HCA Healthcare has finalized its $400 million bid to purchase a majority stake in Brookdale Senior Living’s home health and hospice business as the hospital chain aims to branch out into the home health market.
The new venture adds 80 sites of care for the hospital chain. The nursing home giant Brookdale will retain a 20% equity stake in the healthcare services segment.
“Our objective is to be the healthcare system of choice, and the addition of these services to our network of care improves our ability to meet the care needs of our patients,” said Sam Hazen, CEO of HCA.
The deal announced back in February is part of a larger spending spree held by HCA this year. The chain’s chief financial officer and executive vice president Bill Rutherford said during an investment call in May that the company has between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for growth capital.
RELATED: HCA sells off 4 Georgia hospitals to Piedmont Healthcare for nearly $1B
The deal with Brookdale also offers a chance to increase synergy and care coordination, as two-thirds of the company’s agencies are in HCA markets. The chain is also making efforts to expand inpatient capacity and ambulatory care this year.
In addition to efforts to expand inpatient capacity and ambulatory care, HCA wants to branch out into the home health space after the COVID-19 pandemic has forced more care into patients’ homes.
Other payers and providers have sought to expand their reach into home health. Humana announced last month a bid to acquire One Homecare Solutions, a few months after the insurer paid $5.7 billion for its remaining stake in Kindred at Home. Both deals were efforts by the insurer to scale up its value-based home care offerings.
The healthcare improvement company Vizient also projects a larger shift toward home health care in the near future. A report from the company estimates home-based services could increase by 15% by 2029, with much of the growth coming from hospital-at-home programs that enable providers to remotely monitor and treat virtually patients in their homes.