Kindred Healthcare announced Monday it plans to buy Senior Home Care in a deal worth $95 million.
The move is the latest effort by the Louisville-based healthcare services firm to expand the scope of its care-management division, Kindred at Home, that was created in August to improve care transitions and includes its home health business. The purchase of Senior Home Care, which operates 47 locations in Florida and Louisiana, represents a large push into the home-care field.
In August, Kindred also acquired Cleveland-based provider Western Reserve Senior Care, a physician-led primary-care practice that provides care in home-based settings.
“This transaction provides us a tremendous opportunity to continue the expansion of our post-acute services in Florida and Louisiana and supports the growing interest among patients, physicians, hospital systems and public and private payers for high-quality, patient-centered integrated care,” said Kindred CEO Paul J. Diaz in a written release. “We look forward to Senior Home Care's team joining our organization and contributing their knowledge and expertise.”
Experts believe similar types of transactions are likely to occur in the coming years as post-acute care providers and health plans face challenges arising from the adoption by state Medicaid programs of integrated managed-care models stressing coordination of care between physical, post-acute and behavioral-care providers. That may leave many smaller, independent providers with the choice of joining larger firms to stay afloat.
According to Kindred, the transaction is expected to be financed with operating cash flows and proceeds from its revolving credit facility. The acquisition of Senior Home Care is expanding Kindred's footprint in the Southeast, where the company currently operates 10 long-term acute-care hospitals in Florida as well as one transitional care hospital in Louisiana. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to Kindred.
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