Amedisys to Host Conference Call Today at 10:00 A.M. ET

BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), a leading home health and hospice company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011 and issued 2012 guidance.

Three-Month Periods Ended December 31, 2011 and 2010

• After adding back $11.3 million and $7.9 million ($7.1 million and $4.8 million, net of income tax) or $0.24 and $0.17 per diluted share in certain items* for 2011 and 2010, respectively, the following are our adjusted results**:

• Net service revenue of $370.7 million compared to $388.7 million in 2010, a decrease of $18.0 million or 4.6%

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. of $14.4 million compared to $29.4 million in 2010, a decrease of 51.2% (net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys Inc. of $7.3 million in 2011 compared to $24.6 million in 2010, on a GAAP basis).

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $0.49 compared to $1.03 per diluted share in 2010, a decrease of 52.4% (net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $0.25 in 2011 compared to $0.86 in 2010, on a GAAP basis).

• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization attributable to continuing operations (“Adjusted EBITDA”) of $35.6 million compared to $58.1 million in 2010, a decrease of 38.7% (unadjusted EBITDA of $25.0 million in 2011 and $51.5 million in 2010).

Twelve-Month Periods Ended December 31, 2011 and 2010

• After adding back $588.7 million and $13.8 million ($441.7 million and $8.4 million, net of income tax) or $15.36 and $0.29 per diluted share in certain items*, the following are our adjusted results**:

• Net service revenue of $1.5 billion compared to $1.6 billion in 2010, a decrease of $131.0 million or 8.2% (a decrease of $133.5 million on a GAAP basis).

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. of $66.2 million compared to $131.3 million in 2010, a decrease of 49.6% (net loss from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys Inc. of $375.5 million in 2011 and net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. of $122.9 million in 2010, on a GAAP basis).

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $2.27 compared to $4.61 per diluted share in 2010, a decrease of 50.8% (net loss from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $13.09 in 2011 and net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $4.32 in 2010, on a GAAP basis).

• Adjusted EBITDA of $156.3 million compared to $256.0 million in 2010, a decrease of 39.0% (unadjusted EBITDA of negative $431.7 million in 2011 and $244.1 million in 2010).

William F. Borne, Amedisys Chief Executive Officer commented on the results: “Home health reimbursement cuts and new regulatory requirements led to a challenging year for the sector, resulting in declining revenue and margins for the company on a year-over-year basis. However, our adjusted fourth quarter results exceeded our expectations, with volume and cost better than expected.

As we move into 2012, we are focused on the business fundamentals of clinical excellence, operational efficiency and differentiated growth to position the company for the industry’s favorable long term trends.”

* See footnote 2 on page 10 for explanation of these certain items.

** See page 9 for the reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures.

2012 Guidance

• Net service revenue is anticipated to be in the range of $1.475 billion to $1.525 billion.

• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.95 to $1.10 based on an estimated 30.2 million shares outstanding.

This guidance excludes the effects of any future acquisitions, if any are made; effects of any share repurchases; any non-recurring costs or charges that may be incurred during the year or the impact of any future Medicare rate changes.

We urge caution in considering the current trends and 2012 guidance disclosed in this press release. The home health and hospice industry is highly competitive and subject to intensive regulations, and trends and guidance are subject to numerous factors, risks, and uncertainties, some of which are referenced in the cautionary language below and others that are described more fully in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K which can be found on the SEC’s internet website, http://www.sec.gov, and our internet website, http://www.amedisys.com. We disclaim any obligations to update disclosed information on trends.

Earnings Call and Webcast Information

To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 856-1960 (Toll free) or (719) 325-4893 (Toll) a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. A replay of the conference call will be available through March 6, 2012. The replay dial in number is (888) 203-1112 (Toll free) or (719) 457-0820 (Toll). The replay pin number is 1164258.

The call will also be available through our website and for seven days thereafter at the following web address: http://www.amedisys.com/investors.

We are headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “AMED.”

Additional information

Our company website address is 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 our 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 also use our website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding our company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the SEC disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations subpage of our website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to our website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations subpage of our website.

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.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes the following non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules: EBITDA, defined as net (loss) income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. before provision for income taxes, net interest expense and depreciation and amortization, adjusted EBITDA, defined as EBITDA plus certain items, adjusted net service revenue, defined as net service revenue plus certain items, adjusted net income attributable to Amedisys, Inc., defined as net (loss) income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. plus certain items and adjusted diluted earnings per share, defined as diluted (loss) earnings per share plus the earnings per share effect of certain items. In accordance with SEC rules, we have provided herein a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable measures under GAAP. Management believes that these are useful gauges of our performance and are common measures used in our industry to assess relative financial performance among companies.

(1) Care centers for the prior period which are not considered same store care centers (i.e., care centers consolidated in current or prior period or unopened startups).
(2) Same store episodic-based revenue, admissions or recertifications growth is the percent increase (decrease) in our same store episodic-based revenue, admissions or recertifications for the period as a percent of the same store episodic-based revenue, admissions or recertifications of the prior period.
(3) Average episodic-based revenue per completed episode is the average episodic-based revenue earned for each episodic-based completed episode of care.
(4) Episodic-based visits per completed episode are the home health episodic-based visits on completed episodes divided by the home health episodic-based episodes completed during the period.
(5) Other operating expenses and operating income totaled $86.7 million and $50.0 million, respectively, including the $5.8 million impairment charge of goodwill for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. Other operating expenses and operating loss totaled $896.8 million and $309.9 million, respectively, including the $579.9 million impairment charge of goodwill and other intangibles for the year ended December 31, 2011.

(1) Care centers for the prior period which are not considered same store care centers (i.e., care centers consolidated in current or prior period or unopened startups).
(2) Same store Medicare revenue growth is the percent increase in our same store Medicare revenue for the period as a percent of the same store Medicare revenue of the prior period.

(1) Includes both home health and hospice care centers.
(2) Our calculation of days revenue outstanding, net at December 31, 2011 and 2010 is derived by dividing our ending patient accounts receivable (i.e., net of estimated revenue adjustments and allowance for doubtful accounts) by our average daily net patient revenue for the three month-period ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

(1) EBITDA is defined as net (loss) income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. before provision for income taxes, net interest expense, and depreciation and amortization. EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, income before income taxes, cash flow from operating activities, or other traditional indicators of operating performance. This calculation of EBITDA may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies, since not all companies calculate this non-GAAP financial measure in the same manner.

(2) During the three and twelve-month periods ended December 31, 2011, we recorded charges for the impairment of goodwill and other intangibles and incurred certain costs associated with acquisitions and related integrations costs and legal expenses related to the United States Senate Committee on Finance inquiry and the SEC and Department of Justice investigations discussed in Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements. We also incurred costs associated with our exit activities for those care centers which were consolidated or for which the startup process was discontinued during the three and twelve-month periods ended December 31, 2011, which includes $0.7 million for the write-off of intangibles. For the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2011, these charges were offset, in part, by the release of a valuation allowance related to specific deferred tax assets and a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) bonus payment as the result of the pay for performance demonstration. The following details these items (amounts in thousands, except per share data):

During the three-month period ended December 31, 2010, we incurred certain costs associated with the realignment of operations including severance and legal expenses related to the United States Committee on Finance inquiry and SEC investigation. We also incurred costs associated with our exit activities for those care centers which were consolidated or for which the startup process was discontinued during the three and twelve-month periods ended December 31, 2010, which includes $1.3 million and $1.9 million respectively, for the write-off of intangibles. During the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2010, these charges were offset, in part, when we settled our Georgia indigent care liability and received a CMS bonus payment as the result of the pay for performance demonstration. The following details these items (amounts in thousands, except per share data):

(3) Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net (loss) income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. from continuing operations before provision for income taxes, net interest expense, depreciation and amortization plus certain items as described in footnote 2. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, income before income taxes, cash flow from operating activities, or other traditional indicators of operating performance. This calculation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies, since not all companies calculate this non-GAAP financial measure in the same manner.

(4) Adjusted net service revenue is defined as net service revenue plus certain items as described in footnote 2. Adjusted net service revenue should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, income before income taxes, cash flow from operating activities, or other traditional indicators of operating performance. This calculation of adjusted net service revenue may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies, since not all companies calculate this non-GAAP measure in the same manner.

(5) Adjusted net income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. from continuing operations is defined as net (loss) income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. from continuing operations plus certain items as described in footnote 2. Adjusted net income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. from continuing operations should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, income before income taxes, cash flow from operating activities, or other traditional indicators of operating performance. This calculation of adjusted net income attributable to Amedisys, Inc. from continuing operations may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies, since not all companies calculate this non-GAAP measure in the same manner.

(6) Adjusted net (loss) income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. common stockholders per diluted share is defined as diluted (loss) earnings from continuing operations per share plus the earnings per share effect of certain items as described in footnote 2. Adjusted net (loss) income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. common stockholders per diluted share should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, income before income taxes, cash flow from operating activities, or other traditional indicators or operating performance. This calculation of adjusted net (loss) income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. common stockholders per diluted share may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies, since not all companies calculate this non-GAAP financial measure in the same manner.

Amedisys, Inc.
Investor Contact:
Kevin LeBlanc, 225-292-2031
Director of Investor Relations
[email protected]
or
Media Contact:
Jacqueline Chen Valencia, 225-299-3688
Senior Vice President
Marketing & Communications
[email protected]

Source: Amedisys, Inc.