Fortis Health Acquires Physiocare Home Health and Hospice

Fortis Health has acquired Indiana-based Physiocare Home Health and Hospice. Financial terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

Grant Avenue Capital, Fortis’ private equity backer, financed the deal, which is the company’s fourth since its founding in 2020. Fortis currently operates in Indiana and Utah. The M&A advisory firm Agenda Health advised Physiocare on the transaction.

“Physiocare is a strong company with an almost 15-year history of serving its community. We were attracted to Physiocare’s impressive home health and hospice services, which aligns with our operating model and is a perfect fit geographically to expand upon our existing services in the Indianapolis market,” Fortis Health CEO Rob Radics told Hospice News in an email. “Their culture and approach to quality patient care are a great fit with what we have established at Fortis Health.”

Fortis offers home health, hospice, palliative and personal care services across its footprint. The company’s acquisition strategy includes plans to build density in its existing service regions, as well as expand to new markets.

The company also operates Valeo Home Health and Hospice and Select Home Health, which Grant Avenue acquired in late 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Though not exclusively, Fortis places an emphasis on acquiring founder-led businesses, which represent “a big piece” of what the company is looking for, Radics told Hospice News last year.

“Our goal is to identify and partner with founder-led businesses, and maybe there’s an opportunity for the founders to continue to go forward if they choose to do so,” Radics said. “At the end of the day, it’s about maintaining those great cultures that are generally built in the smaller founder-led businesses and continuing to build upon the presence that they’ve developed in communities over many, many years.”

Going forward, the company plans further acquisitions as well as de novos, Alex Ferree, principal at Grant Avenue Capital, said in a statement.

Similar to national trends, demographics are accelerating demand for hospice in the Hoosier State. Indiana University’s Business Research Center projected that seniors will represent 20.9% of the state’s overall population by 2050. This is up from 16.4% currently, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The hospice utilization rate among Medicare decedents in Indiana reached 47.3% during 2020, which aligns with the national average that year, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reported.

“We already have a presence and talented team in Indiana with Select Home Health, which is part of the Fortis Health family,” Radics said. “A key part of our growth strategy is to create more density and scale in the states where we operate because we believe this brings enhanced value to patients, employees, referral sources and payers.”