Optum to Acquire Amedisys, Parent Company of SNF-at-Home Provider Contessa Health

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 […]

How Nursing Homes Can Find Value Via New Ways of Partnering with Managed Care Plans

As value-based care increasingly becomes more prevalent in the nursing home industry, providers continue to straddle traditional Medicare fee for service (FFS) and a plethora of managed care plans. But there are arrangements that can allow organizations to be both payer and provider, or partner with those that already occupy both worlds. Amy Kaszak, executive […]

Post-Acute, Senior Care Providers Must ‘Be the Answer’ for More Integrated Continuum

Skilled nursing and post-acute companies — and other providers serving older adults — must raise their games to deliver services within a new health care paradigm, as payers and consumers alike demand a more integrated continuum. In particular, post-acute and senior care companies must “be the answer” as large insurance companies seek ways to more […]

What Optum’s $5.4B LHC Group Acquisition Says About the Future of Skilled Nursing Care

Optum, the health services arm of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), has agreed to buy home health giant LHC Group (Nasdaq: LHCG) for a reported $5.4 billion.  The blockbuster deal is the latest indication that the nation’s largest health care payers are driving a shift toward value-based care models that prioritize more services delivered in people’s […]

The Trends That Will Shape Skilled Nursing in 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to put pressure on an already strained skilled nursing industry in 2021. The next 12 months will be yet another test of resilience. Looking ahead to 2022, SNFs must stay nimble and inventive to not only survive but thrive. Private equity will continue to lead the nursing home transaction market pack, […]

Home Health Giants Find Partners in Speeding Skilled Nursing Diversions Amid COVID ‘Fear Factor’

Home health operators aren’t the only players in post-acute and long-term care looking to capitalize on a weakened skilled nursing sector: As health systems and managed care insurers look to adapt their offerings to the post-COVID tastes of their patients, home health providers may find themselves with significant regulatory and payment tailwinds as they work […]

Home Health Giants Look to Accelerate Diversions, Capitalize on ‘Long Haul Back for the SNFs’ Post-COVID

Operators of post-acute care facilities have seen the steady diversion of patients to the home setting in recent years, and multiple home health heavyweights believe the COVID-19 pandemic will only accelerate that trend into the 2020s. The flow of hospital patients bypassing the institutional skilled nursing facility “is picking up more steam right now,” LHC […]