Above & Beyond acquired by Trinity Health At Home

     Above & Beyond Home Health and Hospice in Monticello, co-owned by Becky Cooper and Dianne Pedrin, has been acquired by Trinity Health At Home. After 18 years of serving the surrounding area, both organizations will officially become one on July 1.

   Trinity Health, the parent company of Trinity Health At Home, will also become the sole owner of MercyOne in Iowa as of July 1, as well.

   “We’ll have a significant presence in Iowa after these acquisitions,” said Mark McPherson, president and CEO of Trinity, who’s been with the company since July 2017. With the MercyOne acquisition, Trinity Health At Home will gain the MercyOne home health, hospice, and infusion agencies in Des Moines.

   Trinity Health At Home is a Catholic home health and hospice organization, with 14 home care agencies and five hospice agencies spanning 13 states.

   Above & Beyond, currently with 45 employees, will remain in operation under the same name, same leadership, same level of patient care. 

   Cooper shared that the last few years working through the COVID pandemic has had many challenges. The constant changing of COVID rules, regulations, and policies implemented by the government.

   “We would implement a policy and it would immediately change,” she said. “Things were changing daily, weekly.”

   Above & Beyond mandated all employees become vaccinated or apply for a medical or religious waiver prior to the mandate from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).  As a result, they lost eight “really good employees” to the mandate.

   With the ever changing and advancing world of healthcare, Above & Beyond made a choice to pursue a broker to see what the interest was in the home health and hospice market.   

    “The broker created a business and personal biography and sent it out to clients like Trinity,” Cooper said. “We received five offers and began sifting through the results to find the best fit for our employees, patients, the communities we serve, and ourselves.”

   Cooper said of choosing Trinity Health At Home, “They’re a long-standing provider with a presence now in Sioux City and Clinton and coming soon in Des Moines (MercyOne). They take care of their patients.”

   “As a Catholic healthcare organization, we look to spread our great level of patient care to as many people as we can,” offered McPherson. “Above & Beyond and Becky and Dianne align with our mission and values. We all want to provide healthcare to everyone with a high level of integrity. We’re a large organization. We can help and support them with our teams.”

    With this acquisition, the patients of Above & Beyond will not notice a difference, assured Cooper.

   “Our employees and care should be fairly transparent to the communities and patients we serve.”

   In fact, Cooper said their patients will benefit with more access to new and innovative healthcare technology and services.

   “And we’ll continue to provide the care we’ve always provided,” she said. “Our patients deserve expanded healthcare; there are a lot of advances in healthcare we couldn’t provide as a small corporation.”

   The employees, Cooper explained, will see an opportunity for advancement, and added benefits as well.

   “There are different positions within Trinity,” she said. “There will be a lot of opportunities for them.”

   Above & Beyond has established a reputation in Monticello and Jones County as being a community supporter in more ways than one; very generous and giving.

   “Donations to multiple groups were really important to keep the communities we serve vibrant and alive,” said Cooper.

   McPherson offered on the topic, “We don’t know how this will affect that going forward. Above & Beyond was a for-profit organization and now they’re going to be not-for-profit.”

   He added that decisions on this matter might look differently going forward, but Trinity Health At Home would like to continue supporting the community.

   Coming from a small town in Missouri himself, McPherson said he “appreciates the small-town dynamics” that Monticello has to offer.”

   “The decision to have A&B acquired was not made without a lot of thought,” noted Cooper.  “We appreciate the great relationship with a lot of local people and businesses who believed in us from day one. Truly Above and Beyond is still a vibrant business after 17-plus years due to the support of locals.”