Three Oaks Hospice Purchases Peace Hospice & Palliative Care

Via HospiceNews »

Dallas-based Three Oaks Hospice has acquired Peace Hospice & Palliative Care in Naperville, Ill., for an undisclosed amount.

Relatively new to the hospice arena, Three Oaks opened its doors in May 2019 and jumped quickly into the mergers and acquisitions market with the September purchase of three hospices in the company’s home state of Texas. Three Oaks Hospice during 2019 received more than $21 million in private equity from Granite Growth Health Partners, Health Velocity Capital and Petra Capital Partners.

Peace Hospice & Palliative Care cares for patients and families throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, providing skilled nursing care, personal care, counseling and physical/occupational therapy to patients suffering from life-limiting illnesses. The transaction makes Three Oaks’ entry into the Illinois market.

“We saw an opportunity within the Illinois market, as Chicago is the third largest city in the United States,” said Andrea Bohannon, president and CEO of Three Oaks Hospice. “The hospice market in Chicago is fragmented and we saw the need to bring to the communities of Chicagoland our collective mission to listen, care and serve by expanding our model that promotes a culture of teamwork and provides best-in-class service and superior quality.”

Peace operates in one location, but provides services to five of the largest counties in the Chicago area, which have a collective population of more than 8 million people. The company has an annual patient census of 65.

Currently, seniors represent 10% of the population in the City of Chicago, not counting the surrounding suburbs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population aged 65 to 84 is expected to double by 2040, and the number of people aged 85 and older is expected to triple.

Among the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, Chicago ranks ninth in the number of new seniors.

The Census Bureau estimates that the senior population in the State of Illinois will grow 30% by 2030.

Three Oaks will continue to seek acquisition opportunities throughout 2020, according to Bohannon, who told Hospice News that the company has a strong and active pipeline of transactions it plans to close this year.

Despite record-high valuations in the hospice space, the industry’s M&A market continues to burgeon, a trend that is expected to continue through 2020

Health care M&A advisory firm Stoneridge Partners counseled Peace Hospice & Palliative Care during the transaction process. The firm specializes in the brokerage of home care, home health, hospice and behavioral health agencies.

“The hospice market will continue to be hot in 2020. More and more Medicare beneficiaries are utilizing hospice services, and large health care providers appreciate the benefits of offering a spectrum of post-acute services to meet patient needs, including an increased focus on in-home care,” Stoneridge Executive Vice President and Partner Ben Bogan told Hospice News. “We feel confident that we’ll see continued hospice acquisition activity as these providers seek to build comprehensive systems of care for their patients.”