Compassus has launched home health services and expanded its central Tennessee footprint through a new collaboration with its joint venture partner Ascension Saint Thomas.
The joint venture, Ascension at Home, has existed for several years. Three years ago, Compassus took on the role of overseeing staff and the home-based care services they provide. The JV will now take on patients that were formerly with Ascension Saint Thomas Home Health.
The agreement expands Compassus’ service region to include every county in the state. It also adds home health capabilities to Compassus’ operations in central Tennessee, where the company already offers hospice services.
“In 2020, Compassus became the managing partner of Ascension at Home, a joint venture between Ascension and Compassus, broadening both organizations’ home-based care services beyond hospice and palliative care to also encompass home health,” a Compassus spokesperson told Hospice News in an email. “Ascension at Home provides home health services in many communities across the country.”
Compassus provides a continuum of home-based services including home health, palliative care and hospice from more than 250 locations across 29 states, including a number of similar partnerships with health systems and other health care providers.
Close to 41,000 Medicare decedents in Tennessee elected hospice in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) reported a utilization rate of 45% for the state that year, making it 37th in the nation for hospice enrollment.
“Middle Tennessee has been our home for nearly two decades, and we’ve long looked to expand our presence here,” Compassus CEO David Grams said in a statement. “Working with Ascension Saint Thomas broadens our ability to offer patients a full spectrum of integrated home-based care options, and we are grateful that more middle Tennesseans will have the opportunity to receive the world-class care they need to address current and future health care needs where they live.”
Currently, more than 62% of eligible Tennessee residents are enrolled in Medicare, a number that is set to grow as the population ages, according to the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability (TCAD).
Tennessee’s 60 and older population is expected to increase by more than 300,000 by 2030, meaning that more than a quarter of the state’s residents will fall within that age group.
The partnership represents a growing trend of hospital and health system collaborations and joint ventures with home-based care companies as more services move into the home setting.
“Our patients expect to receive the highest caliber of care, whether they visit one of our hospitals, care centers or receive care in their homes,” said Fahad Tahir, president and CEO, Ascension Saint Thomas, in a statement. “To meet our mission, we partner with organizations that have the depth and expertise to provide leadership in specific areas of focus such as home health, long-term care, acute rehabilitation, physical therapy and others. Compassus is mission compatible and offers that depth in home health that we were seeking.”
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