Almost Family reports net service revenues of $87M for fourth quarter

Almost Family, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFAM), a leading regional provider of home health nursing and personal care services, announced today its financial results for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2012.

Fourth Quarter Highlights:

• Net service revenues of $87 million for the quarter
• Net income was $3.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share
• Diluted EPS includes $0.02 for the impact of Hurricane Sandy, excluding which diluted EPS would have been $0.42
• Visiting Nurse segment net revenues were $67 million, on 1% admission growth overall

Full Year Highlights:

• Net service revenues were $349 million
• Net income was $17 million, or $1.85 per diluted share
• Visiting Nurse segment net revenues were $271 million, on 2% admission growth overall
• Personal Care segment net revenues grew to $77 million from a combination of the Cambridge acquisition and 5% organic volume growth

Comments on Results
William Yarmuth, Chief Executive Officer, commented on the results: "All things considered, we emerge from 2012 pleased with the progress we've made and the position we're in to capitalize on our future opportunities.  We weathered storms, both literally and figuratively, that have had an impact on our quarterly operating results.  We continued to make progress in our Florida operations while dealing with the ramifications of Medicare Advantage plan changes in our northern operations."

"Looking at the year as a whole, we weathered our second straight year of Medicare rate cuts in the neighborhood of 5% and, with a keen eye on cost controls, managed to offset a meaningful portion of those cuts.  Despite all this, we increased shareholder value by paying a $2 per share special dividend at the end of December without compromising our financial capability to pursue the opportunities we see coming our way.  We enter 2013 in a very strong position with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry."

Fourth Quarter Financial Results
Almost Family reported fourth quarter results that included the impact of the 2012 Medicare reimbursement rate cut in the Visiting Nurse (VN) segment.  The Medicare rate cuts reduced revenue and operating income by $3.0 million and earnings per diluted share by $0.20. A change in certain Medicare Advantage contracts we chose to renew that pay on a per visit versus episodic basis reduced revenue by $0.7 million and earnings per diluted share by $0.03.  While total VN admissions increased approximately 1%, Medicare episodic admissions declined approximately 2% primarily as a result of those Medicare Advantage plans switching from episodic to per visit payment models. Admissions in 2011 included approximately 300 Medicare Advantage admissions under a contract that was terminated when payment switched from episodic to per visit.

Approximately 25% of our VN segment and 20% of our PC segment operations are located in the northeastern U.S. (New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts), areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy which struck in late October 2012.  Earnings per share for the fourth quarter were reduced by $0.02 as a result of business disruptions due to Hurricane Sandy primarily in our New Jersey and Connecticut markets.

Net service revenues for the fourth quarter were $86.6 million, a 3% decrease from $89.3 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2011, primarily as a result of the VN segment's Medicare rate cut. 

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $3.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, down from fourth quarter of 2011 net income of $5.3 million, or $0.57 per diluted share.

The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased to 40.1% from 38.0% for the fourth quarter of 2011, primarily as a result of the shift of earnings to states with higher tax rates and the absence of tax credits.

Fourth Quarter Segment Results
VN segment fourth quarter results include the unfavorable impact of the Medicare rate cuts as well as the change of certain Medicare Advantage payors to per visit reimbursement.  As a result, VN segment fourth quarter net service revenues declined 4% to $67.3 million, from $69.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, while operating income before corporate expenses for the fourth quarter of 2012 declined to $8.7 million from $10.7 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2011.  Total admissions grew 1%, substantially all organic.  Sequential VN segment sales force expansion decreased EPS by $0.03.

Personal Care (PC) segment net service revenues declined slightly to $19.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 from $19.5 million in 2011, due to a 4% decline in volumes which was partially offset by higher rates per hour.  Operating income before unallocated corporate expenses decreased 25% or $0.8 million to $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 due to a combination of lower volumes and wage increases.

Full Year Ended December 31, 2012
Almost Family reported full year results that included: i) the favorable impact of a full year of operations from our Cambridge acquisition, which closed in early August of 2011, ii) the unfavorable impact of the 2012 Medicare reimbursement rate cut and iii) the unfavorable impact of the change of certain Medicare Advantage payors to per visit reimbursement for contracts we chose to renew, which lowered EPS by $0.06.  The Medicare rate cuts reduced revenue and operating income by $12.3 million and earnings per diluted share by $0.80.

Net income for 2012 was $17.3 million, or $1.85 per diluted share, down from 2011 net income of $20.8 million, or $2.22 per diluted share.  Fees and expenses related to governmental inquiries did not impact 2012, while lowering 2011 EPS by approximately $0.08.  Deal costs lowered both 2012 and 2011 EPS by approximately $0.03 and $0.04, respectively.

Full Year Segment Results
Net service revenues in the VN segment for 2012 declined to $271.5 million, a 4.3% decrease from $283.6 million in 2011, after the effect of the previously mentioned Medicare rate cut.  Total admissions grew 2%, of which all was organic. 

Operating income before corporate expenses in the VN segment for 2012 was $39.4 million, a $6.3 million decrease from $45.7 million reported for 2011, primarily as a result of the impact of the Medicare rate cut, the shift of certain Medicare Advantage contracts we chose to renew to per visit reimbursement and a $0.9 million increase in bad debt provision, which were partially offset by a focused effort to reduce labor costs relative to patients served.

Primarily as a result of our Cambridge acquisition, net service revenues in the PC segment for 2012 grew 37% or $20.8 million to $77.0 million from $56.3 million 2011.  As a result, operating income before unallocated corporate expenses in the PC segment increased 16% to $10.0 million from $8.7 million 2011.