The post-acute care space has been undergoing a wave of consolidation for the past few years. And as more providers come together, the businesses that serve them are beginning to do the same.
The newest example of that trend came Tuesday, when the Connecticut-based Simione Healthcare Consultants and Pennsylvania-based BlackTree Healthcare Consulting revealed plans to execute “a strategic and equal combination” with a private equity backer.
Simione and BlackTree were both successful apart, but joining forces as “SimiTree Healthcare Consulting” will allow each to better serve provider clients moving forward, organizational leaders told Home Health Care News.
On top of that, the new PE support will allow SimiTree to explore further moves and investments down the road.
“While we do overlap in some areas, each firm really has its own unique service lines that really complement each other,” SimiTree Managing Principal Nick Seabrook told HHCN. “So for instance, at BlackTree, we don’t have a talent solutions or recruiting service line. We don’t have some of the marketing consulting, some of the data sources that Simone offers.”
Combined, SimiTree will help post-acute care providers navigate clinical and financial hurdles through consulting, outsourcing and talent solutions.
“We saw an opportunity,” SimiTree Managing Principal Bill Simione told HHCN. “We met. We felt that the chemistry and the culture of both organizations fit very, very well together. And we decided to go forward.”
The private investment comes from the Sheridan Capital Partners, a Chicago-based health care PE firm that focuses on lower-middle market buyouts and growth equity in the U.S. and Canada.
Other Sheridan portfolio companies include DAS Health and SpendMend. The former provides recurring IT and management solutions to independent physician groups, hospitals and health systems, while the latter offers cost-cycle management and spend analytics services to health care clients.
The financial terms of Sheridan’s investment were not disclosed. The BlackTree and Simione management teams still retain “meaningful ownership in the business,” according to SimiTree.
“Having access to their capital will allow us to both invest in internal resources, but then any external resources as well,” Seabrook said. “It also gives us the ability to have additional investments in the future, if they make sense and make the combined company stronger.”
The legacy Simione and BlackTree businesses will still have their independent offices in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In fact, a guaranteed level of autonomy and independence was a big reason the deal came together, Seabrook noted.
The merger between Simione and BlackTree materialized fairly quickly. They had “jokingly” talked about teaming up in the past, but a formal combination started feeling like the right thing to do toward the beginning of 2021.
“Timing was just right,” Simione said. “And when we take a look at what’s happening within the industry, with so many mergers and acquisitions of providers, it made sense for us to grow, to partner to become stronger.”
There are plenty of other examples of consulting firms coming together since 2019.
Simione Healthcare Consultants actually acquired Home Health Solutions — an organization that does outsourced coding and OASIS review — in August of last year, for instance. Meanwhile, in May 2019, Netsmart acquired health care consulting firm McBee Associates.
“I’d say it’s a trend that we’re already starting to see pick up in 2021,” Seabrook said. “And I would expect that to continue on through the rest of the year.”
Before exploring any additional ways to grow SimiTree, Seabrook, Simione and their teams will keep focused on successful integration and getting everyone on the same page. The merger will bring very little disruption to existing clients, especially considering many clients already worked with both BlackTree and Simione.
“From a client perspective, they’re going to continue to see the quality services that they’ve come to expect between our organizations,” Simione said. “And we’re excited to potentially offer new solutions as we continue to grow.”
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