LOUISVILLE, Ky., Feb. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Almost Family, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFAM), a leading regional provider of home health nursing services, made several announcements today concerning its investment in and development of alternative health care solutions:


    --  Formal creation of a new HealthCare Innovations business segment to
        house and separately report on the Company's developmental activities
        outside its traditional home health business platform.
    --  Investment of up to $2 million in NavHealth a development-stage
        enterprise that seeks to develop technology based tools and analytics to
        improve patient experiences and lower the overall costs of care.
        NavHealth was co-founded by Aneesh Chopra and Sanju Bansal.
    --  Appointment of Chopra to serve as a member of the board of directors of
        Imperium Health Management. Imperium is one of the nation's largest
        ACO-enablement companies and was Almost Family's initial Healthcare
        Innovations business segment investment in October 2013.

William Yarmuth, Almost Family Chief Executive Officer, commented, "First, we are absolutely thrilled to be co-investing with someone of Aneesh Chopra's accomplishments and stature and we are very happy that he has agreed to serve with us as a member of Imperium's board. Secondly, the delivery of healthcare services and the management of patients in their own homes is evolving rapidly. We believe technology will play an ever important role in this evolution and it's also clear that there's a remarkable opportunity to improve the way information is captured, managed and shared between doctors, researchers, patients, and institutions. We're excited to work jointly, and to co-invest, with Aneesh and Sanju, whose years of experience working with technology will allow us to more aggressively and confidently pursue the intersection of technology with home health care delivery and regulatory reform. We feel this joint working relationship will be instrumental to our success in this space. Finally, we expect our new segment presentation will help investors better understand the components of the business platform we are creating."

Aneesh Chopra, co-founder of NavHealth and Hunch Analytics and former U.S. Chief Technology Officer under President Obama, commented: "I am tremendously excited to be associated with Almost Family and both of its current HealthCare Innovation initiatives. These ventures bring together the combined power and perspectives of Almost Family's thirty-plus years as a low-cost service provider with the foresight and progressive-mindedness of an innovator in healthcare information and analytics. I see great possibilities for the future of home health services like Almost Family's, which already have mass consumer appeal and payor-system adoption, particularly with Medicare and Medicaid. As a nation, we must continue to pursue innovative and cost-effective approaches for lowering the overall cost of health care by shifting patients from higher-cost institutional settings to the lower-cost home setting whenever clinically appropriate. Thoughtful application of technology in combination with the human service aspect of home health care is key to achieving this objective."

As a member of Imperium's board, Mr. Chopra will help Imperium deepen its expertise in the healthcare industry and support the growing number of physician-lead Accountable Care Organizations (ACO's) on its platform. In the past year, Imperium has rapidly expanded its customer base growing from 3 ACO's under contract in 2013, to 7 in 2014 and 11 in 2015. In terms of covered Medicare beneficiaries, Imperium has grown from 23,000 in 2013, to 45,000 in 2014 and now has 85,000 in 2015. Mr. Chopra joins Almost Family leaders William Yarmuth and Steve Guenthner together with Imperium's two co-founders on its board of directors.

Steve Guenthner, Almost Family President added: "We took the first step in our HealthCare Innovations journey with our investment in Imperium in October 2013. Today, in addition to taking a second step with our investment in NavHealth, we are also announcing the creation of our HealthCare Innovations Business Segment, in which we will report the results of our innovation activities separate from our core home health operations. We will provide enhanced segment-based disclosures on a regular basis to help investors more fully comprehend the value implications of our innovative development activities separately from the foundational value of our core home health operations."

The Company noted that its new and expanded disclosures will be made for the first time in the filing of its Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2014.

About Aneesh Chopra and NavHealth
 Aneesh Chopra is a long-time healthcare industry veteran having served over nine years at The Advisory Board Company, a global and research consulting firm for hospitals, before moving into public policy. He served as the first CTO of the United States, appointed by President Barack Obama, and brings policy knowledge on health IT and government sponsored interoperability initiatives. Mr. Chopra is a co-founder of both NavHealth and Hunch Analytics, an open data "hatchery" focused on helping healthcare and workforce service providers mine open data to make better decisions. He also authored Innovative State ~ How New Technologies can Transform Government, focused on problem solving through better public and private sector collaboration. In 2011, Chopra was named to Modern Healthcare's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.

NavHealth is a development-stage enterprise whose business plan is focused on the development of technology-based tools designed to help health systems anticipate and inform a patient's journey. Among its other objectives, NavHealth will seek to develop and market a software platform designed to assist health care providers, managed care organizations and insurers in their efforts to aggregate patient data from various sources, improve patient engagement, satisfaction and outcomes and lower the overall cost of healthcare delivery. Almost Family is co-invested in NavHealth with founders Aneesh Chopra and Hunch Analytics which Chopra co-founded with Sanju Bansal. Mr. Bansal is the co-founder and former COO of MicroStrategy (MSTR), a worldwide provider of enterprise software for cloud business intelligence and big data services.

About Almost Family, Inc.
 Almost Family, Inc., founded in 1976, is a leading regional provider of home health nursing services, with branch locations in Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama (in order of revenue significance). Almost Family, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate a Medicare-certified segment a personal care segment and a HealthCare Innovations segment. Almost Family operates over 220 branch locations in fourteen U.S. states.

Forward Looking Statements
 All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "continue," or similar terms, variations of those terms or the negative of those terms. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current plans, expectations and projections about future events. Because forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, the Company's actual results could differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially include: regulatory approvals or third-party consents may not be obtained; the impact of further changes in healthcare reimbursement systems, including the ultimate outcome of potential changes to Medicare reimbursement for home health services and to Medicaid reimbursement due to state budget shortfalls; the ability of the Company to maintain its level of operating performance and achieve its cost control objectives; changes in our relationships with referral sources; the ability of the Company to integrate acquired operations including obtaining synergies, integration objectives and anticipated timelines; government regulation; health care reform; pricing pressures from Medicare, Medicaid and other third-party payers; changes in laws and interpretations of laws relating to the healthcare industry; the ability of the Company to integrate, manage and keep secure our information systems; and the Company's self-insurance risks. For a more complete discussion regarding these and other factors which could affect the Company's financial performance, refer to the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its filing on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, in particular information under the headings "Special Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors." With regard to the Company's investments in Imperium and NavHealth, in particular given that they are development-stage enterprises, there can be no assurance that its operational and developmental objectives will be achieved or that any return on or of the Company's investment will be realized. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/almost-family-announces-formation-of-healthcare-innovations-segment-investment-in-navhealth-venture-aneesh-chopra-to-join-imperium-board-300038284.html

SOURCE Almost Family, Inc.