The story
History and governance
Amedisys was founded in 1982 by William F. Borne, a registered nurse from Reserve, Louisiana and William Matt Hession (registered nurse). CEO of Key Nursing. Borne has been chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the board since that time. In 1993, the company completed a reverse acquisition with M&N Capital Corp, and began trading on the NASDAQ Small Cap Market in 1994. Additional public offerings of its common stock were completed in 2004 and 2006.
As of Nov. 6, 2011, the members of the board of directors of Amedisys were: William F. Borne, chairman; Don Washburn, lead director; Ronald LaBorde; Jake L. Netterville, CPA; David Pitts, and Peter Ricchiuti. Borne resigned as CEO, chairman, and director of Amedisys on February 24, 2014, 33 years after founding the company, and was named Chairman Emeritus by the company's Board of Directors. Ronald (Ronnie) A. LaBorde was named Interim CEO, having been Amedisys president and chief financial office for two years, and a member of the Board of Directors for 17 years.
In June 2011, Amedisys closed the acquisition of Beacon Hospice, a New England provider of hospice services with 24 locations in five states.
In March 2008, Amedisys closed the acquisition of TLC Health Care Services, a home health provider with more than 100 locations.
Amedisys announced March 28, 2014, it was closing 29 care centers (23 home health and six hospice) and consolidating another 25 (21 home health and four hospice). The Concord (NH) office of Beacon Hospice was closed on April 30, 2014. Hyder Family Hospice House (Dover, NH), one of the facilities in the Beacon Hospice acquisition, was also to be closed. Hyder House was the only in-patient hospice facility in Strafford County, NH. (Hyder House was expected to transfer to county ownership on August 1, 2014.)
Amedisys announced a $150-million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on April 23, 2014. This settlement was about Medicare reimbursements for home health services by some Amedisys care centers from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2010, as well as a Stark Law infraction involving care services provided to a physician group in exchange for compensation inconsistent with fair market value from April 1, 2008, through April 30, 2012, an issue Amedisys had voluntarily disclosed. The $150 million included more than $26 million to settle six whistleblower lawsuits in Pennsylvania and one in Georgia. The $150 million is five times what a leading analyst in the industry estimates Amedisys will earn in 2014 before income taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
In June 2023, Optum agreed to acquire Amedisys for $3.3 billion. It rejected a prior offer from Option Care that it initially agreed to the previous month.
Foundation and charitable giving
In 2005, Amedisys established a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Christen Foundation, to distribute contributions to local nonprofit organizations and employees in need. The Christen Foundation also administers donations to Amedisys’ Hospice Fund.
Read the full text
Amedisys employees’ contributions rank second in the nation in fundraising for the American Heart Association, next to only the American Heart Association itself.
From Wikipedia’s article on Amedisys, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4