Literature Review

Building the continuum: Inside New Day Healthcare’s growth & acquisition strategies Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/27/25 New Day Healthcare in 2025 has been one of the home health and hospice sector’s most active acquirers. ... Founded in 2020, New Day’s roughly 10,000 employees provide hospice, home health, pediatric and personal care to roughly 180,000 patients annually. ... Brands under the New Day’s umbrella include Phoenix Home Care & Hospice, New Age Hospice, Compassion Hospice, Home Care Providers of Texas, Pathfinder Home Health, Envision Health Partners and AssistCare, among others. ... Hospice News sat down with New Day CEO G. Scott Herman to discuss the company’s growth, its approach to acquisitions, forthcoming changes in the C-Suite and where hospice fits into its strategy.

The mixed home-based care dealmaking outlook Home Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 8/18/25 ... Kris Novak, managing director of The Braff Group, explained that M&A experts are seeing similar volumes to the last couple of years. While some segments of home-based care face significant challenges that can slow dealmaking, others are insulated from some external factors. Overall, an uptick in transaction activity is right around the corner. ... Novak noted that, in addition to home care, we can expect to see a number of hospice acquisitions as the year continues. ... Novak also predicts that we may see PE interest in what are described as more niche segments of home-based care, such as private-duty nursing or pediatrics.

UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of Amedisys closesHospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/14/25On the heels of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, UnitedHealth Group has closed its acquisition of the home health and hospice provider Amedisys. Amedisys announced the news in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Thursday. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum, in June 2023 inked its agreement to acquire Amedisys in an all-cash transaction of $101 per share, or about $3.3 billion. Amedisys on Thursday also stopped trading on the Nasdaq.

Heart to Heart Hospice broadens reach with new Kalamazoo location to serve patients Third News; Press Release; 8/12/25 Heart to Heart Hospice is taking significant steps to enhance its service delivery in southwestern Michigan with the official opening of a new facility in Kalamazoo. This strategic expansion positions Heart to Heart among the premier hospice care providers in the region, offering critical support to patients and their families during challenging times. ... Headed by Executive Director Stacy Sturgeon, RN, the Kalamazoo facility is operated with a focus on patient comfort and dignity.

Enhabit CEO Barb Jacobsmeyer announces departure Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 8/7/25 Enhabit Inc. (NYSE: EHAB) President and CEO Barb Jacobsmeyer is stepping down after four years at the company’s helm. Jacobsmeyer will continue to serve in her current role and as a board member until July 2026, or upon the appointment of her successor. She previously served as president of inpatient hospitals at Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC). Jacobsmeyer transitioned to CEO of home health and hospice in 2021, shortly before Encompass spun off those business lines in 2022 to form Enhabit.

[Updated] DOJ files proposed final judgment on Amedisys, UnitedHealth Merger Home Health Care News; by Morgan Gonzales; 8/7/25 On Thursday, Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and New York filed a proposed final judgment regarding the UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) planned acquisition of Amedisys. UnitedHealth and Amedisys agreed to the proposed final judgment, which, if approved, would resolve the DOJ’s and states’ opposition to the merger. The proposed judgment would require UnitedHealth and Amedisys to divest at least 164 home health and hospice facilities, including one affiliated palliative care facility, across 19 states, worth approximately $528 million in annual revenue. It would also impose a $1.1 million civil penalty on Amedisys for falsely certifying that it had provided “true, correct and complete” responses under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, according to a DOJ announcement. 

Glendale woman sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for $10.6 million hospice fraud scheme involving kickbacks for patients United States Attorney's Office - Central District of California, Los Angeles, CA; Press Release; 8/5/25 A Glendale woman was sentenced today to 108 months in federal prison for participating in a scheme in which hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks were paid and received for patient referrals that resulted in the submission of approximately $10.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for purported hospice care. Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 75, of Glendale, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee, who also ordered her to pay $8,270,032 in restitution. 

Private equity in hospice care spurs workers to strike Capital & Main; by Jesse Baum; 7/30/25 When hospice nurse Kristina Nauheimer joined the growing unionization push among end-of-life care workers in 2022, she knew there was a fight ahead. But she and her coworkers at two Bay Area hospices in California didn’t expect to be at the negotiating table with Providence, their hospice operator, for more than two years — or that their employer would merge with a private-equity-owned firm. “I didn’t think it would take this long to achieve this little,” said Nauheimer, who joined about 100 workers from the company’s Hospice of Petaluma and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospice in a two-day strike with their union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, on July 2 and 3. They struck, said Nauheimer, because contract negotiations with Providence, their operator, have been at a standstill. 

VITAS® Healthcare announces CEO transition and appointment of new Chief Executive OfficerGlobeNewswire, Miramar, FL; Press Release; 7/30/25VITAS Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of hospice and palliative care, and a subsidiary of Chemed Corporation (NYSE: CHE), today announced that Nicholas M. Westfall will step down as chairman and chief executive officer to pursue other personal and professional opportunities. Joel L. Wherley, president and chief operating officer, was appointed by the Board to succeed Westfall as chief executive officer of VITAS Healthcare. Westfall has served as CEO since 2016, leading VITAS through a period of meaningful growth, operational transformation and reinvestment in its people. “It has been an honor to lead VITAS Healthcare and work alongside such a talented team,” said Westfall. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together and confident that Joel is the right leader to take the company forward.”

Humana renews challenge to downgrade of US Medicare 'star' ratings Reuters; by Daniel Wiessner; 7/21/25 Humana ... filed a new lawsuit over the U.S. government's reduction in the health insurer's star ratings for government-backed Medicare plans, after an earlier challenge was dismissed on technical grounds. Humana, in the lawsuit in Fort Worth, Texas, federal court, says the lower ratings could cause it to lose customers and potentially billions of dollars in bonus payments from the government, which would have been used to reduce premiums and increase benefits for its members. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth dismissed those claims last week, finding Humana had failed to exhaust all of its out-of-court options to challenge the ratings. In the new lawsuit, Humana says it has in recent months exhausted an administrative appeals process, giving the insurer standing to sue. 

Filling the gaps with the loss of Wilshire Health and Community Services NBC KSBY-6, California's Central Coast; by Dylan Foreman; 7/22/25 At the end of June, the longtime medical service provider Wilshire Health and Community Services, which offered everything from hospice and home health care to community services like counseling and transportation, closed its doors, leaving clients looking for help elsewhere. ... [Services] like home health and hospice care are being transferred over to organizations like Dignity Health Home Health and Hospice Care, getting 50% of the patients from Wilshire and sending offers out to 30% of their staff. According to Wilshire, on any given day, they could have at least 250 clients.

Agrace opens western Wisconsin office in La Crosse WisBusiness, La Crosse, WI; Press Release; 7/16/25 Agrace continues its rapid growth across the state of Wisconsin with the opening of a new office in La Crosse, a western-Wisconsin city of 52,000 located along the Mississippi River. Since its founding in Madison, Wis., in 1978, Agrace has provided exceptional care for the state’s residents who are in the final months of life. The new Agrace location gives residents of La Crosse County greater choice for high-quality, in-home hospice care. County residents can enroll with Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit hospice to receive hospice care that comes to them where they live—in private homes, long-term care facilities or any other place they call home.

How rising tariffs could affect hospice M&A Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/11/25 ... Tariffs tend to raise prices and often trigger interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve. This makes financing debt more expensive, and many buyers in the M&A market rely on borrowing to make acquisitions. This can have a “ripple effect” on the M&A landscape, including in hospice, according to Cory Mertz, managing partner of the M&A advisory firm Mertz Taggart. “Tariffs raise costs, which can tighten debt markets and make capital more expensive,” Mertz told Hospice News in an email. “Since M&A is largely driven by both debt and equity investors, a higher cost of capital tends to put downward pressure on valuations. This can lead some buyers to pause or redirect their investment elsewhere, while some potential sellers may hold off on going to market.”