The second day of Home Health Care News’ FUTURE event began with an off-the-record breakfast conversation between HHCN+ subscribers. To kick the day off, I decided to poll the room by asking, “Does anyone in here have a Medicare Advantage success story that they could share with us?” The idea was to get a personal […]
Optum
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) home health proposed payment rule – which would slash rates by 2.2%, or an estimated $375 million less compared to 2023 levels – drew the ire of the industry’s heaviest hitters during the public comment period. The comments were critical of the proposed rule itself. They […]
On May 3, Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) and Option Care Health (Nasdaq: OPCH) issued a joint press release announcing their intent to merge. By June 5, those plans were complicated, with Amedisys revealing it had received a competing bid from UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) Optum. They were then scrapped entirely when, on the morning of […]
Home-based care dealmaking trends generally give a good idea of what’s going on in the space at large. They show you where the money is headed, and where it’s not. They show you where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) stroke of the pen has impacted investment or transaction activity. The trends show […]
UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) Optum has a new leader, one that will have a hand in integrating and leveraging two of the largest home health companies in the country in LHC Group and Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED). Dr. Amar Desai – an Optum veteran who most recently spent time as the president of health care […]
Although leaders at UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) were relatively quiet about the deal for its Optum arm to acquire Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) during a Friday Q2 earnings call, they did touch on the high-level strategic fit. In fact, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty doubled down on his company’s focus and investment in the home […]
UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) Optum snatched Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) away from Option Care Health (Nasdaq: OPCH) at the end of June. If the $3.3 billion acquisition is finalized, Optum will own about 10% of the home health care market. It would represent a seismic shift for a traditionally mom-and-pop industry. It would represent consolidation, […]
Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) and Optum – the diversified health care services arm of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) – have agreed to combine. Under terms of the deal, announced early Monday, Optum will acquire the home health and hospice giant Amedisys in an all-cash transaction for $101 per share. That figure puts a roughly $3.3 […]
Home health providers are in a challenging operating environment, despite their services being more in demand than ever. Their leaders are trying to grapple with those two realities. They want to be the ones that benefit from higher demand, instead of another outsider like UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) Optum, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) or any […]
Rising costs, the return of Medicare sequestration, labor shortages and higher patient acuity levels have all contributed to health systems struggling financially over the past 18 months. Since the start of the year, at least half a dozen hospitals have either closed or announced plans to close. To stay afloat, many others have opted to […]