They are masters of the universe.
Here's the most current list I could find of the one-hundred biggest US hospice corporations, companies, agencies, and other players. I've highlighted the first 10. Ranking by LexisNexis:
Yeah, that's not so helpful. Let's really focus on the ten biggest players in the nationwide hospice sandbox, based on their percentage share of a total national market:
I've crossed-off #9-Hospice of the Valley because as a tax-exempt not-for-profit agency, they're not relevant to our current discussion.
But, since they're non-profit we can easily review Hospice of the Valley's financial and operating information by looking up their IRS Form 990.
The latest available for 2015 shows $131,481,031.00 ($131M) in service revenue. Their 2017 LexisNexis ranking shows their market share at less than 1% (0.81%).
I'm going to estimate each percent of market share at $150M, just because. You can go higher or lower.
Two significant deals have gone down since the LexisNexis list came out. Here's how they've shaken the board:
There's no reason to expect this to end anytime soon. The top player, either Vitas or Kindred/Curo, still has less than 5% of total national market share.
Only seven players, or five, have more than 1%.
We're looking at a classic "fragmented industry" as taught in business schools everywhere - one ripe for consolidation, with lots of money to be made buying and selling hospices.
Boatloads.
Boomers are getting old, sick, and dying. It's a demographic wave, and the surf is most definitely up.
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Note: I developed these graphics as part of a project to present the overall story as a presentation or video. That's part of the rabbit hole. I'll get it done.
Also, too: be sure to follow Strange Tony's ongoing saga of corporate psychopathy at Generic Hospice, and the deeply personal reporting by Steve Lopez at the LA Times about how a hospice agency failed his mother and family.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.