Augusta health care company sells home care business

Sept. 01--Augusta-based hospice and home health care company CareSouth Health System is selling its home health care business unit to Encompass Home Health for $170 million.

Encompass is a subsidiary of health care giant HealthSouth Corp., which operates rehabilitation centers in Augusta.

The deal, approved by both company's boards of directors, should close by the end of the year after regulatory approvals.

CareSouth has 45 home health locations in seven states, including Martinez and Aiken. The acquisition gives Encompass access to new markets in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"By combining the CareSouth and Encompass teams, we will further our mission of providing a better way to care," said April Anthony, the Chief Executive Officer of Encompass. "We have respected the CareSouth management team for some time and are confident our cultures and philosophies will align well."

The merger will involve the home health, hospice, private duty nurse and the health and wellness business lines.

CareSouth is not selling its senior living service division nor its Health at Home joint venture. The remaining company will be changing its name to Careity in the fourth quarter of the year.

"The Careity name will represent a more innovative, redesigned approach to providing coordinated care in the senior living space," said Rick Griffin, the President and Chief Executive Officer of CareSouth. "With almost 40 years experience in home health care, we are better able to anticipate and resolve the changing needs of our ever growing senior population within their own communities with an integrated care delivery system."

CareSouth will also continue to manage care center services and run its insurance business.

HealthSouth, based in Birmingham, Ala., is a provider of facility-based and home-based post-acute services in 33 states and Puerto Rico through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, and hospice agencies.

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