Who is buying home health agencies?

Owner

UnitedHealth Group (Optum)

Headquarters

Baton Rouge, LA

Scale

Amedisys: over 340 home health and over 160 hospice locations in 38 states and D.C.; LHC: over 530 home health and over 120 hospice locations (DOJ figures, before the 164 required divestitures)

The $3.3B deal closed in August 2025, a week after a settlement with the DOJ. The settlement required divesting 152 home health, 11 hospice and 1 palliative care locations in 19 states to BrightSpring, Pennant or another approved buyer. UnitedHealth bought LHC Group in February 2023. In a 2023 proxy, Optum said it intended to keep Amedisys's presence in Baton Rouge.

Owner

Kinderhook Industries

Headquarters

Dallas, TX

Scale

251 home health locations and 117 hospice locations across 35 states

Ownership changed in 2026. Kinderhook agreed on Feb 23, 2026 to buy Enhabit at about $1.1B total enterprise value ($13.80 a share) and closed on May 15, 2026. I found no add-on acquisitions since the close.

Owner

Ares Private Equity Group (majority); DaVita (non-controlling minority)

Headquarters

Dallas, TX

Scale

200 locations in 18 states, serving over 60,000 patients daily

Ownership changed in 2026. DaVita's 10-Q says its $200M non-controlling minority stake closed July 20, 2026. On its Q4 2025 earnings call, DaVita described the deal as its minority investment alongside a majority investment from Ares funds. Mertz Taggart says Blue Wolf Capital held Elara for about eight years before this deal. The scale figures come from Elara's Feb 2, 2026 release.

Owner

Public (Nasdaq: BTSG)

Headquarters

Louisville, KY

Scale

Whole-company footprint not stated in the sources I read; bought 107 of 110 former Amedisys/LHC home health and hospice branches in 18 states

An affiliate of KKR, the former sponsor, sold shares in secondary offerings in June 2025, October 2025, March 2026 and June 2026. I could not confirm how much KKR still holds. As of the June 30, 2026 10-Q, the last 3 of the 110 branches were expected to close in 2026. BrightSpring completed no acquisitions in the first half of 2026.

Owner

Public (Nasdaq: PNTG)

Headquarters

Eagle, ID

Scale

Home health, hospice and home care agencies and senior living communities in 17 states

Cornerstone Healthcare, Inc., which Pennant's 8-Ks name as a buyer in the Signature and UnitedHealth/Amedisys deals, is a wholly owned Pennant subsidiary, not a separate acquirer.

Owner

TowerBrook Capital Partners and Ascension Health Alliance

Headquarters

Nashville, TN

Scale

270 locations nationwide; care in 30 states

Compassus grows mainly through joint ventures with health systems. Only the Providence deal is documented as a 50% membership interest. Oregon approved the Oregon part of the Providence deal with conditions on July 15, 2026, and I could not confirm when it closed. Ascension, which co-owns Compassus, is a nonprofit health system. Hospice News (Sep 2026) says Compassus serves 33 states; the Oregon order says 30.

Owner

The Vistria Group and Nautic Partners

Headquarters

Dallas, TX

Scale

89 home health locations and 40 hospice locations (after the Carter Healthcare deal)

A Delaware court's constructive trust lets Encompass Health and Enhabit split 43% of VitalCaring's ongoing profits and exit proceeds. An early-2026 Enhabit SEC exhibit says three individual defendants settled for $43.1M, and that the order against Vistria, Nautic and VitalCaring's holding company is unaffected. In January 2025, Amedisys halted a 2024 agreement to sell more than 100 locations to VitalCaring.

Owner

Coltala Holdings and Trive Capital

Headquarters

Tyler, TX

Scale

Count not disclosed; serves Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada

Choice also buys personal care businesses (Family Tree Private Care in Jan 2025, Senior Nannies in Jan 2026). Those are not home health and are not counted here. The list of states comes from Choice's Jan 30, 2026 release.

Owner

Caring Brands International (acquired by Wellspring Capital Management, Oct 2021)

Headquarters

Sunrise, FL

Scale

294 US units (98% franchised)

This was a franchisor buying back its own second-largest franchisee, not a third-party roll-up. Wellspring bought Caring Brands International in October 2021. I found no later sale, but I did not find a 2026 source confirming Wellspring still owns it.

Owner

Pruitt family (family-owned)

Headquarters

Norcross, GA

Scale

15 home health offices in Georgia; more than 190 locations overall

Mainly a skilled nursing operator. So far its home health buying is in Georgia. The Aug 2025 release still calls it family-owned. The location counts come from the June 17, 2026 release.

Owner

Encore Management Group (BPEA also lists LiveWell as a current portfolio investment)

Headquarters

St. Louis, MO

Scale

Operations in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio

Medium confidence on the backer. Hospice News, LevinPro and Encore's own site (which says it set up LiveWell as a consolidation platform) name Encore Management Group. Boston-based BPEA lists LiveWell as a current investment, and Mertz Taggart's Q2 2025 report names BPEA as the backer. I could not establish how the two are related. LiveWell's website asks home health owners who want to sell to contact it.

Owner

Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC)

Headquarters

Troy, MI

Scale

7 states (Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania)

The company's history page gives a Troy, MI address. The March 2026 Covenant release carries a Mechanicsburg, PA dateline.

Owner

Renovus Capital Partners

Headquarters

Baton Rouge, LA

Scale

Home health and hospice across much of southern Louisiana and northwest Louisiana; entered Oklahoma (11 counties) in 2026

Renovus made its platform investment in January 2025. Superior also bought the hospice-only Bayou Country operations of Hope Healthcare & Hospice (Houma, LA) in Jan 2026. That deal is not counted here. The April 2026 release carries a Metairie, LA dateline.

Owner

Cimarron Healthcare Capital and Tacoma Holdings

Headquarters

Dallas, TX

Scale

Home health and hospice across 176 counties in Texas

Frontpoint focuses on Medicare Advantage patients. It named a new CEO in April 2026. I found no acquisition since February 2024, so its current pace of buying is uncertain.

Owner

Lorient Capital

Headquarters

Indianapolis, IN

Scale

Not disclosed

Lorient lists the HQ as Indianapolis, while trade press (Jan 2024) calls PurposeCare Chicago-based. The Jan 2024 deals were reported as equity stakes. Its later deals, such as New Era Support Services in Illinois, are home and community-based services, not home health.

Owner

Creach Family Holdings

Headquarters

Kansas City, MO

Scale

Home health and hospice in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa

Backed by a family office. LevinPro calls Creach Family Holdings the direct investing arm of the Creach Family Office, and under the house rule that counts as Private equity. The HQ comes from a Dec 16, 2025 release dateline; LevinPro calls Faith Overland Park, KS-based. The states come from Hospice News (Dec 2025).

Owner

Founders David and Tessie Ganzsarto (no outside investor found)

Headquarters

Kettering, OH

Scale

Not disclosed

Medium confidence on ownership. ASHN's site says only that the Ganzsartos founded it in 1999, and no source I read states who owns it now. ASHN grows through home health joint ventures with health systems, not outright purchases. It also announced a joint venture with IU Health in Indiana in Sep 2025, which is not counted here.