Stethoscope with dollar shaped cord standing on turquoise background.

Signify Health is downplaying plans to eliminate nearly 500 jobs nationwide, just days after the company was identified in media reports as a potential acquisition target for CVS Health

The tech-enabled home care firm filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice a little more than two weeks ago, alerting officials in New York, Connecticut, South Dakota and Texas that it planned a reduction-in-force that would affect 489 workers in those four states. Signify attributed the cuts to its plans to wind down its Episodes of Care Services business in order to focus on the faster growing and more profitable home and community business, as well as the recent acquisition of Caravan Health.

In an email to McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse, Signify Health spokeswoman Lynn Shepherd said employees whose jobs will be impacted by the decision have already been notified.

“Wherever possible, we are finding positions within Signify Health for qualified and eligible employees,” Shepherd stated “For those whom we are not able to offer positions, we are providing severance and outplacement services.” 

Signify Health explained that it was getting out of CMS’s Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced (BPCI-A) program due to recent calculations that lowered the target prices for episodes and reduced opportunities for savings. 

Signify Health’s stock soared to a near 11-month high last week on reports that CVS Health might be interested in acquiring it. In a recent earnings call with analysts, CVS confirmed that a home care firm is a possible acquisition target sometime this year.

Dallas-based Signify Health uses analytics, technology and a nationwide network of healthcare providers to help patients get care at home through value-based payment programs. The company’s tools help healthcare organizations align financial incentives  around patient outcomes.