By Stephen Tweed 
Louisville based Humana has just closed on a series of acquisitions that makes it the country’s largest provider of health care at home, and the second largest Medicare Advantage insurance plan.
On July 2, 2018, Humana announced that it had closed on the purchase of Kindred At Home, the home health and hospice arm of Kindred Health Care. This deal was done in partnership with two private equity firms. Humana will own 40% of Kindred at Home, which is the largest Medicare Certified Home Health Agency, with San Francisco-based TPG Capital and New York City-based Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe holding the remaining stake. Kindred At Home also has a growing in-home personal care business. 
Humana also announced that is will purchase Curo Health Services, a Mooresville, NC based provider of hospice care. When merged with Kindred At Home’s hospice services, this will create the country’s largest hospice provider.
This series of announcements reinforces three significant trends in the home care industry that we have been monitoring this spring and summer:
- The entry of private equity and venture capital firms into the home care space.
- The consolidation of in-home care
- The exploration of in-home care as part of Medicare Advantage insurance plans.
What Does This Mean for You?
As a C-suite leader in home care, these trends have significant implications for you and your company. Here are three things to consider:
- There is increasing interest in health care at home by private equity firms. I had a conversation today with a firm that is asking for help in identifying owners who might be interested in a capital partner to grow their business. We’ll see more and more private equity and venture capital available for growth.
- Consolidation is continuing, so you can expect more competition from larger home care companies that are growing through acquisition.
- Third party payers are exploring the value of in-home personal care in keeping patients out of hospitals and long term care. This has the potential to bring long term revenue gains to the personal home care sector. This also means that owners will need to make strategic decisions about moving away from private pay to accepting payment from third parties, whether that is Medicaid or Medicare Advantage plans.
Stay tuned to our weekly Trendicators, and our monthly Home Care CEO Report, for more information on these and other trends shaping the future of home care in America.
