Aveanna Healthcare Holdings (NASDAQ: AVAH) is strengthening its pediatric in-home care strategy and geographic standing with the planned acquisition of Family First Homecare – and is now turning to grow its home health arm.
The $175.5 million Family First Homecare deal, to be paid for with a combination of cash on hand and existing short-term credit facility borrowing, is expected to close in Q2 2026, according to the company’s Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings call on Thursday.
“This acquisition helps us round out the areas of Florida that we were not in geographically,” Jeff Shaner, Aveanna’s CEO, said on the call. “It allows us to service effectively every county in the state of Florida. And again, our payer partners are very supportive of our growth.”
Family First Homecare operates 27 locations in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas, and is currently launching in North Carolina. The deal expands Aveanna’s Florida footprint, helping it to cover nearly every county in the state, aligning with Shaner’s goal of “densifying” its geography. It also strengthens its position with Florida managed care payers, according to Aveanna. The integration process will likely take about six months, Shaner said.
Family First Homecare, founded in 2012, received a strategic minority investment from Trivest Partners in 2021.
The deal follows through on Shaner’s plans to execute more deals like its $75 million acquisition of Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care in April 2025.
“We’re going to continue to focus on pediatric, adult and geriatric growth in the home,” Shaner previously told Home Health Care News. “We’re going to continue to lean into the partners who have partnered with us over the last few years. As we have heard, state governments are a little bit tighter on their budgets. We’re leaning in deeper into them on how we can help solve their issues and solve their problems.”
Aveanna reported Q4 revenues of $662.5 million, a 27.4% increase year-over-year, and full-year revenues of approximately $2.433 billion, a 20.2% increase year-over-year. Its full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA came in at $320.8 million, a 74.8% increase over the prior year period.
The company expects a more normalized growth rate in 2026, with organic growth in the range of 5% to 7%.
Shaner underlined that the company is committed to growing its home health and hospice business through “creative M&A,” saying that Aveanna will likely get back to home health-focused growth through de novo and tuck-in M&A.
While growing its footprint, Aveanna is also prioritizing its preferred payer strategy, leveraging this strategy to invest in caregiver wages and recruitment efforts.
In 2026, the company aims to add eight additional preferred payer agreements, targeting a goal of 38 preferred payers by the end of the year.