Hospital-at-Home Leaders DispatchHealth and Medically Home Announce Merger

In a significant move that promises to reshape the landscape of home healthcare, DispatchHealth and Medically Home have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The combined entity aims to provide hospital-level home care services across 50 metropolitan areas, partnering with nearly 40 health systems. This merger, expected to close in mid-2025, represents a major consolidation in the rapidly evolving hospital-at-home sector.

Strategic Expansion and Leadership

The merger will see Medically Home becoming part of DispatchHealth, creating a workforce of over 2,200 employees. Jennifer Webster, who joined DispatchHealth as CEO in 2023, will lead the combined company. Webster emphasized that the merger is designed to expand care access, lower costs, and improve capacity in the home healthcare space.

DispatchHealth, founded in 2013 and based in Denver, has built a reputation for offering same-day medical care, recovery services, and hospital-level care at home. The company has secured significant venture capital funding, including a $330 million equity and debt financing round in late 2022.

Medically Home, headquartered in Boston, has also attracted substantial investment, with its most recent funding round raising $110 million about three years ago. The company provides a platform and support services for providers to deliver advanced care in patients' homes, having served over 55,000 patients with hospital-level services.

Regulatory Environment and Market Trends

The merger comes at a time of increased interest in home-based healthcare models, partly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to hospital capacity strains during the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created the Acute Hospital Care At Home program in 2020. This initiative allows approved Medicare-certified facilities to provide inpatient-level care in patients' homes.

Recently, President Donald Trump signed a short-term government funding bill that extends the Acute Hospital Care At Home program through September 30, 2025, along with telehealth flexibilities in Medicare. This extension provides a supportive regulatory environment for the merged company to operate within.

Industry Implications and Future Outlook

The DispatchHealth-Medically Home merger signals a growing trend of consolidation and expansion in the hospital-at-home sector. As healthcare providers and payers increasingly recognize the potential of home-based care to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes, companies that can offer comprehensive, scalable solutions are likely to see continued growth and investment.

The combined expertise and resources of DispatchHealth and Medically Home position the new entity to potentially lead innovation in home-based acute care. However, the success of this merger will depend on effective integration of the two companies' technologies, care models, and partnerships with health systems.

As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the DispatchHealth-Medically Home merger may serve as a bellwether for further consolidation and investment in the home healthcare space. The industry will be watching closely to see how this newly formed entity navigates the challenges and opportunities of bringing hospital-level care into the home setting.