Home Health & Hospice Week

If you feel like you’ve barely kept your head above water during COVID-19, take heart — the pandemic has thrown massive challenges in the way of all home health and hospice providers.

LHC Group Inc.: Lafayette, Louisiana-based LHC Group is another heavyweight, with more than 900 locations in 37 states and the District of Columbia, it says. For the year ended Dec. 31, LHC reported net income of $143.6 million on revenues of $2.22 billion, compared to a $137.9 million profit on $2.06 billion in net revenues in 2020.

“The difficult challenges we faced in the recent past have been short term in nature,” LHC Group CEO Keith Myers said in the company’s earning call Feb. 24. “We expect another strong year in 2022.”

Kindred at Home: The nation’s largest home health and hospice company, Kindred at Home, is now owned by Humana Inc., which does not separate out KAH’s earnings. Overall, Humana reported income of $3.4 billion on $83.1 billion in revenues for 2021, compared to a $4.6 billion profit on $77.2 billion in revenues the previous year.

“Kindred at Home has a strong fee-for-service business that we are committed to continuing to grow,” said Humana CEO Bruce Broussard in the company’s Feb. 2 earnings call. “In addition … we have made substantial progress towards our goal of scaling and maturing a risk-bearing value-based model that manages the provision of home health, durable medical equipment and home infusion services,” Broussard added. “We have a goal of covering nearly 50 percent of Humana Medicare managed members under this model within the next five years,” he said.

Encompass Health Corp.: After confirming that it would be spinning off its home health and hospice business, perhaps for a sale, Birmingham, Alabama-based Encompass broke out revenues for the unit of $276.1 million, down from $281.3 million in 2020. Overall, Encompass reported net income of $517.2 million on revenues of $5.1 billion for both its home health/hospice and inpatient rehab operations in 2021. That compares to a $368.8 million profit on $4.6 billion in revenues for 2020. Encompass operates 145 hospitals, 251 home health locations, and 96 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, it says.

“2021 brought both continued and new challenges to healthcare providers,” said Encompass CEO Mark Tarr in the company’s earnings call Feb. 2. “The dedication of our team members allowed us to make significant operational and strategic progress and to generate strong financial results in spite of these challenges.”

VITAS Healthcare Corp.: Hospice-only VITAS recorded net income of $162.4 million on $1.3 billion in revenues in 2021, parent Chemed Corp. reported. That’s compared to a $238.8 million profit on $1.3 billion in revenues for 2020. VITAS has 49 programs in 14 states and the District of Columbia, it says.

“VITAS continues to manage effectively in a challenging environment,” CEO Kevin McNamara said in Chemed’s Feb. 25 earnings call. Miami-based VITAS continues “to face significant headwinds, however, from pandemic-related issues, including health care labor shortages, disruption in senior housing and rising inflation,” McNamara cautioned.

The Pennant Group Inc.: Eagle, Idaho-based Pennant reported a $2.1 million profit on revenues of $439.7 million for 2021, compared to net income of $15.6 million on revenues of $391.0 million for the previous year. Pennant is a holding company of independent operating subsidiaries with 88 home health and hospice agencies and 54 senior living communities in 14 states, it says.

“Ultimately, our 2021 results fell short of our high expectations we established for ourselves,” acknowledged Pennant CEO Danny Walker in the company’s March 1 earnings call. “The demands of completing the spinoff successfully including completely overhauling our IT system infrastructure, the high volume of Home Health and Hospice acquisitions ... combined with the unique pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic … have temporarily limited our ability to achieve the exceptional operating results we have been accustomed to,” Walker said.

Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc: Atlanta-based Aveanna will release its earnings March 28.