UnitedHealth Group's Optum and Amedisys filed documents with the Securities and Exhange Commission Friday to sell some home health and hospice locations to VitalCaring Group amid antitrust concerns over the insurance giant's deal to buy Amedisys.
The companies signed a purchase agreement with VitalCaring Group and its parent company, VCG Luna, but financial details and the number of locations included in the deal were not disclosed. The sale is contingent on a number of conditions, including UnitedHealth Group’s purchase of Amedisys, according to the filing.
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UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys would not comment on the proposed sale. A spokesperson for Dallas-based VitalCaring Group said the acquisition of the Amedisys locations shows the company’s growth plan.
Optum inked a $3.3 billion all-cash deal a year ago to purchase Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys just months after Optum closed on its acquisition of home health and hospice company LHC Group for $5.4 billion.
Amedisys and LHC Group are among the nation’s largest providers of home health and hospice services. Both operate in 37 states and the District of Columbia, with a heavy concentration of locations in the South. VitalCaring Group operates approximately 60 locations in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.
A sale of Amedisys locations to VitalCaring Group could help alleviate federal and state antitrust concerns over Optum’s purchase of Amedisys. The Justice Department launched an investigation into the deal, according to a February report by the Wall Street Journal.
In March, Oregon said it was investigating the merger over concerns the combination could stifle competition for home health and hospice services in that state. Oregon’s investigation is expected to wrap in a few months.
