Home Health & Hospice Week

Almost Family-LHC merger nears completion.

Smaller providers aren't the only ones struggling in the current home care environment. Publicly traded home care and hospice companies showed mixed results for 2017, according to their recently released earnings figures.

Louisville, Kentucky-based Almost Family Inc. was one of two publicly traded home care chains to show an increase in profit from 2016 to 2017. It recorded net income of $20.4 million on revenues of $797.0 million for 2017, compared to a $17.7 million profit on $623.5 million in revenues for the previous year.

Almost Family's acquisition of the 89-location Community Health Systems chain (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXVI, No. 38) contributed to the earnings, the company says in its release.

Almost Family also pointed out that it will be merging with Lafayette, Louisiana-based LHC Group Inc., likely by the end of this quarter. AF and LHC announced the merger, under which the AF locations will operate under the LHC name and leadership, last year (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXV, No. 42).

The merged company will cover 36 states and 60 percent of the U.S. population over age 65, LHC says in its earnings release.

Almost Family also noted a favorable tax change, thanks to tax reform legislation enacted early this year. Its tax rate fell from 35 percent to 21 percent due to the new tax law.

LHC was the other publicly traded company to see its profits and revenues climb. The chain reported net income of $60.4 million on revenues of $1.07 billion for 2017. That compares to a $45.9 million profit on $914.8 million for 2016.

Kindred At Home's parent Kindred Healthcare Corp. also noted its pending acquisition by TPG Capital, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and Humana Inc. for about $4.1 billion in cash.

"Immediately following the Merger, the home health, hospice and community care businesses will be separated from the Company and operated as a standalone company owned 40 percent by Humana, with the remaining 60 percent owned by TPG and WCAS," Kindred notes in its earnings release.

Humana would work toward buying out the company over time, Kindred said when announcing the deal last year (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXVII, No. 2). Kindred expects the deal to close this summer.

Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare released its overall company earnings for 2017, reporting a $698.4 million loss on $6.0 billion in revenues for the year. That compares to a $664.2 million loss on $6.3 billion in revenues last year.

For its home health and hospice segment, Kindred reported an increase in revenues from $630.2 million in 2016's fourth quarter to $649.0 million in 2017's fourth quarter. Home health admissions were up 1.6 percent while hospice admissions were down 2.6 percent in the quarter, the company says.

Meanwhile, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys Inc. reported $30.7 million in net income on $1.5 billion in revenues for 2017. That's down from a $37.6 million profit on $1.4 billion in revenues for the previous year. The chain also posted a fourth-quarter loss of $3.7 million.