| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Lisa Phillips 203-846-6800 Fax: 203-846-8300 pressreleases@levinassociates.com |
NORWALK, CT – October 25, 2017 –The Home Health & Hospice sector has been buffeted by headwinds in 2017, and merger and acquisition activity has suffered. After a strong first quarter (15 transactions announced), deal volume fell to 10 transactions in the second and third quarters. The third quarter’s low acquisition volume was also 17% below the number of acquisitions in the third quarter of 2016, when 12 transactions were made public, according to new acquisition data from HealthCareMandA.com.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued several new and proposed regulations for 2018, including a proposal to modernize the payment system with the home health groupings model and an $80 million cut in reimbursement to the industry for 2018.
Still, publicly traded companies continued to acquire. Amedisys, The Ensign Group and HealthSouth’s Encompass Home Health & Hospice division each announced one transaction. Two private equity firms, Boyne Capital Partners and The Riverside Company, also made acquisitions. No financial terms were disclosed for the 10 deals in the third quarter. “The good news is that deal volume was on par with the second quarter, and didn’t slip further,” stated Lisa Phillips, editor of The Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. “What happens on the regulatory side will determine this sector’s health in the coming year.”
All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A Report for all 13 sectors of health care, which is part of the HealthCareMandA.com investment research source. For information, or to order the report, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates, Inc. was established in 1948 and has headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. The company publishes research reports and newsletters, and maintains databases on the healthcare and senior housing markets.
