By Stephen Tweed
What will 2020 look like for home care leaders?
One of the trends we have been following for several years in the consolidation of the home care industry, and the entry of private equity investors into our market segment. This consolidation and new investors falls into three categories: consolidation software companies, consolidation of independent home care companies, and private equity investment in home care franchisors.
Here are some of the facts and data points we have been watching:
Consolidation of software companies:
- ClearCare, the market leader in scheduling software was started with outside venture capital, and has raised additional investment.
- HomeTrak, one of the early leaders in home care scheduling software was acquired by ClearCare, which was acquired by WellSky.
- ADL Ware was acquired by Kinnser, which was acquired by WellSky.
- Soneto was acquired by Matrix Care, which was acquired by medical device maker ResMed.
- Appointmate was acquired by Delta Health Technologies.
- Alaya Care announced that iNovia Capital, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and provincially owned Investissement Québec have invested $51-million.
Our observation and feedback from users is that each of these acquisitions and recapitalizations have resulted in changes in the operations and support of these software companies. What is your experience when your software company has been acquired?
Consolidation of Independent Home Care Companies:
- Arosa+LivHome was created by the merger of Nurse Care North Carolina and LivHome with investment from Bain Capital Double Impact.
- Arosa+LivHome announced the acquisition of three geriatric care management companies in TN and IL.
- Nova Leap, a Halifax Nova Scotia company, has acquired eight independent agencies in MA, VT, NH, RI, and OK.
- Briggs Corporation, based in Des Moines, IA has acquired at least ten independent home care agencies in the Midwest.
- Family Resource Home Care, based in Liberty Lake, WA merged with a similar sized company based in Seattle, WA, and has acquired four smaller agencies across WA and ID.
We also see many smaller acquisitions of medium sized home care companies growing through acquisition. What are you seeing in your local marketplace? How is consolidation affecting you?
Franchisors Acquired by Private Equity or Corporate Groups
- Comfort Keepers was acquired by a private equity firm, and then sold to food service firm Sodexo in 2009.
- Griswold Home Care was acquired by Pouschine Cook Capital Management in 2012.
- Senior Helpers was acquired by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in 2012 and sold to Altaris Capital in 2016.
- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired Caring Brands which owns Interim Healthcare in the US, Bluebird Care in The UK, and Just Better Care in Australia.
- Home Helpers was acquired by Linsalata Capital Partners in 2016.
- Right At Home and parent company Risemark Brands was acquired by Investors Management Company in 2016.
These are just a few of the examples of consolidation and private equity investment in the home care industry.
What have you noticed about this trend? How will it affect your home care business in 2020?
For more discussion on this and other trends shaping home care in 2020 …
Join Me for the Home Care Growth Summit
If you would like to take a deep dive into these factors affecting your future, join me on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 11:00 am eastern time as I kick off the Home Care Virtual Growth Summit sponsored by Home Care Pulse. I’ll be leading the way with an in-depth look at these forces and trends. I’ll be followed by 20 other thought leaders in the home care industry for the largest virtual growth summit ever presented in our industry.
Register Today!
