St. Croix Hospice is continuing its meteoric expansion in the Midwest with a new location in Manhattan, Kansas.
This marks the company’s third de novo in as many weeks. Within the past 10 days, the Minnesota-based company christened a new office in Newton, Iowa, and a second in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
As part of its growth strategy, St. Croix Hospice often looks for markets in which hospice utilization is comparatively low, including historically underserved rural communities.
“Approximately one out of every two patients who are eligible for hospice are not electing the benefit. This is true nationwide and also within our Manhattan service region” CEO Heath Bartness said in a statement. “Our new Manhattan branch will headquarter more local staff within the communities they are already serving, allowing us to increase access and convenience to hospice care where there is great need.”
The town of Manhattan is located in Riley County, Kansas, the total population of which is 71,108, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those, 10.4% are seniors.
A little more than 31,000 Medicare patients in Kansas elected hospice in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). California saw the highest utilization at 156,000 that year, and Alaska the lowest at slightly above 1,200.
Between October 2021 and September 2022 nearly 50% of eligible patients who reside in the service area for St. Croix Hospice’s Manhattan branch did not enroll in the benefit, CMS reported.
St. Croix Hospice cares for more than 4,100 patients from more than 60 locations in 10 Midwestern states. The company, which is backed by the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, has opened six other de novos in 2022 through February of this year, located in Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas.
The hospice provider’s most recent prior expansion in Kansas was a new office that opened in February of 2022 in Overland Park, near Kansas City.
“We have an incredible team of local, dedicated caregivers who will continue to provide compassionate, patient-focused care in Kansas,” St. Croix Hospice’s Regional Director of Clinical Operations Theresa Wyle-Hunsberger said in a statement. “The new Manhattan location puts our team closer to their work and helps them have more time for one-on-one patient care.”
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