Gentiva buys Harden Healthcare for $408M

Gentiva Health Services, one of the nation’s largest providers of hospice and home health services, is acquiring multiple service lines from Harden Healthcare. The $408 million deal includes Harden’s hospice, home health and community care business sectors, concentrated primarily in the central section of the country.

More specifically, the acquisition will bring Gentiva 49 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Harden’s headquarters state of Texas, greatly increasing Gentiva’s presence there.

“The increasing healthcare needs of an aging population and ongoing rate pressures will fuel industry consolidation,” said Gentiva Executive Chairman Rod Windley in a corporate statement.

The buyout also changes Gentiva’s percentage of Medicare-based revenue. The addition of the Harden service lines will reduce Gentiva’s Medicare exposure from 86 percent to 72 percent, noted a Gentiva corporate release.

The Harden assets also will bring Gentiva deeper into the dual eligibles population, noted Gentiva CEO Tony Strange. “Dual eligibles [are] one of America's most frail populations and a key priority for federal and state governments as they seek better coordination of care, reduced costs and improved outcomes,” he said in a press statement.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.