Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), one of America’s leading home health and
hospice care companies, today announced preliminary financial results
for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. These preliminary results
are subject to completion of the Company’s quarterly financial and
accounting procedures. Amedisys anticipates first quarter 2013 revenue
of approximately $339 million and net income from continuing operations
attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share between $0.08 and
$0.10. These results include legal costs associated with governmental
investigations of approximately $2 million, or 4 cents per diluted share.
Results were impacted by soft volume in both the home health and hospice
divisions. In home health, total Medicare admissions increased 2%
compared to the prior year’s first quarter, but moderated over the
course of the quarter. This growth was more than offset by a decline in
recertifications, as indicated by a recertification rate in the first
quarter of approximately 38%, compared to 44% in the prior year’s first
quarter, and 40% in the fourth quarter of 2012. The recertification rate
showed a declining trend over the quarter. Hospice average daily census
fell to approximately 5,091 from 5,190 in the prior year’s first quarter
and 5,405 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Hospice total admissions
increased 2% from the prior year’s first quarter, but the Company
experienced a higher level of discharges than normal.
Home health results for the quarter were impacted by sequestration,
which reduced Medicare reimbursement by 2% for episodes in progress at
quarter end, or approximately a 3 cent per share reduction to earnings.
Previously, and reflected in management guidance issued on March 12,
2013, sequestration was expected to only impact episodes starting in the
second quarter. Hospice results were not impacted by sequestration in
the first quarter.
Amedisys will discuss these results in more detail on its first quarter
earnings conference call scheduled for Tuesday, April 30th.
At that time, the Company also expects to provide information on how
first quarter results will impact management guidance for 2013.
The Company plans to issue its earnings release for the quarter on
Tuesday, April 30th prior to the market opening. The
conference call to discuss results is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern
Time (9:00 a.m. Central Time). To participate on the conference call,
please call a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. ET to either (877) 512-9171
(Toll free) or (815) 573-0979 (Toll), use conference ID #35067959. A
replay of the conference call will be available through May 7, 2013. The
replay dial in number is (855) 859-2056 (Toll free) or (404) 537-3406
(Toll) and use conference ID #35067959.
A live webcast of the call will be accessible through our website on our
Investor Relations section at the following web address: http://investors.amedisys.com.
Amedisys, Inc. (the “Company”) is headquartered in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana and our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market
under the symbol “AMED”.
About Amedisys:
Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is a leading health care at home company
delivering personalized home health and hospice care to more than
360,000 patients each year. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care
that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based recovery and
rehabilitation after an operation or injury, care focused on empowering
them to manage a chronic disease, palliative care for those with a
terminal illness, or hospice care at the end of life. The Company's
state-of-the-art advanced chronic care management programs and
leading-edge technology enables it to deliver quality care based upon
the latest evidence-based best practices. Amedisys is a recognized
innovator, being one of the first in the industry to equip its
clinicians with point-of-care laptop technology and referring physicians
with an internet portal that enables real-time coordination of patient
care seamlessly. Amedisys also has the industry's first-ever nationwide
Care Transitions program, designed to reduce unnecessary hospital
readmissions through patient and caregiver health coaching and care
coordination, which starts in the hospital and continues throughout
completion of the patient's home health plan of care. For more
information about the Company, please visit: http://www.amedisys.com.
Our company website address is http://www.amedisys.com.
We use our website as a channel of distribution for important company
information. Important information, including press releases, analyst
presentations and financial information regarding the Company is
routinely posted on and accessible on the "Investor Relations" subpage
of our website, which is accessible by clicking on the tab labeled
"Investors" on our website home page. We will also use our website to
expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the
Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") disclosing
the same information. In addition, we make available on the Investor
Relations subpage of our website (under the link "SEC filings") free of
charge our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
current reports on Form 8-K, ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 and
any amendments to those reports as soon as practicable after we
electronically file such reports with the SEC. Further, copies of our
Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, our Code of Ethical Business
Conduct and the charters for the Audit, Compensation and Nominating and
Governance Committees of our Board are also available on the Investor
Relations subpage of our website (under the link "Corporate Governance").
Forward-Looking Statements
When included in this press release, words like “believes,” “belief,”
“expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,”
“may,” “might,” “would,” “should” and similar expressions are intended
to identify forward-looking statements as defined by the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those described therein. These
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following:
changes in Medicare and other medical payment levels, our ability to
open care centers, acquire additional care centers and integrate and
operate these care centers effectively, changes in or our failure to
comply with existing Federal and State laws or regulations or the
inability to comply with new government regulations on a timely basis,
competition in the home health industry, changes in the case mix of
patients and payment methodologies, changes in estimates and judgments
associated with critical accounting policies, our ability to maintain or
establish new patient referral sources, our ability to attract and
retain qualified personnel, changes in payments and covered services due
to the economic downturn and deficit spending by Federal and State
governments, future cost containment initiatives undertaken by
third-party payors, our access to financing due to the volatility and
disruption of the capital and credit markets, our ability to meet debt
service requirements and comply with covenants in debt agreements,
business disruptions due to natural disasters or acts of terrorism, our
ability to integrate and manage our information systems, changes in or
developments with respect to any litigation or investigations relating
to the Company, including the SEC investigation and the U.S. Department
of Justice Civil Investigative Demand and various other matters, many of
which are beyond our control.
Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and
uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you
should not rely on any forward-looking statement as a prediction of
future events. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking and
we do not intend to release publicly any updates or changes in our
expectations concerning the forward-looking statements or any changes in
events, conditions or circumstances upon which any forward-looking
statement may be based, except as required by law.