DispatchHealth Tuesday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Medically Home, which would create one of the nation’s largest providers of home-based healthcare services.
The combined company would offer an array of home-based medical services, including urgent care, acute-level care and skilled nursing to patients in 50 metropolitan markets across 23 states and the District of Columbia, with approximately 2,200 employees.
Related: Hospital-at-home programs in limbo with waiver uncertainty
Neither company would disclose financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the middle of the year, pending regulatory approval.
“We feel strongly that patients need more access to care," DispatchHealth CEO Jennifer Webster said. "Our partners face capacity constraints. We feel that by combining our two organizations we’ll actually increase access to high acuity care at home which is critical to stabilizing U.S. healthcare infrastructure.”
Webster would helm the combined company. Medically Home CEO Graham Barnes's role in the new organization isn't clear. Webster said the leadership team for the company would be announced at a later date.
Denver-based DispatchHealth partners with insurers and health systems to deliver urgent care, skilled nursing and acute-level care to patients at home. Boston-based Medically Home partners with health systems to deliver hospital-at-home services, primarily through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver.
While DispatchHealth and Medically Home offer similar services, the two companies operate differently. DispatchHealth delivers home-based care directly to patients. Medically Home provides the technology platform, logistics and some staffing to help health systems deliver care to patients where they live.
Webster said combining with Medically Home would help DispatchHealth expand to other markets and, eventually, to offer more home-based services.
“This is really about scaling, integrating and delivering high-acuity care in the home in a way that has never been delivered before,” Webster said. "DispatchHealth’s clinical delivery model and Medically Home’s enablement capabilities create an end-to-end solution which will create a platform for future opportunities.”
Integrating the technologies and operations of the two companies will be a primary focus over the next several months, said Dr. Pippa Shulman, Medically Home’s chief medical officer and chief strategy officer.
“Part of the integration is going to look at where those complements are and make sure that we are using the strengths of each company,” Shulman said. “As the industry has matured, it’s really clear that the future of high acuity care requires strong care delivery and seamless enablement.”
Both DispatchHealth and Medically Home have ridden the wave of care moving into the home since the COVID-19 pandemic.
DispatchHealth launched in 2013 and has raised nearly $700 million in venture capital from a variety of firms, such as Optum Ventures, Tiger Global, Alta Partners and Humana. The company has partnerships with major health insurers, including Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth.
Medically Home launched in 2016 and has raised nearly $275 million in funding through partnerships with Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Baxter International and Cardinal Health. The company provides hospital-at-home services to about 20 health systems, including Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente and Marshfield Clinic.
