UnitedHealth Group has closed its $5.4 billion acquisition of home health care giant LHC Group, the company confirmed in a new filing.
The deal, which was first announced in early 2022, brings together one of the nation’s largest home health providers––Louisiana-based LHC Group––with one of the nation’s largest home healthcare providers. UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, the pharmacy benefit manager business of UnitedHealth, is the subsidiary that acquired LHC Group.
“Following the Merger, LHC Group will become part of Optum, a diversified health services company working with more than 100 health plans,” the filing stated. “The combined organization will advance high-quality, value-based care in the comfort of a patient’s home, improving health outcomes and patient experiences.”
The deal comes after another health insurance giant acquired another in-home care company, when Humana purchased Kindred for roughly $4 billion in 2018. LHC Group provides care for more than 12 million annual in-home patient-focused interventions. The company has 30,000 employees, including frontline care providers and administrative and support personnel.
The deal with LHC Group is not the only multi-billion-dollar acquisition the UnitedHealth Group business has taken on as of late. Optum also recently completed an $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, a data and analytics solutions provider. As part of the deal with Change Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group was directed to divest its claims editing business, ClaimsXen, by a federal judge before the acquisition could be approved by regulators. UnitedHealth also acquired EMIS Group, a U.K.-based healthcare software and solutions company, for $1.5 billion.
The deal with LHC Group brings Optum further into the care provider space.
“LHC Group’s history of high-quality home and community-based care, matched with Optum’s extensive value-based care experience and resources, will accelerate Optum’s ability to deliver compassionate, high-touch, integrated care,” the filing stated. “As demand for care in the home increases, this combination will help elevate the healthcare experience for the people Optum and LHC Group serve, prioritizing quality and seamless coordination that reduces fragmentation and complexity.”
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."