Lucet Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Emcara Health

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas—Lucet, a behavioral health company providing tech-enabled services to health plans, employers and providers, announced its acquisition of Emcara Health (previously PopHealthCare, a GuideWell Company), a national medical group focused on delivering home-based care to clinically complex and high-risk populations. Lucet said the acquisition will address the growing need for integrated care models that are aligned with co-morbid chronic conditions and behavioral health management.

“Lucet’s long-term strategy is to continuously evolve, identifying product and service gaps to address our members’ health needs,” said Shana Hoffman, president and CEO of Lucet. “With the acquisition of Emcara Health, we will be able to offer even more comprehensive ways to deliver care, assess behavioral health needs and quickly connect individuals to the high-quality health care resources they require. With Emcara’s well-established operations in markets where Lucet also has overlapping member populations, we are empowered to provide dual services for our members’ co-morbid chronic medical and behavioral health conditions in the future.”

Emcara Health has aimed to provide in-home medical care in urban and rural communities across the United States. Its suite of in-home care spans advanced primary care, longitudinal complex care management and treatment, transition of care and annual assessments. 

“As a value-based national medical group, Emcara Health has been focused on a singular mission of reimagining how health care is delivered,” said Jeff Goddard, executive vice president and CFO of GuideWell. “Through this acquisition their proven model for in-home care solutions will be leveraged in combination with Lucet’s behavioral health expertise, bringing to market new integrated care models that will have a substantial clinical impact on how members’ complex chronic and behavioral health conditions are successfully managed together in the future.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), patients with chronic medical conditions are two to three times more likely to suffer from behavioral health conditions, yet only one-third of those diagnosed receive treatment. Lucet has historically focused on improving member access through quality, speed to care and measured outcomes. Through the acquisition of Emcara, the combined entities will begin piloting integrated care models in active markets and explore future opportunities to scale its clinical operations to improve the lives of even more members. This blueprint includes assessing behavioral health conditions and connecting patients to care through a multidisciplinary care team during in-home and virtual visits.

“As an industry we are seeing a growing need for and increasing investment in care models that are aligned to address co-morbid chronic conditions and behavioral health concurrently,” said Thurman Justice, president and CEO of Triple S Management and chairman of the board of Lucet. “Moving forward, we believe that the combined entities of Lucet and Emcara Health will revolutionize how care is delivered, combining advanced technology with compassionate, whole-person care to address these key gaps.”