Trilogy Health Services today announced plans to expand into Wisconsin starting with two facilities, bringing its roster of campuses to nearly 130 across five states.

The newly acquired properties – Sun Prairie Senior Living and Waunakee Valley Senior Living – both offer post-acute health care services. Both also offer assisted living, and Waunakee has an independent living component.

It will be the first new state expansion for Trilogy in just under two decades, according to COO Todd Mehaffey. The last time Trilogy added a state to its footprint was in 2006 with a property in Michigan.

Louisville, Ky.-based Trilogy currently operates 130 campuses across Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, along with Kentucky and now Wisconsin.

“This is going to be a lot of fun – and a big challenge,” Mehaffey told Skilled Nursing News. “We’re looking at building out new campuses in the state of Wisconsin. That is quite a big undertaking for us.”

The team at Trilogy, with an unnamed partner, planned to acquire management rights and contracts for the campuses in Wisconsin before purchasing beds and land to build “true Trilogy prototype buildings,” said Mehaffey.

Leigh Ann Barney, Trilogy CEO, said it is exciting to see such growth and development, with Trilogy having just marked its 25th year as a company.

Trilogy’s goal is to keep its campuses in the Midwest, Mehaffey said – no flyover states. The corporate team doesn’t want staff driving more than a day to get where they need to go. Trilogy has had the opportunity to break into states further south or west, but declined.

The operator’s strength lies in being centrally located, being able to leverage its divisional footprint.

“It’s a great state, the reimbursement structure, the economics of the state work well for us, and they’re contiguous,” he added. “The Midwest is kind of our sweet spot.”

The expansion comes as Trilogy builds out its clinical capabilities, most recently with the appointment of its first-ever chief medical officer, Dr. Andrew McNamara.

Multi-year efforts, with the pandemic acting as a “springboard” of sorts to enhance clinical care and keep residents out of the hospital, will also be rewarded by value-based care frameworks steadily increasing in the skilled nursing space.