Leaders at Pennant Group (NASDAQ: PNTG) are happy with progress on the mixing of former Amedisys residence care areas, which have been acquired in a $147 million deal that closed in October 2025.

Some “jerkyness” is inevitable as the mixing progresses, and this has knowledgeable Pennant’s method to setting its 2026 monetary steerage, however “the transition is progressing effectively,” COO John Gochnour stated Thursday throughout the firm’s This autumn 2025 earnings name.

The websites are concentrated within the Southeast and have been offered as a situation of UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) acquisition of Amedisys. They’re transferred in waves; Gochnour expects the method to be accomplished by October 2026. The transaction included 54 areas and included some belongings beforehand managed by LHC Group.

“The reception we have had within the Southeast has been encouraging,” Gochnour stated. “We have now inherited and already attracted extra proficient leaders within the discipline and at our new service heart in Nashville. And these groups genuinely need to leverage Pennant’s domestically pushed mannequin. These new operations have joined clusters of seasoned and profitable Pennant operations, so the constructing blocks of peer accountability that make our mannequin work are in place.”

Whereas the addition of the Amedisys areas contributed to a notable year-over-year improve in gross sales and residential care admissions, Pennant executives additionally touted same-store progress. Identical-store Medicare admissions elevated 8.2% and Medicare income per episode elevated 3.7% in comparison with This autumn 2024.

General, 2025 was an “distinctive 12 months” for Pennant, CEO Brent Guerisoli stated on the earnings name, noting that the corporate met or exceeded the midpoint of its monetary expectations whereas additionally attaining historic progress — not solely from the Amedisys transaction but additionally from different offers, together with the acquisition of Signature Healthcare at House.

Pennant is predicated in Eagle, Idaho. Its independently operated subsidiaries present providers to greater than 120 residence well being and hospice companies and greater than 50 senior dwelling communities.

Implications for hospital partnerships, mergers and acquisitions

Along with offering updates on the progress of the mixing, Pennant executives mentioned different implications of bringing the previous Amedisys and LHC Group areas into the portfolio.

One of many former LHC belongings is concerned in a three way partnership with the College of Tennessee Well being System. This three way partnership was a sexy a part of the deal, Gochnour stated.

“It offers us the chance to work with a number one acute accomplice, sharing information, sharing data, making certain the seamless processing of care transitions and making certain the affected person expertise is top-notch,” he stated.

Pennant’s method to enterprise operations – which focuses closely on discovering and creating robust native management – is constant throughout all areas, no matter whether or not they’re concerned in a healthcare three way partnership, Guerisoli stated.

Pennant’s core mission is to “create life-changing alternatives for native leaders,” and it will proceed to drive the corporate’s selections, he emphasised. However the College of Tennessee three way partnership has to date confirmed that acute care partnerships shall be a part of its future technique as Pennant continues to develop.

And the management workforce is optimistic concerning the alternatives to develop market share, particularly within the Southeast. The Amedisys acquisition was supposed to create a platform for progress within the area, with the Tennessee-based service heart capable of assist this progress.

“We anticipate the Southeast to be a robust area for us and that we are able to develop considerably there,” Guerisoli stated. “And we have already seen it as we have built-in these operations – we have had a major variety of those who we have been in a position so as to add to the workforce, others which have reached out to us, and there is loads of alternative for us to develop.”

Pennant’s constructive sentiment is partly as a result of wave of consolidation in recent times, with a number of different main residence care suppliers being acquired by payers. Towards this backdrop, Pennant stands out as an unbiased supplier with a domestically targeted enterprise mannequin.

“We predict this provides us a aggressive benefit … so that there’s a possibility to realize market share versus the place this firm was after we acquired it,” Gochnour stated. “And that is a part of the enticing progress alternatives that we see simply in these belongings, but additionally as we broaden within the Southeast.”

Whereas desirous to capitalize on progress alternatives, Pennant’s administration workforce is prioritizing the mixing of belongings acquired final 12 months earlier than closing any main offers.

“We have now all the time been disciplined in our method, however we shall be much more selective within the residence care and hospice house within the first half of 2026 as we give attention to making certain our lately acquired companies are on stable footing,” Gochnour stated.