Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) has announced that Benjamin Breier, current president and chief operating officer of the national post-acute and rehabilitation services provider, will take over next year as CEO.
Breier, 43 — who has been with Kindred since 2005, starting as president of the company’s rehabilitation division — will replace current CEO Paul Diaz on March 31, 2015.
In early 2008, Breier oversaw Kindred’s hospital operations, then took over as COO in 2010 and was given the title president in 2012.
Diaz, who has served as CEO since 2004, will stay on as Kindred’s executive vice chairman of the board.
The announcement comes just weeks after Kindred and Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIV) finally agreed to merge in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. The agreement, which concluded a summer-long bidding war and months of subsequent hush-hush, will create a national powerhouse in the post-acute care and home health sector. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2015.
As a result of the deal, the combined companies stand to have annual revenues of approximately $7.1 billion and operating income of $1 billion.
The merger will not only further Kindred’s position as a national post-acute and rehabilitation services provider, but will also make the Louisville, Kentucky-based company’s Kindred at Home the largest home health and hospice organization in the U.S., serving more than 1 million patients per year across 47 states.
And with 109,000 individuals employed, the merger makes the combined entity the fourth largest health care employer in the country.
Written by Emily Study
