Home Health & Hospice Week

Weather also puts a dent in publicly traded companies’ earnings in Q1.

The nation’s largest home care chain had better-than-expected earnings in the latest quarter, while the runner-up had the opposite.

The big four publicly traded home care companies — Gentiva Health Care Services Inc., Amedisys Inc., LHC Group Inc., and Almost Family Inc. — all had to battle challenges ranging from Medicare rebasing cuts to increased regulatory burdens (such as face-to-face physician encounter requirements) to severe weather in the quarter ended March 31. But their results varied.

Atlanta-based Gentiva turned around its rough situation, reporting a $498,000 profit on $487.5 million in revenues, compared to a whopping loss of $207 million on $415.6 million in revenues in the year-ago quarter. The earnings beat analysts’ forecasts.

Beleaguered Amedisys, on the other hand, performed worse than analysts predicted for the quarter. The Baton Rouge, La.-based chain reported a $12.5 million loss on $298.7 million in revenues, compared to a $2.1 million profit on $328.6 million in revenues for the same period in 2013.

Visiting staff’s “consistent efforts continue to yield improvement in clinical outcomes,” notes Amedisys CEO Ronald LaBorde in a release. “Where we have fallen short is translating that clinical focus to consistent operating results. Our efforts are focused on turning that around.”

Lafayette, La.-based LHC reported lower profits — $5.1 million for the latest quarter versus $8.3 million a year ago — but slightly higher revenues — $163.7 million, up from $162.0 a year ago. The chain mentioned acquisitions in the pipeline to fuel growth.

And Louisville, Ky.-based Almost Family reports a drop in net income from $3.2 million in the year-ago quarter to $1.1 million in 2014. During the same period, revenues rose significantly from $85.5 million to $120.0 million.