Home Health & Hospice Week

The 5 percent rate cut that took effect Jan. 1 managed to take a bite out of publicly traded companies' 2010 earnings, thanks to episodes that began in the end of 2010 but didn't end until the new year.

Industry giant Gentiva Health Services saw its revenues increase sharply, from $310 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 to $465 million in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2010. Much of that increase was due to Gentiva's $1 billion acquisition of hospice chain Odyssey Healthcare Inc. last August.

Gentiva's profit grew from $8.7 million to $16.2 million during that time period, the Atlantabased national chain says in a release.

Baton Rouge, La.-based Amedisys Inc. reported net income of $22.3 million on revenues of $394.3 million for the quarter. That's down from a profit of $38 million on $405.5 million in revenues for the same period in 2009.

"We responded to a number of operational issues in 2010," Amedisys CEO William Borne says in the earnings release.

And Almost Family Inc. reported net income of $7.0 million on revenues of $84.6 million for the quarter. That's up from a $6.8 million profit on $78.0 million in revenues for the same time in 2009.

The rate cut and the "costs of complying with governmental inquiries" affected the Louisville, Ky.-based chain's earnings, the company says in a release. All four publicly traded home health companies -- the above three plus LHC Inc. -- are targets of government investigations regarding therapy provision after a Wall Street Journal expose on the topic.