Home Health and Hospice M&A Activity Rose in Q4: 2019, According to Acquisition Data from Healthcaremanda.com

NORWALK, Conn., Jan. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Deal volume in the home health and hospice sector rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2019, up 5% with 21 publicly announced transactions, compared with 20 acquisitions in the third quarter, according to data from HealthCareMandA.com. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2018, home health and hospice M&A activity surged by 40%, versus only 15 acquisitions announced then. Only two transactions disclosed prices in the fourth quarter for a total of $93.1 million. In the third quarter, the total dollar value was $1.2 billion, based on six disclosed prices.

The largest transaction in the quarter was Amedisys, Inc.'s $64.5 million acquisition of Asana Hospice, a Texas-based agency with eight locations in Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Of the 21 deals announced, six targeted hospice-only organizations and four were for personal care services exclusively.

"With the imposition of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model on January 1 of this year, many investors have turned to the hospice segment, where reimbursement issues have improved," said Lisa E. Phillips, editor of The Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. "All the publicly traded companies have assured investors they are fully prepared for the rule changes made by CMS. But many smaller agencies, mostly mom-and-pops, are expected to close or sell rather than struggle to comply with the new model. If that happens, valuations may dip and even more private equity buyers may enter the market."

All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A Report, which is part of the HealthCareMandA.com investment research source. For sector-specific research and analysis, please see The Home Health and Hospice Acquisition Report 2019. For information, or to order the reports, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates is celebrating more than 70 years of delivering exclusive M&A intelligence to its sophisticated audience of seniors housing and healthcare investors. The company was established in 1948 and has headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. The company publishes research reports and newsletters and maintains databases on the healthcare and senior housing M&A markets.

SOURCE HealthCareMandA.com