Salmon Health Acquires Milford Hospice
Edd Cote
From left to right, Matthew, Andrew and Kate Salmon pose for a 2010 Worcester Business Journal Family Business Award profile.
Milford Regional Medical Center has sold its hospice and home health operations to Salmon Health and Retirement, a major regional player in senior housing and health care, the two organizations announced.
Salmon, which is based in Westborough and operates active adult and assisted living community and rehab and skilled nursing centers which employ approximately 1,800 people, will merge its Salmon Hospice Care with the newly acquired VNA and Hospice of Greater Milford, located on Birch Street.
Foray Into Home Care
Salmon would not disclose the sale price, nor would a spokeswoman for Milford Regional, who said the exact number has not yet been reached. The Milford VNA and Hospice served approximately 1,200 patients last year, according to Matt Salmon, COO of Salmon Health.
The purchase doubles the size of Salmon's hospice program, but perhaps more importantly, it represents the company's first foray into home health care, Salmon said.
"We've had this as a part of the strategic plan for years," Salmon said. "It was the perfect opportunity."
The announcement comes approximately one month after UMass Memorial Medical Center agreed to sell its home-based health care services arm to VNA Care Network & Hospice in Worcester, citing stiff competition from other providers. That sale is expected to be completed in the fall.
For its part, Milford Regional noted uncertainty over home-based care reimbursements in an announcement earlier this year about its VNA business.
"We are concerned about maintaining the excellence and quality of the services that our VNA currently provides, and also, to the greatest extent possible, protecting our employees at the VNA," hospital president and CEO Francis Saba said in a March statement.
Salmon said thinks hospitals are looking to focus on performance incentives laid out in the federal Affordable Health Care Act.
Of course, Salmon is concerned about reimbursements too, he said, but they are happy to step into the space, which he sees as a good fit for the company.
Market Position
As hospitals begin to warm up to an "accountable care" model, which offers financial incentives for limiting hospital readmissions and other positive outcomes, Salmon is positioning itself as a complete acute care provider for patients once they leave the hospital, Salmon said.
With home care now in its wheelhouse, Salmon can transition patients from the hospital to one of its rehabilitation and skilled nursing centers, like Beaumont, and then provide home care once the patient is well enough to go home.
"What we feel we can do now in the post-acute setting here is we can use our system to manage [patients] all the way back into the community," Salmon said.
The Milford hospice will keep its same name, address and phone number and the 136 employees there will become Salmon employees.
Jean Masciarelli will continue on as director in Milford, with Salmon's Michele McGovern overseeing the merged hospice operations.
Matt Salmon said that the goal is to eventually expand home health services to the company's other geographies, once it develops an institutional skill set.
Salmon has approximately 1,460 patients and residents in its various facilities, the largest group of which is 675 patients in skilled nursing facilities, according to Salmon.
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