DOJ Rejects Plan

by Kristin Rowan | May 16, 2025 | M&A, Regulatory

by Kristin Rowan, Editor

DOJ Rejects Plan to Divest Assets

DOJ rejects plans to divest assets from UnitedHealth and Amedisys to BrightSpring Health Services and the Pennant Group. Last week, we reported that Amedisys and UnitedHealth had entered an agreement to divest certain home health and hospice agencies to satisfy anti-trust concerns. The plan is contingent on the finalization of the merger between UnitedHealth and Amedisys.

Divesting Assets

The merger between UnitedHealth and Amedisys has been ongoing since last summer. Shortly after the announcement, the Department of Justice sued under anti-trust allegations to stop the merger. According to the DOJ, even if the companies offload the 120 planned locations, it would not safeguard competition in home health and hospice markets. The DOJ cited overlap in certain markets where UnitedHealth and Amedisys both currently have agencies.

This could spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Following the lawsuit, Amedisys and UnitedHealth started talks with VitalCaring to divest properties. That deal fell through after VitalCaring lost its own lawsuit last year. This latest blow could stall the merger altogether. The DOJ reportedly rejected the divestiture stating that it wasn’t enough. Unless Amedisys and UnitedHealth divest more properties in certain markets, the DOJ is unlikely to approve the merger.

Mediation

The parties are scheduled to enter mediation on August 18th. The judge has now scheduled a follow-up mediation appointment on August 25th, anticipating that one day of mediation will not resolve the lawsuit. Amedisys and UnitedHealth have 90 days to secure additional divestiture that will satisfy the DOJ before mediation begins.

This is an ongoing story and The Rowan Report will continue to bring you the latest news on the merger. Please see our accompanying articles this week on the new UnitedHealth CEO and the new DOJ investigation on UnitedHealth Group.

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Kristin Rowan has been working at The Rowan Report since 2008. She is the owner and Editor-in-chief of The Rowan Report, the industry’s most trusted source for care at home news, and speaker on Artificial Intelligence and Lone Worker Safety and state and national conferences.

She also runs Girard Marketing Group, a multi-faceted boutique marketing firm specializing in content creation, social media management, and event marketing. Connect with Kristin directly kristin@girardmarketinggroup.com or www.girardmarketinggroup.com

©2025 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in The Rowan Report. One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@therowanreport.com

New Deal to Sell HH & Hospice Agencies

by Kristin Rowan | May 9, 2025 | M&A

by Kristin Rowan, Editor

UnitedHealth, Amedisys to Divest Home Health & Hospice...Again

History

UnitedHealth, Amedisys to divest home health and hospice properties to satisfy DOJ. Almost two years ago, the health services division of UnitedHealth Group, Optum, announced plans to by Amedisys. The purchase announcement came after Optum outbid Option Care Health with an unsolicited offer. The Department of Justice launched an anti-trust probe shortly after the announcement. To satisfy the DOJ, UnitedHealth and Amedisys plan to divest some of its businesses as part of the acquisition agreement.

Anti Anti-Trust

We previously reported that Amedisys entered into an agreement with VitalCaring to divest some of its home health and hospice locations. This agreement was meant to satisfy the DOJ concerns raised in its anti-trust lawsuit against Amedisys and UnitedHealth.

In January of 2025, VitalCaring lost a lawsuit filed by Encompass Health and Enhabit and were ordered to pay 43% of all future profits to the two companies. In the wake of that court decision, VitalCaring pulled the agreement and signed a mutual release with UnitedHealth, with all parties walking away from the deal.

BrightSpring

BrightSpring Health Services is an $11.5B company with locations across the United States and employing more than 37,000 people. In January of this year, BrightSpring sold is Community Living Business to Sevita. BrightSprings intends to acquire additional properties, focusing on its home- and community-based businesses. According to the BrightSpring President and CEO Jon Rousseau, BrightSpring is “focused on getting to 3x leverage within the next two years.”

Amedisys operates in 38 states with more than 500 locations. The document Amedisys submitted to the SEC does not indicate how many of its properties and those of UnitedHealth will be divested. A UnitedHealth statement said the company plans to divest at least 128 home health and hospice facilities.

One has to wonder whether we are trading one monopoly for another.

New Deal

As the DOJ lawsuit enters mediation this August, UnitedHealth and Amedisys search for another way to divest its properties. Enter the New Deal. BrightSpring Health Services, parent company to Adoration Home Health Acquisition LLC, Adoration Hospice Care Acquisitions LLC and Senescence LLC, DBA All Saints Hospice will purchase some of the properties from both Amedisys and UnitedHealth. The Pennant Group, parent company to Cornerstone Healthcare, Inc. and Tensaw River Healthcare, LLC, will purchase additional properties from bother companies.

According to documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both agreements have mulitple contingencies, including the finalization of the UnitedHealth/Amedisys merger. Financial information on the two deals was not included in the Amedisys SEC filing. In a separate filing, Pennant valued their part of the agreement at nearly $102.5 million.

No Deal Yet

The sale of properties to BrightSpring and Pennant Group relies on the finalization of the merger between Amedisys and UnitedHealth. A magistrate will oversee mediation between the two companies and the DOJ beginning this August.

The SEC and the DOJ have not yet responded to the intent to divest to BrightSpring and Pennant Group.

Final Thoughts

The proposed merger between UnitedHealth and Amedisys has been ongoing for two years. The two companies, who previously stated their competition helped keep them honest and keep costs low, now state that the merger will lower costs even more. The DOJ disagrees. To alleviate concerns, the merger includes the release of properties anywhere the merger would create an unfair advantage. Mediation in August will reveal more on the position of the DOJ, the response from UnitedHealth and Amedisys, and the specifics of the divestment of home health and hospice agencies. The merger proposal expires December 31, 2025. We will continue to follow the story as the parties enter mediation.

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