Autism therapy provider Acorn Health announced Tuesday that it has acquired seven applied behavior analysis (ABA) centers from Maitland, Florida-based Breakthrough Behavior.
The Coral Gables, Florida-based in-home and facility-based autism provider continues to grow at a time when several of the largest operators in the autism treatment space are rationalizing their portfolios.
The deal included Breakthrough Behavior’s entire six-location Florida portfolio. The locations are in downtown Orlando, Longwood, Riverview, East Orange, Championsgate and Kissimmee. The seventh is in Stafford, Virginia.
The deal expands Acorn Health’s total location count to 77.
“Our team is excited to offer Acorn Health’s expertise in ABA therapy within these markets,” Vicki Kroviak, CEO and board chair for the company said in the release. “Even as we grow as an organization, it remains vital to maintain our focus on delivering best-in-class clinical services.”
Acorn Health was founded in 2018 by Kroviak and private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners. In 2021, MBF Healthcare Partners sold Acorn Health to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. At that time, the company operated 51 locations.
This comes as major investments in the autism space have seemed to slow somewhat and follows a spate of major ABA center operators laying off hundreds of employees. In July, Behavioral Health Business tracked over 650 layoffs just at two major ABA companies.
Several sources at the time told BHB that the massive influx of capital into the ABA space over the years created significant pressure in the space for ABA providers to grow and to use that growth to extract higher reimbursements from payers.
During that time, Kroviak posted on LinkedIn that Acorn Health was “actively hiring in almost every market to expand our reach.”
“We are a company founded by and led by women, and every day we strive to move kids with autism towards more independent and meaningful lives,” the post said.
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