Humana Expands Alternative Treatment Options With One Homecare Acquisition

Humana

Humana is continuing its effort to bring more healthcare services to more people with the acquisition of One Homecare, a provider of home-based care services and risk management.

In a deal announced on Monday (June 14), Louisville-based Humana said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire One Homecare Solutions (“onehome”) from WayPoint Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.

“We are implementing a strategy to build a new value-based home health model that will improve patient outcomes, increase satisfaction for patients and providers, and provide greater value for health plan partners,” said Susan Diamond, segment president for Humana’s home business and Humana interim CFO, in the joint announcement.

“The acquisition of onehome is a key component of that strategy,” she said. “It complements our recent announcement to fully acquire and integrate Kindred at Home and brings together additional capabilities that will allow Humana to deliver value-based home health at a national scale.”

By combining the capabilities of both companies, along with its own analytical and clinical expertise, Humana said it would be able to serve more patients across the nation — including non-Humana plan members — and transform traditional service offerings.

The onehome acquisition “will further advance Humana’s strategy to build a value-based home health offering,” the joint announcement added.

House Calls Are Back

In some ways, Humana’s shift to providing more in-home care marks a reversion to the old days, in which doctors routinely made house calls, in a trend that has been fueled by the pandemic and has seen an exponential increase in the use of out-of-office alternatives such as telemedicine.

Prior to the acquisition, onehome had served Humana members since 2015 via its operations in Florida and Texas, which the insurer said provided much-needed integration, accountability and coordination of patients, physicians, hospitals and health plans for home-based patient care.

For its part, onehome manages a range of post-acute needs including infusion care, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and durable medical equipment (DME) services at patients’ homes, as well as appropriate site of care placement through skilled nursing facility (SNF) at-home programs.

“Since first launching onehome in 2013, we have had a front-row seat to the care-in-the-home revolution that is driven by our society’s desire to positively impact clinical outcomes, affordability and patient experience,” said Ramon Falero, CEO and co-founder of onehome. “We built the onehome model with a focus on integrating all key home-based patient care delivery needs with risk-taking capabilities and robust technology.” He also noted the millions of patients the company has served, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What The Deal Means For Patients 

The onehome deal marks Humana’s latest move to increase its service offerings for its customers. In February, Humana teamed with the Mercy healthcare system to expand virtual medical services to Humana’s Medicare Advantage members.

The acquisition of onehome also follows Humana’s recent acquisition of Kindred at Home, marking the insurer’s increasing efforts to enable it to deliver value-based home health more effectively on a national scale.

“Through significant investment in clinical innovation and a fully integrated delivery system for post-acute patient needs, onehome enables better outcomes for patients recovering at home alongside greater levels of coordination and insight for health plan partners,” said Philip Edmunds, partner at WayPoint Capital.

The acquisition is subject to customary state and federal regulatory approvals, but is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

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