Chief financial officer Joshua Proffiitt has been promoted to president of the hospice and home health giant LHC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: LHCG), with Robert Williams coming in as the new CFO. Williams was most recently vice president of financial operations for ChenMed, which provides primary care to seniors with complex chronic diseases.
Proffitt joined LHC group in Sept. 2008 as vice president, assistant general counsel and director of mergers and acquisitions. He ascended to the CFO and treasurer position in 2016 after working his way up through a number of executive roles, including senior vice president and chief compliance officer and then executive vice president of corporate development and general counsel.
“I have had the privilege of working closely with Josh for the past 16 years, including a few years as he served on LHC Group’s outside legal counsel team through our IPO process that began in 2004,” said Keith Myers, chairman and chief executive officer. “Josh has always kept LHC Group’s mission and the value of our clinicians and caregivers at the forefront of decision-making. As he steps into the role of president, he brings with him a depth of financial knowledge and leadership experience that will greatly benefit our team, and most importantly the growing number of patients, families, and communities we are privileged to serve throughout the country.”
During his tenure as CFO, Proffitt oversaw LHC Group’s acquisition efforts and the establishment of joint venture partnerships with hospitals and health systems, which has been the cornerstone of the company’s inorganic growth strategy. A key milestone was the April 2017 merger with Almost Family in an all-stock transaction with an implied value of $2.4 billion. The merger made LHC Group the second-largest home health provider in the nation and expanded its hospice operations.
Joint venture activity has been the company’s most active growth front during 2019 and 2020. Though the JV M&A strategy is not unique among hospice businesses, the approach is rare among publicly traded hospice and home health providers.
The assessment, completion, and integration of acquisitions and joint ventures will continue to be a priority for Proffitt in his new role as president, according to LHC Group.
Williams will succeed Proffitt as CFO effective July 13. In his prior role at ChenMed, he spearheaded optimization of physician performance and implementation of primary care physician P&L management, reducing hospital admissions and readmissions as well as length of stay.
“We are pleased to announce the addition of Robert to our senior leadership team and welcome him to our LHC Group family,” said Proffitt. “Robert brings more than 20 years of experience in optimizing financial and operational performance across value-based care management, health insurance management, and financial services. His broad experience in at-risk contracting and value-based arrangements brings a complementary financial skillset to our team that will prove valuable as we continue engaging with managed care payor partners at a more value-based level. Robert’s addition to our already deep, experienced, and outstanding team of leaders at LHC Group gives me great confidence in our continued growth trajectory and long-term success.”
