Creach Family Holdings announced that it has expanded its home health footprint in the Kansas City MSA, with the acquisition of Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare. The transaction closed in early July 2025 and was facilitated by Agenda Health, an Austin, Texas-based M&A advisory firm specializing in healthcare. Agenda Health acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare.
Founded by Joe Freudenthal, Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare is a provider of in-home health services based in St. Joseph, Missouri. With a strong footprint in Missouri, the company offers a comprehensive continuum of care, ranging from in-home assistance to skilled nursing and hospice services, ensuring seniors receive the support they need at every stage, all within the comfort of their homes.
Creach Family Holdings, the direct investing arm of the Creach Family Office, is a privately held investment firm focused on acquiring and growing innovative healthcare companies.
The acquisition integrates Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare into Creach Family Holdings’ portfolio of healthcare providers, strengthening its home health and hospice division. Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare will continue operating under its established brand, joining forces with Overland Park, Kansas-based Faith Home Health and Hospice, an active Creach Family Holdings investment, to enhance regional care delivery.
“Joining the Creach Family Holdings portfolio is an exciting new chapter for our organization,” said Joe Freudenthal, CEO and Founder of Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare. “Their values and vision align perfectly with ours, and we anticipate great opportunities ahead for our patients and staff.”
The LevinPro HC team spoke with Gene Creach, Senior Manager at Creach Family Holdings, and Randy Decko, Senior Director at Agenda Health, to explore the drivers behind this acquisition and its significance in the home health market.
According to Creach, Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare stood out as a target for several reasons, including its strong reputation in the community and excellent star ratings. The deal also offered an opportunity to expand within the Kansas City MSA without overlapping existing operations.
Creach noted that the acquisition was made easier by Freudenthal’s strong infrastructure and leadership. With an established management team and a relatively absent owner, the transition is expected to be smooth, with minimal disruption to patients or staff. The owner’s minimal involvement in daily operations allowed the management team to run the agency independently, enabling seamless integration with Faith Home Health and Hospice without significant changes. Creach also sees potential for operational synergies between Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare and Faith Home Health and Hospice, particularly in shared back-office resources and staffing efficiencies.
Agenda Health’s long-term relationship with Joe Freudenthal facilitated a targeted process.
“One of our senior advisors established a relationship with Joe Freudenthal over the past few years, and when Joe was ready to execute an exit strategy, we engaged in a sell-side engagement to represent him and his agency to the market,” Decko said.
From a market perspective, Decko noted that Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare attracted strong interest from both emerging and established strategic buyers in the home health and hospice sector. This reflects robust demand for high-performing agencies with diverse service lines.
According to Agenda Health, the acquisition process moved quickly, with strong alignment around service lines and operational systems contributing to a smooth close.
“Creach Family Holdings was one of several buyers that we shortlisted and invited into our market process,” Decko continued. “This was a very fast and smooth acquisition process with very little challenges to overcome – lasting only 55 days from LOI to close.”
Freudenthal’s operational strengths were pivotal to the deal’s rapid and efficient execution, enabling a smooth due diligence process. Decko highlighted key factors that facilitated this success and offered advice for other providers eyeing a sale.
“Freudenthal ran incredibly clean operations, had a solid infrastructure, management team, financial upkeep and nimble data storage which led to expeditious and accurate delivery of diligence requirements to the buyer,” he said. “Providers looking for an optimal exit should make sure they check off these boxes before considering the market.”
Looking ahead, Creach shared that workforce pressures and regulatory complexity remain top concerns across the industry. Reimbursement challenges persist, and Creach Family Holdings is working to address them through greater operational efficiency and technology enablement. Its ownership of Careficient, a home health and hospice focused electronic medical record (EMR), similarly gives Creach Family Holdings a strategic advantage in adapting to evolving regulatory demands.
“Our goal is to create the best work environment possible for our employees which helps reduce turnover and enhance the attractiveness for new employees to come work for our organization,” said Creach. “We emphasize having great benefits packages and an employee first approach to leadership.”
For others exploring acquisitions in the space, Creach cautioned that due diligence must go beyond the surface.
“Clinical and regulatory due diligence is absolutely critical to ensuring you are not purchasing an agency on the brink of either legal issues or in need of discharging a large number of their patients,” he said. “Some agencies look great on the surface, but once you analyze their internal processes, procedures and the patient’s length of stay you find they are not in a good situation moving forward.”
Creach also pointed to payer mix, licensing and regional market dynamics as key factors that can determine an agency’s long-term viability for new ownership.
“There are also a number of regional based challenges that you of course always have to be diligent about as well as making absolutely certain you have a strong understanding of the payers each agency accepts and the types of programs (and licensing) they are maintaining. All of these things can either be a major asset to an agency or a potential stumbling point for the next owner.”
The Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare acquisition highlights the growing consolidation in the Home Health & Hospice (HH&H) sector, where high-quality providers are increasingly sought after to meet rising demand.
There were 55 HH&H transactions announced during the first half of 2025, according to data captured in the LevinPro HC platform. This compares to 52 HH&H deals announced during the first half of 2024, 47 announced during the first half of 2023, and 62 announced during the first half of 2022. The second quarter of 2025 alone had 27 HH&H deals announced, which was nearly on par with the first quarter of 2025. This sustained deal volume is surprising, as the first quarter typically sees a significant surge in activity compared to other quarters. Such robust M&A activity signals a competitive market where strategic buyers are prioritizing agencies with strong operational foundations.
Looking ahead, Agenda Health anticipates sustained M&A momentum.
“We see home care, home health and hospice as three distinct sub-verticals,” Decko said. “Home care M&A remains very strong, home health has been less active historically and hospice seems relatively steady from a demand perspective. We anticipate closing 12-15 transactions in 2025 in these three verticals, mostly stemming from home care and hospice transactions.”
Creach Family Holdings’ acquisition of Freudenthal Home-Based Healthcare reflects broader trends in the home health sector, where providers face rising demand driven by an aging population and increasing emphasis on technology to enhance care delivery. As the home health market evolves, deals like this highlight the importance of strategic alignment and operational excellence in meeting the growing need for in-home care. The LevinPro HC platform will continue to track these trends and developments.
