Optum, the diversified care delivery arm of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), has reached an agreement to acquire home health giant Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED), which provides skilled nursing facility-at-home services via Contessa Health.
Optum emerged as a suitor for Amedisys earlier this month, after the home health giant had previously announced a deal to combine with Option Care Health (Nasdaq: OPCH).
And the acquisition of Amedisys comes after Optum last year acquired another home health powerhouse — LHC Group — in a $5.4 billion deal.
Optum has offered value-based care plans for more than 20 years, with the organization growing its relationship with provider-led institutional special needs plans (I-SNPs), as well as chronic condition, dual eligible and institutional-equivalent SNPs run by the provider. I-SNPs operate as dedicated Medicare Advantage plans only for long-term residents of nursing homes or other institutional sites of care. Operators can either create their own or partner with companies such as Optum to provide back-end and clinical support.
SNN has reported on how Optum’s model relies on a more intensive care plan, with nurse practitioners from the insurer working alongside skilled nursing staffers to enhance clinical capabilities. Optum serves about 70,000 I-SNP members nationwide, according to the company’s website.
Meanwhile, in interviews with SNN, executives at Contessa Health shared anecdotally that the SNF-at-model is garnering more interest as hospitals have faced challenges in discharging residents to post-acute settings.
“We have seen our post-acute or SNF-at-home model continue to grow as the model becomes more accepted, just like hospital-at-home has,” Contessa’s senior vice president of operations, Kendall Hagood, told SNN in early April. “It’s a little bit behind the hospital [at] home model, but we do see it continue to grow and more and more patients interested in receiving their care at home.”
The ongoing hurdles facing the nursing home sector will likely help Contessa to grow its SNF-at-home model and partnership with 11 health systems and 30 health plan partners as of Oct. 2022.
Under terms of the Amedisys and Optum deal, Optum will acquire the home health and hospice giant Amedisys in an all-cash transaction for $101 per share. Optum previously made a bid to buy Amedisys in an all-cash transaction for $100 per share.
“The combination of Amedisys with Optum unites two organizations dedicated to providing compassionate, value-based comprehensive care to patients and their families,” Amedisys wrote in an announcement.
Companies featured in this article:
Amedisys, LHC Group, Option Care Health, Optum, UnitedHealth Group