After the ink has dried on a transaction within the residence well being care area, the query of whether or not newly acquired areas needs to be rebranded raises an attention-grabbing consideration.

Whereas some firms rapidly combine acquired firms into their model and splash their brand, advertising and marketing supplies and likeness on the newly acquired belongings, others select to retain the identification of the promoting firm.

In residence well being care, the choice to “rebrand or preserve” takes into consideration quite a few elements, sources advised House Well being Care Information. They embrace operational effectivity, affected person/buyer retention, market positioning and extra.

Proponents of rebranding argue for consistency and streamlined operations. Those that advocate preserving the acquired firm's identification emphasize the worth of a strategically cultivated fame and client belief.

“Anecdotally, I might say I've seen extra of a need to take care of native branding than to change to any nationwide model or purchaser model,” Mark Kulik, senior managing director at The Braff Group, advised HHCN. “On the identical time, you may have Chief Technique Officers, particularly on the bigger organizations, asking themselves, 'How can we place ourselves in the long run, and the place can we stand by way of bettering our nationwide consciousness and branding?'”

There are quite a few profitable examples of each methods within the trade.

Energy behind a reputation

When contemplating a rebrand, Brent Korte, CEO of Frontpoint Well being, likes to remember that all healthcare is native.

Following the acquisition, Korte and his group positioned an emphasis on sustaining a community-oriented method when collaborating with and integrating new organizations.

“From day 1, we wished to ship on this worth of group focus,” Korte advised HHCN. “That's very simple for a CEO to say, and it's loads more durable to attain.”

Frontpoint has accomplished two important transactions since its inception, the newest of which was introduced in early March.

“If the businesses we work with present excellent care – and we wouldn't work with firms that don't – then their recipe works of their group,” Korte explains. “If we had been to alter their title and model, we’d truly be altering the way in which the group sees them as an organization.”

Backed by Cimarron Healthcare Capital and Tacoma Holdings, Frontpoint Well being is an access-focused residence well being and hospice supplier that goals to serve all forms of sufferers, no matter payer. After buying Excessive Plains Senior Care Group, the corporate now offers care in 176 counties in Texas.

A core tenet of Korte's philosophy is the intrinsic worth of a supplier's model and its relationship with the area people. Altering an organization's title or model identification after the acquisition may disrupt the belief and notion constructed over time, he stated.

It's not only a notion motion both. Retaining physicians, hiring employees and recognizing the worth of a longtime model are all points to contemplate.

“The very last thing we’d need to do is go into these small or mid-sized communities within the Texas Panhandle and say, 'An enormous, unhealthy firm is available in from out of city and it modifications all the things,'” Korte stated. “That's not who we’re. We need to proceed the good work the employees are already doing and the good care they supply.”

One of many largest and most well-known residence care suppliers within the trade – LHC Group – is one other nice instance of the “if it ain't broke, don't repair it” technique. Though LHC Group has acquired dozens of various manufacturers over time, it has usually taken the name-keeping route.

“These are the names that folks in the neighborhood have come to know and belief,” Keith Myers, LHC Group co-founder and former CEO, advised HHCN in 2019. “It's not only a aggressive benefit for our companion and for us, it's what we've accomplished from the very starting and the way we truly keep and develop present reputations inside the communities we're so lucky to serve.”

Strategic rebranding

Alternatively, different organizations – a few of that are among the many largest and greatest recognized within the trade – in the end determined to rebrand following acquisitions.

AccentCare is an instance. The Dallas-based firm started a “model refresh” in January 2022 after beforehand being a “home of manufacturers,” with its personal belongings together with Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, Sta-House, Gareda, HRS, Texas House Well being, Southeastern Well being Care at House and Guardian.

For AccentCare, the choice to rebrand was all about making a unified company tradition and nationwide fame.

“That is about a lot greater than our model,” former CEO Steve Rodgers advised HHCN. “It's about who we need to be as a corporation and the way we align our individuals with that. And it's about how we cope with the market.”

For different consumers, it's a matter of state of affairs.

“Healthcare is pushed on the native market degree, so we attempt to perceive the market first,” David Klementz, CEO of Traditions Well being, advised HHCN in an e-mail. “We take a look at the size, enterprise and geography of the acquisition from a model perspective. As soon as we’ve got recognized a possibility, our model technique is alternative particular, based mostly on scale and native market differentiators.”

Nashville-based Traditions offers residence well being, hospice and palliative care companies to greater than 25,000 sufferers yearly at greater than 130 areas in 18 states.

Klementz famous that whereas timelines for rebrands can differ, timelines round platform integrations sometimes don’t.

“From a platform integration perspective, that often occurs comparatively rapidly,” Klementz stated. “This enables everybody to offer care and take a look at operations and efficiency in the identical manner to achieve success.”

The worth in onboarding and rebranding a brand new acquisition is determined by the character of the acquisition and the precise wants of that group, Klementz continued. Authorities rules additionally play a job in figuring out which route an company will take.

“In some circumstances, we’ve got discovered that the necessity to co-brand over a time frame is essential to the communities the group serves,” Klementz stated. “In different circumstances, a fast rebrand – inside three months – could also be greatest for the market.”

In any rebranding, Klementz emphasised, there have to be sensitivity to the communities the acquired firm serves, in addition to sensitivity to worker and firm tradition.

From an M&A perspective, acquirers don’t merely purchase buildings and name them their very own.

What they’re shopping for is the assembled workforce and fame of that firm.

“The query is, do you need to threat any hurt to that fame by coming in on a Monday morning and all of a sudden doing a rebrand?” Kulik stated. “If it's a single-location firm, there's most likely extra of an inclination to change to a nationwide model, but when it's a state or regional participant with 30 areas, I feel consumers would profit from that model to maintain in place. Why change one thing that works properly?”

After contemplating the workforce and fame of the acquired firm, the choice to alter the model title turns into a strategic resolution. For state or regional gamers with a number of areas, retaining the present model will be useful, particularly if it has a robust observe file.

This method aligns with the thought of ​​group focus, which acknowledges that completely different areas have distinctive wants and expectations.

“There isn’t a such factor as best-in-class residence care,” Korte stated. “Individuals have completely different expectations, docs have completely different practices and strategies of offering care. To us, that's what group focus means – and it begins with honoring the model.”