entertainment

Option Care Health is buying Amedisys in an all-stock merger valued at $3.6 billion, creating a national company that specializes in almost all types of home care that can be provided from cradle to grave.

Health insurance companies, providers, and patients have pushed for more care to be handled at home instead of a hospital or post-acute facility, under the idea that quality home care saves money and is what patients want. Option Care’s deal for Amedisys marks another instance of this push, and comes just a few months after UnitedHealth Group closed on its $5.4 billion acquisition of LHC Group.

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But Wall Street was not receptive to the deal, driving down Option Care’s stock by more than 25% on Thursday morning.

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