Kindred Healthcare, UC Davis to build rehab hospital

Kindred Healthcare and the University of California at Davis formed a joint venture to operate a 40-bed rehabilitation hospital on the university’s campus in Sacramento. Kindred will manage day-to-day operations of the hospital, which will treat patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. The organizations expect the hospital to open by the third quarter of 2020, following the customary approval process.

More providers are partnering with academic medical centers, in part to establish a pipeline of workers amid staffing shortages.

One of the fastest-growing sectors across industries is healthcare practitioners, including home health aides, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, which is projected to increase 15.2% from 2016 to 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But there are not enough workers to meet that demand.

Kindred is one of the largest post-acute providers in the country, with about $3.4 billion in annual revenue. It was recently acquired by health insurer Humana and two private equity companies for $4.1 billion, splitting the organization into two companies separated between its long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehab facilities, and its home health, hospice and community care businesses.