Empath Health is a company in transition.
In the spring, it completed an affiliation process with Trustbridge, which formed the largest nonprofit post-acute provider organization in the state of Florida.
The Clearwater, Florida-based Empath Health offers hospice, home health care, palliative care, grief services, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), adult day services, primary care services and more. It is the parent company of 17 affiliates and two philanthropic foundations.
On its end, West Palm Beach-based Trustbridge offers palliative care, hospice care, support services, pharmacy services and durable medical equipment.
Since completion of the affiliation process, the company has focused on integration, synergistic opportunities and determining how best to deliver care to the communities it serves.
One of the people at the helm of this transition is Tarrah Lowry, Empath Health’s chief operating officer and Trustbridge’s interim president. Home Health Care News recently caught up with her at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice’s (NAHC) Financial Management Conference in Las Vegas.
During the conversation, Lowry provided an update on integration efforts, industry challenges and how the combined companies are now better equipped to take on these pain points.
HHCN: We are at NAHC FMC, so I have to ask, what are the biggest financial or operational challenges for home health providers right now? How are these pain points impacting Empath Health specifically?
Lowry: One of the things, being in Florida, is that pre-claim review has just been extended. That just adds more work and time to all of our claims before they go out. Just getting paid by everyone that you’re contracted with is huge, and then also just the auditing processes that go on.
How is Empath Health navigating these challenges?
One of the things that has been wonderful is we’ve brought together all of the different organizations that have come together as Empath health, so we’ve got a lot of talent. We’re really picking from all of the organizations where someone has a lot of experience with billing, and we have wonderful financial staff that are looking through things and keeping us going.
What impact has the completion of the Empath Health, Trustbridge affiliation process had on the company? What has that experience been like?
Anytime organizations come together, you’re merging cultures. I think that one of the greatest assets is the culture at Empath Health, and the one at Trustbridge, really merge well together.
Culturally, we’re a great fit for one another, and we’ve got a lot of talent on both sides. Being able to bring everyone together has been wonderful. Anytime you bring organizations together, there’s always growing pains of getting everyone on the same systems, adopting the same policies and procedures, all those things that are kind of done in the background. There is a lot of work that most of the colleagues, probably, don’t see happening. But it’s been a very positive experience so far.
Where are the biggest opportunities for collaboration between the Empath side and the Trustbridge side?
Trustbridge was a very large hospice and palliative care provider on the east coast of Florida, but that was all of the service lines that were being offered. Empath Health has the whole care scope of all different types of services. Trustbridge was super excited to be able to learn more about those types of things and bring some of those into our markets.
We were selected to be a part of the GUIDE Model program with CMMI. We have a whole team that’s working on getting that going, and figuring out which areas that we serve would be the best to start that in. There’s so many people that are living with dementia, and they have a lot of needs. We’re very excited that CMMI has come up with this program.
Talking about the affiliation process leads me to ask: What’s Empath Health’s appetite for M&A these days? Is the company open to pursuing deals, and if so, what are you looking for in terms of acquisition targets?
We’re looking at the full life care continuum, and we’re trying to see what the needs are of all of these patients. So we’re very open to new business partners and new ideas.
A good example would be, we have PACE programs. We are now doing the GUIDE Model program. We are just starting a partnership for I-SNP. We’re really looking at how we can best care for people where they are, and at the level of care that they need during that time.
We would be open to expansions, but it’s really based on what the needs are in the communities we serve. We’re not wanting to just grow, just to grow. We’re really trying to be thoughtful of which communities need our services. We’re not necessarily setting out to be the biggest — but we do want to be the best.
Looking ahead, what are going to be the biggest financial drivers at Empath Health over the next few years?
For home health, we are being very deliberate in our growth and the communities that need our services. Empath Health is a four star home health provider, and we’re very proud of that. We have a lot of opportunities to partner in different communities with some of the hospitals, they’ve asked us to be their preferred provider. There’s a lot of activity going on, but we’re trying to be very deliberate.
What are some of your goals for the rest of the year?
We are just right on the heels of the merger with Trustbridge, so our biggest goal is still integration — integrating our cultures, integrating our colleagues, so that everyone feels a part of Empath Health.
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