Healthcare Insights

Top 25 home health corporations by total patient volume

Home health agencies provide the care necessary to support patients with chronic illness or other disabilities in their homes rather than in hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. These may be publicly or privately owned, but many of the largest providers in the space are private home health corporations.

In recent years, we’ve seen a theme of large payors, particularly Medicare Advantage plans, looking to acquire home health agencies to build out home-based services. With the continued rise in seniors who require skilled care, owning home health assets helps payors coordinate care for their members and reduce overall costs.

Home health care services are usually delivered by home health aides and nurses, and may include wound care, medication administration, drug infusion therapy, or patient and caregiver education, among others.

Using data on more than 1,000 active home health agencies, we’ve compiled a list of the top 25 home health agencies ranked by their total patient volumes in 2022.

Home health agencies ranked by total number of patients

RankHome health agency nameCityStateTotal patientsExplore dataset
1Amedisys IncBaton RougeLA317,932Explore
2Enhabit Home Health & HospiceDallasTX233,601Explore
3AccentCareDallasTX144,451Explore
4Bayada Home Health CareMoorestownNJ143,098Explore
5Interim HealthCareSunriseFL80,149Explore
6VNS Health (FKA Visiting Nurse Service of New York)New YorkNY75,088Explore
7VNS Health - New York Home Care (FKA Visiting Nurse Service of New York Home Care)New YorkNY75,088Explore
8Trinity Health at HomeLivoniaMI68,154Explore
9Elara CaringDallasTX65,323Explore
10CompassusBrentwoodTN61,379Explore
11Comcare Home Health IncGlendaleCA48,111Explore
12Aveanna HealthcareAtlantaGA47,421Explore
13BrightSpring Health Services (FKA ResCare)LouisvilleKY41,495Explore
14UPMC Home HealthcareSeven FieldsPA37,850Explore
15BayCare HomeCare of BayCare Health SystemLargoFL37,766Explore
16CareTendersAkronOH37,718Explore
17Pinnacle Home CareOldsmarFL36,284Explore
18Mass General Brigham Home Care - WalthamWalthamMA35,212Explore
19Mass General Brigham Home Care WalthamMA35,212Explore
20Hartford HealthCare at HomeWethersfieldCT34,295Explore
21VitalCaring GroupMetairieLA31,754Explore
22Mercy Home HealthSpringfieldPA30,767Explore
23Hartford HealthCare at Home - BloomfieldBloomfieldCT30,563Explore
24Adoration Home Health & HospiceNashvilleTN30,476Explore
25VNA of WNY Erie CountyCheektowagaNY29,101Explore

Fig. 1 – Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s LongTermCareView product. Data is accurate as of December 2023.

Which home health agencies had the highest patient volumes in 2022?

Amedisys tops our list with more than 317,000 patients seen in 2022. Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amedisys operates more than 330 home health agencies in 33 states. The company also provides hospice and high-acuity services.

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum is acquiring Amedisys in a $3.3 billion deal that is expected to close in early 2024. The deal will be UnitedHealth’s second purchase of a home health and hospice company after buying LHC in early 2023.

In second is Enhabit Home Health & Hospice with more than 233,000 patients recorded last year. Dallas, Texas-based Enhabit has 247 home health locations and 99 hospice locations in 34 states. The company, formed through a spin-off of Encompass Health’s home health and hospice segment, is also exploring a potential sale or merger.

Dallas, Texas’s AccentCare takes third place on our list of largest home health agencies, with more than 144,000 patients seen across 34 states. AccentCare also operates hospice and palliative care facilities, in addition to home health agencies. Private equity firm Advent International acquired AccentCare in 2018.

Who qualifies for home health care services?

In order to qualify for Medicare Part A or Part B coverage of home health services, a patient must be under the care of a doctor and require (as certified by a doctor) skilled nursing care beyond drawing blood, and/or physical, speech, or occupational therapy.

The patient must also be certified as homebound by a doctor. Full-time, round-the-clock care at home is not covered by Medicare, except for in specific cases of hospice care.

How is home health care different than hospice care?

Many agencies that provide home health services also deliver hospice care. While home health care and hospice care are both services covered by Medicare and delivered to patients in the home, they each focus on different types of patients.

Home health care and hospice patients may both require care for chronic or life-limiting illnesses, but patients only qualify for Medicare hospice coverage when they have elected to forgo curative care and have been certified by a doctor to have six months or less to live.

Additionally, home health services generally aim to help a patient get better so they can return to routine living. Hospice services instead aim to provide a patient and their family with comfort and support during the final months of life.

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