Amedisys announced two major deals late Wednesday as it reported fourth quarter 2022 earnings.
The Baton Rouge, LA-based company said it is selling its personal care division to HouseWorks, LLC, a leading provider of personal care services in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Pennsylvania. The deal, whose sale price was not disclosed, is set to close in the second quarter.
In a somewhat more anticipated development, the company announced a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee to offer palliative care services through its hospital-at-home business Contessa. Amedisys Chairman and CEO Paul Kusserow called the partnership “the first true example of the power of a combined Amedisys and Contessa platform.”
He hinted that such a deal was forthcoming at the Home Care 100 conference in Orlando last month, telling McKnights Home Care Daily Pulse that a palliative care deal with a large payer was imminent.
In the deal involving the personal care business, Houseworks and home care software firm eCaring will join the Amedisys’ network to deliver personal care to the communities both firms serve. By establishing a network partnership, Amedisys said it will retain and expand personal care services to support its current clients and those served by HouseWorks and eCaring.
“We strongly believe in the value of personal care and this divestiture allows our personal care division to grow under a proven leader in the industry while Amedisys focuses our attention on our core business units of home health, hospice and high acuity care,” Kusserow said in a statement.
The news of the personal care divestiture comes as Amedisys reported fourth quarter 2022 earnings that were lower than the same period in 2021. In the final three months of 2022, Baton Rouge, LA-based Amedisys earned $1.16 a share on revenues of $562 million compared to $1.18 a share on revenues of $559.3 million during the same period in 2021.
Amedisys provides home health, hospice and palliative care services to nearly 500,000 patients in 37 states.
