Aveanna Healthcare Advances Home-Based Care with Strategic Acquisitions, AI, and Payer Partnerships

In 2025, the home-based care industry faced significant regulatory challenges alongside rapid innovation. Aveanna Healthcare Holdings made a strategic $75 million acquisition of Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care, aiming to bolster its service capabilities and deepen payer partnerships. Looking ahead to 2026, Aveanna's CEO Jeff Shaner plans aggressive growth through acquisitions of similar companies, emphasizing strong payer relationships despite Medicaid funding cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). A key strategy Aveanna employs is transparency with payers, openly sharing wage and operational data to demonstrate value and improve partnership outcomes. Shaner stresses that collaboration with payers and government agencies is essential to managing labor market challenges and reducing total cost of care. Additionally, Aveanna is cautiously integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into operations, prioritizing automation in revenue cycle management and exploring AI-driven caregiver scheduling to enhance workforce efficiency. The Medicare home health payment rule brought a period of uncertainty but ultimately provided more reimbursement clarity, allowing Aveanna to focus on growing its home health and hospice services organically and through acquisitions. The company's footprint spans 29 Medicaid states, with plans to expand further, especially targeting underserved markets like Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. California remains a challenging market due to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates lagging behind nursing wage demands, resulting in care access issues and increased hospital stays. Aveanna continues to engage with state officials to advocate for investment in home-based nursing services to address these gaps. Technology modernization and process standardization across Aveanna’s nearly 400 branches nationwide form the foundation for future AI and automation deployment. This standardization enables the application of technological solutions across markets to increase operational efficiency without substantial headcount growth. Value-based care agreements are growing at Aveanna, predominantly on the pediatric side, aligning payer-provider incentives around quality outcomes and cost reduction. As of 2025, Aveanna holds over 30 preferred payer agreements and aims to double the number of value-based contracts, reinforcing collaborative care models. Despite industry-wide challenges, including inflation and reimbursement pressures, Aveanna maintains strong operational metrics, including high patient satisfaction scores and quality ratings. Leadership focuses on controllable factors such as rate negotiations and caregiver alignment to payers' needs. Shaner highlights the importance of advancing technology at a measured pace, cautioning against chasing unproven innovations. Instead, Aveanna targets focused AI initiatives that deliver tangible benefits, balancing innovation with operational stability. Overall, Aveanna’s strategic emphasis on payer partnerships, technology adoption, geographic expansion, and value-based care positions it to navigate ongoing regulatory complexities and capitalizes on home-based care’s growing role in the healthcare continuum. This approach aims to ensure scalable growth and sustainable high-quality care delivery through 2026 and beyond.