Nationwide home care and hospice provider Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) said the company is focused on transformation following the announcement of missed earnings Wednesday and a net loss from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 2013.
The company cited increasing health care costs for employees as an unforeseen drag on company performance as well as “a good number” of underperforming or low-volume care centers in its business portfolio. It’s chief executive pointed to work to be done in turning the company around in future months in discussing Amedisys’s performance with analysts on Wednesday.
“We are focused on transforming this company,” said Ronald LaBorde, president, CFO and interim CEO for the company. “We do not think it will happen overnight. Much work is to be done. However, I can assure you that we will have unwavering commitment to growing our business achieving operational excellence and increasing value for shareholders.”
Amedisys reported net service revenue of $303.5 million compared to $351.6 million in 2012, down $48.1 million or 13.7% for the quarter ended December 31. Net loss attributable to shareholders was $0.07 per share compared to net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. of $0.21 per diluted share in 2012, a 133.3% drop.
For the full year 2013, Amedisys saw earnings fall more than 83%, from 99 cents per diluted share in 2012 to 16 cents per diluted share in 2013.
“As a general comment,” LaBorde said, “We have stated publicly that we have a good number of care centers that either are low-volume or underperforming and so in part that is a response to that and we have to deal with that and makes some decisions around that, and we are doing that.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker