by over 85%.”

Over the last few years, Choice has developed into a regional powerhouse in home health care. Founder-led, regional players have become few and far between over the last decade in the industry, but Choice is bucking that trend. Trina Lanier, the chief growth officer, has also helped lead the way.

“We’re very bullish on home health,” Jackson said. “It is the service line that we’ve been in the longest. We built a large hospice [census], a large personal care division, and we’ll continue to do so. But we think home health is a leader and just such a valuable tool for our patients. We’ve been working really hard in the Southwest, and we’re going to continue to do so.”

Choice’s goal is to build out comprehensive care capabilities for each patient in their home.

Both organic and inorganic growth have helped Choice do just that over the last few years, and the company plans to continue acquiring quality providers to further its mission in the coming years.

As part of that $260 million, Choice has a new $190 million senior credit facility with Oxford Finance LLC, AB Private Credit Investors and Maranon Capital, as well as a $70 million subordinated credit agreement with Athyrium Capital Management. That capital will help usher in even more larger-scale transactions in the future.

“I think 2025 is going to be a really exciting year from an M&A perspective, and we’ve put ourselves in a good position to execute,” Jackson said. “I think good financial stewardship is an imperative for any health care business, and this was a way to put ourselves in position to take advantage of the acquisitions, but then also maintain our leverage at a point where really smooth operations can be executed on.”

As for near-term future M&A, home health care and personal care will remain focal points for Choice.