In 2026, the home health sector is navigating a complex landscape defined by dual-edged regulatory shifts and burgeoning strategic opportunities.

On one hand, federal agencies have heightened their focus on program integrity, instituting a moratorium on new Medicare home health enrollments to combat fraud — a move industry insiders warn could stifle provider growth and potentially jeopardize patient access. On the other hand, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a 2.4% aggregate increase to Medicare payments for fiscal year 2027, offering a glimmer of much-needed margin relief.

As agencies adapt their strategies to sustain and scale in this shifting environment, six providers have emerged as leaders to watch. From newly funded entrants to established providers navigating ownership transitions and service-line expansions, these companies will help illustrate how the home health industry responds to a changing care landscape in the year ahead.

Home Health Care News is highlighting six of these innovative organizations in this exclusive, members-only HHCN+ story.

Adaptive Innovations

Adaptive Innovations caught HHCN’s attention not only because of the significant investor funding it secured this year, but also because the company operates with comprehensive AI technology and a payer-agnostic strategy.

New York City and Dallas-based Adaptive, launched in stealth in 2025, announced a $50 million Series A funding round in June. The company is banking on low administrative costs to set itself apart, made possible through its AI-native platform.

Adaptive uses AI tools for processes including intake, eligibility, scheduling, charting, coding, quality assurance and other back-office functions. An engineering team with over 30 workers enables the company’s comprehensive use of AI.

Adaptive’s low-overhead model enables it to accept any patient, regardless of insurance, Alex Wendland, co-CEO of Adaptive, previously told HHCN.

“We don’t play reimbursement games or rely on these short-term government programs,” Wendland said. “What we’re doing is simple: it’s driving the admin costs to zero, and then recycling those savings into higher clinician pay and a compounding flywheel that lets us serve the entire home health market. Investors got that.”

Wendland also told HHCN that the company would consider expanding into any service line.

HHCN will be watching Adaptive to see how the company’s leadership leverages its AI platform and tens of millions of dollars to play out its payer-agnostic strategy and achieve its growth goals.

Enhabit

Enhabit stands out on this list as it is the only company to make it on HHCN’s list in both 2025 and 2026. 

Last year, HHCN put Enhabit on its list because of the company’s payer innovation strategy, which landed the home health and hospice provider a high percentage of improved-rate payer contracts. This year, HHCN is watching Enhabit because of a slew of new changes that demand attention.  

In February, private equity firm Kinderhook Industries agreed to acquire Enhabit in an approximately $1.1 billion deal. The change in ownership took the company private, and in the words of former president and CEO Barb Jacobsmeyer, allowed Enhabit to benefit from additional resources, make long-term investments and innovate without the short-term pressures of the public markets. Chris Michalik, managing director with Kinderhook, told HHCN that the private equity firm aimed to strengthen clinical quality, improve data and analytics capabilities and expand thoughtfully.

Days after Kinderhook closed on the acquisition, the private equity firm named Dale Clift, who has previously helmed two Kinderhook portfolio companies, as its new CEO. Clift told HHCN that he aims to send Enhabit into a new chapter of growth, aiming for double-digit growth.

Following the close of the acquisition and Clift’s appointment, Enhabit confirmed to HHCN that five top executives were set to depart the company.

In 2026, HHCN will be watching Enhabit to see what the slew of changes means for the company’s future and whether Clift’s plans for growth come to fruition.

Deaconess Associations Incorporated (DAI)

In June, Deaconess Associations Incorporated (DAI) agreed to acquire 24 home health locations and seven hospice locations from HCA Healthcare. The deal caught HHCN’s attention, but its plans to “double down” on home health and hospice and grow meaningfully in the markets it now operates earned DAI a spot on this list.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based DAI is a faith-based, independent, non-profit health care enterprise with an over-$1 billion portfolio of diversified health services, programs, investments and community grant initiatives across the country.

The newly acquired agencies will become part of Central Pyramid, one of DAI’s four owned subsidiaries, upon the deal’s closing. DAI subsidiary Central Pyramid is a home health and hospice organization that often operates through long-standing local brands.

Cherie Elledge, CEO of Central Pyramid In-Home Care Network, told HHCN that her strategy involves entering strategic markets and developing meaningful partnerships, joint ventures and relationships with health systems. Central Pyramid aims to grow in each of the new states it entered through the acquisition, Elledge said.

Elledge also plans for Central Pyramid to adopt new technologies as it grows, through both organic and acquisitive growth.

In 2026, HHCN will be watching DAI to see how effectively it integrates the HCA home health acquisitions and whether its localized, partnership-heavy model can achieve Elledge’s vision for growth.

CommonSpirit Health at Home

CommonSpirit Health at Home caught HHCN’s attention because it is pursuing growth and innovation — even as its parent health system navigates significant financial and operational pressures.

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit, faith-based healthcare organization with over 2,300 clinics, care sites and 157 hospital-based locations, announced an operating loss before special charges of $578 million in Q3 of FY 2026, pointing to rising supply expenses and payment delays from payers.

Despite the headwinds facing its parent health system, Milford, Ohio-based CommonSpirit Health at Home has continued to pursue growth and innovate in the home health space.

In 2026, CommonSpirit Health at Home is pursuing a continuum of care in as many of its markets as possible, President and CEO Trisha Crissman previously told HHCN. Part of the provider’s growth strategy involves referring patients to hospice services earlier, Crissman said, in part by leveraging home health workers to explain the benefits of hospice services.

“I’m super excited about that, and I think it will completely transform patients’ experience at Health at Home, because they can access the care earlier,” Crissman said.

Crissman also shared that she sees AI as the major force shaping the home-based care market, seeing potential in the technology to improve efficiency and engagement. She also outlined the benefits of being affiliated with a large health system.

“Being a part of one of the largest health systems in the country lends itself to being in the forefront of innovation and how our health system utilizes technology and leverages opportunity, affords us a lot of opportunity as well,” she said. “In 2026 and beyond, because we’re a part of such a robust health care system across the country, I think the sky’s the limit, so to speak, is what I’m trying to say. Opportunity abounds.”

HHCN will be watching CommonSpirit Health at Home to see how the provider capitalizes on the opportunities in Crissman’s sights against the backdrop of financial struggles occurring within its parent health system.

TheKey

TheKey, historically, primarily offers home care services. But in 2026, the company’s leadership has plans to meaningfully expand its home health offerings, earning it a spot on this list.

Delray, Florida-based TheKey provides home care, care management, memory care and specialized care services. In early 2026, CEO Chris Gerard told HHCN that he is steering TheKey to expand its private pay nursing services from two states to six states by the end of the year. Gerard said the expansion would create a more streamlined experience for clients, as well as a growth lever and layer of financial security for the company.

“We found an unmet need,” Gerard said. “We’ve seen really strong growth where we are doing it today and strong demand in some of the markets that we’re not serving today. … We have the footprint right now with our personal care, and we think it’s a great growth opportunity for us for the next several years.”

By layering skilled nursing over its existing personal care infrastructure, TheKey is moving toward a “one-stop-shop” model. This approach allows the provider to offer service bundles that streamline the care experience for families who would otherwise have to coordinate between multiple agencies.

HHCN will be watching TheKey to see how the company executes its service line expansion goals and how its multi-service line approach supports future growth.

Elara Caring

Early in 2026, Ares Management’s Private Equity Group (NYSE: ARES) and kidney care titan DaVita (NYSE: DVA) joined forces to make a strategic investment in Elara Caring.

The capital infusion provides Dallas-based Elara Caring with the runway to scale its traditional service lines and expand access to care.

One part of the deal that caught HHCN’s special attention was a plan for a new clinical partnership, in which DaVita and Elara Caring plan to co-develop a kidney-specific home-based care model.

The care model is designed to address the unique needs of patients with kidney disease, aiming to reduce hospitalizations and total cost of care.

“Through our integrated care programs, we saw meaningful differences in patient outcomes that were closely tied to the quality of home‑based support they received,” Steve Phillips, chief strategy officer of DaVita, said in a statement. “Strengthening access to Elara Caring’s exceptional services will help more patients maintain stability at home, avoid unnecessary hospitalizations, and ultimately experience a better quality of life.”

HHCN will be watching Elara Caring to see how this specialized clinical model takes shape and how the backing of two major public entities fuels its clinical and growth ambitions.