Home health and hospice giant Amedisys rang up its first acquisition of the year Wednesday. The Baton Rouge, LA-based company announced a deal to buy Evolution Health, a division of Envision Healthcare. The Dallas-based firm cares for more than 3,300 home health patients across Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio.
“The purchase of Evolution Health continues our strategy to acquire and integrate high-quality regional home health assets into our home health division, which leads the industry in quality,” Amedisys Chairman and CEO Paul Kusserow said in a statement.
Under terms of the acquisition, Amedisys will assume 100% ownership of Evolution Health and have access to more than 3 million Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients across those three states. The deal is expected to be completed by the first half of this year.
Evolution Health, a division of Envision Healthcare, represents Amedisys’ ongoing strategy to build scale by acquiring other home care and hospice agencies. In 2021, the company acquired county-owned home health agencies in North Carolina, home health and hospice assets in Nebraska from the Visiting Nurses Association and expanded into the hospital at home and SNF-at-home space with the purchase of Contessa Health.
Last month, Kusserow announced he would step down from the CEO post in the spring, handing the reins over to President and COO Chris Gerard. Gerard has been with Amedisys for six years and is expected to build on the acquisition strategy that Kusserow has built over the past eight years.
“Amedisys is proud to expand its presence in these healthcare communities and provide more comprehensive care by aligning with our Amedisys Hospice footprint in Texas,” Gerard said in a statement about the Evolution deal.
