Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: AVAH) continues to push forward in its efforts with government and preferred payers.

“While we continue to operate in a challenging labor and inflationary environment, our preferred payer strategy allows us to return to a more normalized growth rate in our business segments,” Aveanna CEO Jeff Shaner said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday.

Based in Atlanta, Aveanna provides home-based care services to pediatric and senior populations in 33 states. Its segments include private-duty nursing, home health care, hospice and medical solutions.

Shaner noted he felt positive about the progress Aveanna made on a number of the company’s rate improvement initiatives with both government and preferred payers. He also mentioned that the labor market was improving.

One of Aveanna’s main goals for 2024 was to execute on our legislative strategy to improve reimbursement rates in various states, with an emphasis on Georgia, Massachusetts and California. These states represented about 15% of the company’s private-duty service revenue.

In Q2, Aveanna secured double-digit rate improvements in Georgia and Massachusetts.

“These states demonstrate our government affairs strategy to partner with state legislatures governors to identify shortfalls in private-duty nursing wages, and to align reimbursement rates to improve access to care for patients with complex medical conditions,” Shaner said. “We are experiencing accelerated caregiver hiring trends, patient discharges from children’s hospitals and improved staffing levels in both Georgia and Massachusetts.”

Year to date, Aveanna has locked down 12 private-duty services state rate increases.

Despite these wins, California continues to be a challenging funding landscape for Aveanna.

“We are committed to advocating for California’s children with complex medical conditions, and won’t stop until an appropriate rate investment has been secured,” Shaner said. “We have a proven track record of expanding our preferred payer programs, and will continue to enhance our efforts in California, similar to our approach in other states.”

Aveanna’s other key goal for 2024 was to increase the number of preferred payer agreements from 14 to 22. The company has added seven and now has a total of 21.

“Aveanna preferred payer strategy is gaining momentum and allowing us to invest in caregiver wages and recruitment efforts to accelerate hiring and staffing of nurses for our patients,” Shaner said.

In Q3, the company’s preferred payer agreements accounted for roughly 47% of its total private- duty services MCO volumes, compared to 45% in Q2.

During the call, Aveanna also touched on the 2025 home health final payment rule.

“We, like our peers are … not surprised, but disappointed in CMS’ continued failure to really address the temporary and long-term hangover, if you will, of the PDGM clawback,” Shaner said. “With our model, though, we’re uniquely different from the industry, and have found a way to be successful under the current reimbursement structure.”

Overall, Aveanna reported Q3 revenues of $509 million, a 6.5% increase compared to $478 million during the same period last year.

The company’s private-duty services segment brought in $409 million, a 6.4% increase compared to $384 million in Q3 2023. Its home health and hospice segment checked in at $54.1 million, a 2.2% increase compared to $52.9 million during the same period last year.