Humana's senior-focused primary care unit is set to acquire The Villages Health, which provides care to the large Florida-based retirement community.
The Villages Health filed for bankruptcy last week as it seeks to undergo a strategic restructuring designed to "preserve the business's day-to-day operations and further enhance patient care." Humana's CenterWell has entered a "stalking horse" agreement to buy TVH's assets, according to an announcement.
Finalizing the sale will require a court order after an auction process that accepts additional bids. As it navigates the sale and bankruptcy proceedings, The Villages Health said it will continue to operate as normal, with the goal of averting disruptions to patient care.
As CenterWell is payer-agnostic, current TVH patients are "expected" to be able to maintain the relationship with their existing providers, according to the release.
"TVH is a clinically excellent healthcare system," Elliot Sussman, M.D., chairman of the board and founder of The Villages Health, said in the announcement. "We believe this plan of reorganization and planned transaction with CenterWell is in the best interests of our patients, physicians, other clinicians, employees, partners and community members, and will ultimately result in a more promising future."
"Under CenterWell, this healthcare system will continue to be a leading provider of patient-centered, primary care-driven and community-based healthcare," Sussman said. "Our primary goal remains to keep our patients healthy and to heal them quickly, as it has always been from the inception of TVH."
Bob Trinh, CEO of The Villages Health, said that reaching the agreement "was by no means an overnight decision."
TVH provides care to residents of The Villages as well as the surrounding community, and has been in operation for 13 years. It currently serves more than 55,000 patients, many of whom are Medicare beneficiaries.
"The clinicians and staff at The Villages Health share our passion for making sure each patient they see feels cared for and supported as they seek to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle," said Renee Buckingham, president of CenterWell Senior Primary Care, in the announcement. "We look forward to welcoming the TVH team to CenterWell Senior Primary Care and working together to improve the health of the residents of The Villages and the surrounding communities."
TVH said that the CenterWell deal will not impede on an ongoing independent investigation. The provider said that in February 2024, it found and dug into "potential set of problems with its Medicare billing practices," which it then reported to the government and took action to address.
TVH said it has been working closely with federal officials to address the discrepancies. TVH owes the federal government $361 million, according to its bankruptcy filing.
"This work toward a resolution with the U.S. Government, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments and likely significant accompanying penalties, continues without interruption and is independent of, and being conducted separately from, the transaction with CenterWell," per the announcement.
Humana, meanwhile, has steadily invested in building out CenterWell's geographic reach, with the insurer planning to open between 20 and 30 new locations in existing markets as well as add four new states. This includes a number of clinics co-located at Walmart stores, which previously operated as Walmart Health.