Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV), formerly based in Melville, Long Island, New York and now in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the largest providers of home health care and related services in the United States.
Gentiva is a Fortune 1000 company with approximately $1.1 billion in annual revenue. Gentiva is also a member of the S&P 600 index, developed by Standard & Poor's, featuring small capitalization U.S.-based stocks.
The company offers a range of services, including nursing, physical, occupational, and speech-language therapy, cardiac and pulmonary care, disease and pain management, and other health and medical services.[1]
Gentiva provides health services to over half a million patients annually[2] through over 380 U.S. locations in 39 states.[3] According to Morningstar, "Gentiva is a gentle giant...the nation's largest home health care services firm."[4]
Gentiva companies include Donelson, Emerald Coast, Gilbert's, Healthfield Group, Heritage, Horizon, Hospice of Charleston, Lazarus House, Tar Heel, Total Care and Wiregrass.[5]
In 2002, Gentiva sold its specialty pharmaceutical services division, which administered infusion and injectable pharmaceuticals to patients with both acute and chronic disease, to Accredo Health Inc. for $415 million in cash and stock.[6] Accredo, in turn, was acquired by Medco (NYSE:MHS), a former division of Merck & Co., for $2.2 billion in February 2005.[7]
In 2006, Gentiva acquired the Atlanta, Georgia-based Healthfield Group, a U.S. provider of home care and pharmaceutical services, for $454 million in cash and stock.[8] In 2008, Gentiva sold a majority stake of its benefit management business, CareCentrix, to Water Street Healthcare Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.[9]
On May 24, 2010, Gentiva announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Odyssey Healthcare, a Dallas-based national provider of hospice services, for $1.1 billion in cash. The acquisition is expected to increase Gentiva's revenue to approximately $1.8 billion annually.[10]