Contessa, Mount Sinai Unveil Expanded Home-Based Care Continuum

Contessa, a subsidiary of Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), and Mount Sinai Health System have expanded their joint venture to form a new entity offering a larger continuum of care, branded as “Mount Sinai at Home.”

Tennessee-based Contessa first partnered with Mount Sinai in 2017 to provide hospital-at-home services. In 2021, their joint venture expanded to offer community-based palliative care. This new expansion folds Mount Sinai’s South Nassau, New York-based home health agency into the JV.

Amedisys acquired Contessa last year for $250 million, seeking to build out its range of high-acuity services in the home.

“The pandemic forced health care into the home, and it is a trend that is only growing,” Mount Sinai President and COO Margaret Pastuszko said in a statement. “Mount Sinai at Home builds upon this momentum and offers consolidated opportunities for patients and physicians, decreasing the fragmentation that often plagues the health care industry. It’s exciting to be creating a care model that is blazing the trail for advanced care at home.”

The South Nassau home health agency, now rebranded as Mount Sinai at Home, cares for 3,000 patients annually.

This move advances Contessa’s joint venture and partnership strategy, which is becoming the centerpiece of its growth plans. Their lengthening roster of JVs is pushing into palliative care in a big way, the company has indicated.

During the past 12 months, the company has launched JVs that offer palliative care with Mount Sinai Health System, Baylor Scott & White Health, Memorial Hermann Health System and Henry Ford Health System.

Contessa expects additional joint ventures to “come online” during Q3 with additional announcements in fourth quarter, according to statements by Amedisys CEO Chris Gerard in an earnings call. The company did not indicate which services the forthcoming JVs would offer, but most of their ventures in the past year have included palliative care.

At Hospice News’ recent Palliative Care Conference in Chicago, Contessa COO Aaron Stein said that the company is “extremely bullish” on palliative care.

“Chris Gerard sees palliative care as really the linchpin of the businesses,” Stein told Hospice News. “So as Amedisys is thinking about palliative care, it really is inserting this care model to be able to function better for patients — where patients are not seeing 30 doctors in their last year of life. We’re able to consolidate that experience, and at least have all of the different parties talking to each other.”

Contessa reportedly has a pipeline for similar partnerships that includes more than 100 hospitals in 28 states, with the potential to double Contessa’s footprint, according to previous statements by Amedisys executives.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based provider also has current partnerships with Penn State Health, Marshfield Clinic Health System, Ascension Saint Thomas, CommonSpirit Health, and Highmark Health, among others.

“This new initiative accelerates our strategic goal of delivering a continuum of home-based care to more Mount Sinai patients,” Stein said. “Mount Sinai at Home provides a strong offering to patients, providers and health plans. Together, we are truly changing health care by rendering care where patients want it the most, their homes.”