Home Health & Hospice Week

Home care execs praise PPS proposed rule face-to-face provisions.

This quarter’s round of earnings reports for home care companies is rosier than they have been for some time.

All four publicly reported chains — Gen-tiva Health Services, Amedisys, Almost Family, and LHC Group — reported higher net income for the latest quarter ending June 30 than in the year-ago quarter. And three of the four — all but Amedisys — also reported higher net service revenues.

Atlanta-based Gentiva reported a $10.0 million profit on $498.0 in revenues, compared to $6.6 million in net income on $414.4 million in revenues for the same quarter in 2013.

Troubled Amedisys reported a $7.7 million profit on $305.0 million, compared to $1.8 million in net income on $316.0 million in revenues for the year-ago quarter. "While much work remains, our progress in this quarter reflects the focus of our entire Amedisys team," Ronald LaBorde, Interim CEO, says in a release. "We believe we have reesta-blished a solid foundation which will allow us to concentrate on further improving our core business," he says.

Almost Family reported a $4.0 million profit on $125.0 million in revenues, compared to $2.5 million in net income on $86.4 million in revenues for the same quarter in 2013. CEO William Yarmuth and President Steve Guenthner praised the 2015 home health prospective payment system proposed rule’s changes to face-to-face regulations. "We are pleased to see the overall positive tone of the proposed language including in particular the recision of the physician face-to-face narrative requirement that has proven so troublesome for the industry," Guenthner says in a release. "Although there are more improvements that could be made, these are some of the most positively written proposed regulations we have seen since the implementation of the home health prospective payment system in 2000."

LHC reported an $8.1 million profit on $188.9 million in revenues, compared to $7.4 million in net income on $166.3 million in revenues for the year-ago quarter. The company pointed to its acquisitions over the past 18 months, with a total purchase price of $101.5 million in cash, consisting of 81 locations in 21 states and representing $151.1 million in aggregate revenues.