For-profit company to acquire Fallon, VNA home care business

WBJ File Richard Burke, president and CEO of Fallon Health.

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By Emily Micucci

A for-profit Louisiana company plans to acquire the Home Staff company, the home care agency owned by Worcester-based Fallon Health and VNA Care Network.

Amedisys Inc. saidin December it expects the sale to close on Feb. 1. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Home Staff generates about $10.5 million in annualized revenue by serving 3,500 clients, according to Amedisys.

It is the third Massachusetts home care agency acquisition for the company, which has headquarters in Baton Rouge and acquired a personal care agency serving Greater Boston, and a private-duty home health agency based in Danvers, last year.

Founded in 1977, Home Staff has about 500 employees and offers professional nurses, chore workers, companions, transportation, personal care assistants, certified nursing assistants to encourage independent living, according to Amedisys.

Fallon and VNA Care Network, which has offices in Worcester, jointly purchased Home Staff in 2008, according to Fallon spokeswoman Carrie Wattu. The Home Care staff provides care to Fallon’s Summit Eldercare members and will continue to do so under Amedisys, Wattu said in an email Wednesday.

“We’re pleased with the sale of Home Staff … to Amedisys, Inc., one of the nation’s leading home health care and hospice companies. Home Staff’s focus and expertise aligns especially well with Amedisys,” Wattu wrote.

Fallon officials were not available for further comment on the sale Wednesday.

Amedisys said growth in Massachusetts follows a renewed acquisition strategy in 2015. The company will have 2,500 aides providing care to 15,000 patients annually in Massachusetts when the Home Staff sale is complete. That makes the company the largest personal care provider in the state, Amedisys President Mike Trigilio said in last month’s statement.