A subsidiary of Community Health Systems Inc., the Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital network operator that owns Deaconess Medical Center, Valley Hospital & Medical Center, and Rockwood Clinic PS here, has acquired the assets of Spokane-based Option Home Health Care Services Inc.

The home health agency has been renamed Spokane's Choice Home Health and is located at 1326 N. Ash. Spokane-based CHS spokeswoman Julie Holland says Option Home Health Care's assets were acquired by Spokane Home Care Services LLC, an indirect subsidiary of CHS. She declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Holland couldn't say, as of press time, how many employees Spokane's Choice has or how long the Option Home Health Care operated here before it was acquired by the CHS affiliate. Under its new ownership, the home health care entity is an affiliate of Deaconess, Valley, and Rockwood, and joins those providers' integrated health care delivery system, says a press release from Deaconess.

The addition of the home health care provider will help enable patients of the two hospitals and Rockwood to remain independent in their own homes during recovery from medical procedures, the release says.

Patients who receive care from a home health care agency during a recovery period can avoid being readmitted to the hospital, and that care also can help to ease a patient's transition from the hospital to their home. Home health care agencies, including Spokane's Choice, also provide care to chronically ill or disabled patients.

William Gilbert, CEO of Deaconess, says in the release, "As we continue to develop our integrated health care delivery system, home health services expand our network and provide additional opportunity for a coordinated approach to delivering care after patients are discharged from the hospital."

Patients at Deaconess and Valley hospitals will continue to have the same options for home health care providers that have been available in the past in addition to Spokane's Choice, as well as the option to choose the agency they'll receive care from, the release says.