The Sandy-based company purchases a chain of high quality home health and hospice centers.
(Photo by Rick Egan | Tribune File) Gail Miller and Steve Starks, Wednesday August 7, 2019.
The Larry H. Miller Group of Cos. Announced Monday that it will expand into healthcare through the purchase of a chain of high-end nursing, home health and hospice centers in Utah and seven other states.
When the deal was revealed, Steve Starks, appointed CEO of the LHM Group in summer 2019The acquisition of Advanced Health Care Corp. for an undisclosed sum signaled a broader intention to expand and diversify Miller’s portfolio of 80 sports, entertainment, automotive, finance, insurance and real estate companies. The acquisition also follows news in October that Utah-based tech entrepreneur Ryan would become Smith, co-founder of Provo-based Qualtrics Buy majority stake in Utah Jazz and related assets of Gail Miller, owner and chairman of the Larry H. Miller Group and widow of the company’s founder Larry H. Miller, who died in 2009.
Advanced Health Care is a privately held company founded two decades ago in Idaho that operates 22 world-class patient care centers, including six in Utah. The centers provide short-term transitional rehabilitation, home care, and hospice services to a primarily elderly clientele, typically moving from acute hospital care to home care.
LHM Group spokeswoman Amanda Covington confirmed that AHC is the first healthcare subsidiary to be acquired by the Sandy-based empire, which owns a stake in Utah Jazz, a chain of car dealerships and other companies in Intermountain West. She said talks about the acquisition have been in progress “for a few years.”
AHC centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah offer luxurious facilities and private suites with 24-hour care, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and fine dining.
Corporate centers in Utah include Aspen Ridge and Aspen Ridge West in Murray, Aspen Ridge in the Utah Valley in Orem, and Pine View in South Ogden, and centers in Salem and St. George.
In a press release, Starks described the acquisition as “a wonderful start to the new year” and praised AHC’s “high quality clinical and rehabilitation services”, its strong business model and an experienced and longstanding management led by its co-founders, siblings Dave and Brett Nattress.
A native of Pocatello, Brett Nattress ran two successful private orthopedic therapy clinics in the Idaho area before co-founding AHC in 2001 General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2016.
Dave Nattress, the company’s CEO, was an executive at several large skilled care companies before co-founding AHC, which also has offices in Farmington Station Park.
AHC facilities are rated well on industry metrics to reduce hospital readmissions for their clients compared to national standards and are ranked high by Medicaid and other health authorities.
In the press release, the AHC founders said they were “attracted to the LHM group because of their values, reputation, transparency, integrity and desire to do good”.
Starks also said that AHC’s approach to inpatient rehabilitation and home health services was in line with Miller’s values and focus on improving people’s lives.
