External Investments, Partnerships Central to Amedisys’ 2022 Strategy

Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) is focused on developing new partnerships and investments in home health- and hospice-adjacent businesses as COO Chris Gerard prepares to take the helm. Current CEO Paul Kusserow will retire from the role at the end of this quarter, continuing on as chairman.

This investment strategy follows the company’s recent backing of the health care staffing service connectRN and the establishment of a joint venture with the UMC Health System in Texas.

Forthcoming investments are already in motion, according to Kusserow.

“We further continued to think outside the box and challenge our thinking by investing in connectRN, an innovative solution for recruiting nurses and for engaging with our current clinical workforce differently,” Kusserow said in a Q4 201 earnings call. “In the coming weeks, you’ll hear of other investments that continue to push us to innovate and differentiate in this concise, constantly evolving market.”

While connectRN historically has focused on the skilled nursing industry, Amedisys is working with the company to develop its home health- and hospice-specific capabilities. The partnership could help relieve some of the labor pressures that Amedisys has seen during the pandemic, along with most of the health care industry.

“We’re able to incentivize them and engage with our clinicians in a different way to give them shift-based work or gig-based work. That really takes off a lot of pressure from the hiring and retention side of the house,” Nick Muscato, senior vice president of finance, said in the earnings call. “These people are already trained on Homecare Homebase, already on-boarded, already credentialed.”

This line of thought will inform the company’s forthcoming investment decisions, bolstering services that could help build new efficiencies or provide greater support to its core businesses in addition to financial returns, Gerard said on the earnings call.

With these resources in development, Amedisys saw progress in Q4 in retention and recruitment of full-time employees. The company saw a 27% increase in recruitment headcount in the quarter and reported 9% decline in nurse turnover.

Amedisys put a great deal of emphasis on recruitment and retention during 2021. The company has been surveying employees to gauge their satisfaction in the workplace and conducts regular focus groups of about 50 people in which employees can voice concerns or offer mutual support.

Also in 2021, Amedisys began implementing a predictive analytics system to reduce turnover.

The company’s net service revenue rose $8.6 million to $559.3 million in Q4, compared to $550.7 million in the prior year’s quarter. The hospice segment accounted for $204 million in Q4, a modest increase from $203.9 million in 2020.

Like others in the industry, Amedisys has seen drops in hospice average daily census and length of stay due to the fact that people are dying more quickly due to COVID-19. This has slowed but not stopped its growth.

While segment revenues increased during the quarter, the company estimates that they would have brought in an additional $2 million absent the COVID headwinds.

“Hospice remains the swing factor for AMED,” Brian Tanquilut, equity analyst for Jeffries Financial Group, indicated in a research report. “We note that Q4 segment performance — which saw the impact of COVID on average length of stay — highlights improvements AMED has made in this segment which we believe is well-poised for growth as COVID headwinds dissipates.”