Bon Secours Mercy Health is turning over management of its home health and hospice operations in five states to home-based care company Compassus through a partnership announced Friday.
The companies would not disclose financial terms of the 50-50 joint venture, which is subject to approval from state and federal regulators. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter, according to Compassus CEO David Grams.
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The joint venture reflects a trend among hospital systems in recent years to refocus on core operations and divest other services, including skilled nursing, home health and hospice.
Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health is the fifth largest Catholic health system in the U.S., with operations in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, South Carolina and Virginia. It operates five inpatient hospices and six home-based hospices, in addition to 10 home health operations.
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Compassus offers home health, hospice, palliative care and infusion services in 250 locations across 29 states. Grams said little overlap exists in the states where both Bon Secours Mercy Health and Compassus have operations.
Bon Secours Mercy Health is the second hospital system to offer home health and hospice services through Compassus. St. Louis-based Ascension Health and investment management company TowerBrook Capital Partners acquired Compassus in 2019. Since then, Compassus has been providing home-based care for Ascension.
That experience helped pave the way for the joint venture with Bon Secours Mercy Health, said Grams, and could lead to partnerships with other health systems.
“We have expanded Ascension’s access to care, dramatically improved their clinical quality and stewarded their resources better,” Grams said. “That is part of the story that we can take into other health systems.”
