Addus Homecare Corp (ADUS) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Addus HomeCare's third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Addus HomeCare 的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Dru Anderson. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給德魯·安德森。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Addus HomeCare Corporation third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. To the extent any non-GAAP financial measure is discussed in today's call, you will also find a reconciliation of that measure to the most directly comparable financial measure calculated according to GAAP by going to the company's website and reviewing yesterday's news release.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 Addus HomeCare Corporation 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音。如果在今天的電話會議中討論了任何非公認會計原則財務指標，您還可以透過造訪公司網站並查看昨天的新聞稿，找到該指標與根據公認會計原則計算的最直接可比較的財務指標的調節表。

This conference call may also contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements, among others, regarding Addus' expected quarterly and annual financial performance for 2024 or beyond. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.

本次電話會議也可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性聲明，其中包括有關 Addus 2024 年及以後預期季度和年度財務業績的聲明等。為此目的，本次電話會議期間所做的任何非歷史事實陳述的陳述都可能被視為前瞻性陳述。

Without limiting the foregoing, discussions of forecasts, estimates, targets, plans, beliefs, expectations and the like are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You are hereby cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors, among others, set forth in Addus' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in its third quarter 2024 news release.

在不限制前述內容的情況下，對預測、估計、目標、計劃、信念、期望等的討論旨在識別前瞻性陳述。特此提醒您，這些陳述可能會受到 Addus 向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件及其 2024 年第三季新聞稿中所述的重要因素的影響。

Consequently, actual operations and results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

因此，實際營運和結果可能與前瞻性陳述中討論的結果有重大差異。本公司不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Dirk Allison. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將電話轉給公司董事長兼執行長德克·艾利森先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Dru. Good morning, and welcome to our 2024 third quarter earnings call. With me today are Brian Poff, our Chief Financial Officer; and Brad Bickham, our President and Chief Operating Officer. As we do on each of our quarterly calls, I will begin with a few comments, and then Brian will discuss the third quarter results in more detail. Following our comments, the three of us would be happy to respond to any questions.

謝謝你，德魯。早上好，歡迎參加我們的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的有我們的財務長 Brian Poff；以及我們的總裁兼營運長 Brad Bickham。正如我們在每次季度電話會議中所做的那樣，我將首先發表一些評論，然後布萊恩將更詳細地討論第三季的業績。根據我們的評論，我們三人很樂意回答任何問題。

As we announced yesterday, our total revenue for the third quarter of 2024 was $289.8 million, an increase of 7%, as compared to $270.7 million for the third quarter of 2023. This revenue growth resulted in adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 as compared to adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2023 of $1.15, an increase of 13%. Our adjusted EBITDA was $34.3 million compared to $30.9 million for the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 11.1%.

正如我們昨天宣布的，我們 2024 年第三季的總收入為 2.898 億美元，比 2023 年第三季的 2.707 億美元增長了 7%。這一營收成長導致調整後每股收益為 1.30 美元，而 2023 年第三季調整後每股收益為 1.15 美元，成長 13%。調整後 EBITDA 為 3,430 萬美元，較 2023 年第三季的 3,090 萬美元成長 11.1%。

During the third quarter of 2024, we continued to experience consistent cash flows. As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, we had cash on hand of approximately $223 million. This cash, along with our line of credit, will be used to fund our previously announced acquisition of the Gentiva Personal Care operation. Once this transaction is closed, we will remain in a conservative leverage position, allowing us to continue to evaluate larger strategic acquisition opportunities.

2024 年第三季度，我們持續保持穩定的現金流。截至 2024 年第三季末，我們手頭現金約為 2.23 億美元。這筆現金連同我們的信貸額度將用於資助我們先前宣布的收購 Gentiva 個人護理業務。一旦這筆交易完成，我們將保持保守的槓桿地位，使我們能夠繼續評估更大的策略性收購機會。

With respect to our ongoing acquisition activities, I'd like to provide an update on the Gentiva transaction we announced on June 10 of this year. Recapping our strategy, we believe our Personal Care segment benefits from both scale and broad graphic coverage in the states where we operate.

關於我們正在進行的收購活動，我想提供有關我們今年 6 月 10 日宣布的 Gentiva 交易的最新情況。回顧我們的策略，我們相信我們的個人護理部門受益於我們經營所在州的規模和廣泛的圖形覆蓋。

This is particularly true in managed Medicaid states and as a result of the final Medicaid access rule, if and when it may be implemented. This scale and coverage allows us to spread our cost over a larger revenue base and provides Addus with the opportunity for meaningful advocacy with the states in which we operate while also promoting a more favorable hiring and retention environment.

在受管理的醫療補助州尤其如此，並且由於最終的醫療補助准入規則（如果以及何時可以實施）。這種規模和覆蓋範圍使我們能夠將成本分攤到更大的收入基礎上，並為 Addus 提供了在我們開展業務的州進行有意義宣傳的機會，同時也促進了更有利的招聘和保留環境。

This strategy led us to pursue the acquisition of Gentiva. As we have previously stated, upon the close of this transaction, Addus will be the largest provider of personal care services in the state of Texas, which is primarily a managed Medicaid market.

這項策略促使我們尋求收購 Gentiva。正如我們之前所說，本次交易完成後，Addus 將成為德州最大的個人護理服務提供者，該州主要是受管理的醫療補助市場。

In addition, this transaction will give us a larger presence in Arkansas, strengthen our California and Arizona private pay and Veterans Affair businesses and will add a location in Eastern Tennessee to our existing operations in the state and provide entry into both Missouri and North Carolina.

此外，這項交易將使我們在阿肯色州擁有更大的影響力，加強我們在加利福尼亞州和亞利桑那州的私人薪酬和退伍軍人事務業務，並將在田納西州東部增加我們在該州現有業務的基礎上，並提供進入密蘇裡州和北卡羅來納州的業務。

We have spent the last several months working with members of the Gentiva Personal Care team preparing for the close and transition of this business into Addus. I believe we have done a very good job of planning for the changes that will occur once this acquisition closes. Our planning has been focused on minimizing the impact on frontline staff and ensuring the continuation of the provision of quality services to our customers as we go through the integration process.

在過去的幾個月裡，我們一直在與 Gentiva Personal Care 團隊的成員合作，為關閉業務並將其過渡到 Addus 做準備。我相信我們已經很好地規劃了此次收購完成後將發生的變更。我們的規劃重點是盡量減少對第一線員工的影響，並確保在整合過程中繼續為客戶提供優質服務。

We are appreciative of the efforts of the Gentiva Personal Care team as they continue to provide quality services to its customers. We look forward to the many new team members who will be joining the Addus family once the transaction is closed. As we stated on our last call, we believe this closing will occur in the fourth quarter of this year.

我們感謝 Gentiva 個人護理團隊的努力，因為他們繼續為客戶提供優質服務。我們期待交易完成後，許多新的團隊成員將加入 Addus 家族。正如我們在上次電話會議中所說，我們相信交易將於今年第四季完成。

Now let me discuss certain areas of operations. During the third quarter of 2024, we continued to experience solid results related to our ability to hire caregivers, especially in our Personal Care segment. In the second quarter of this year, we achieved 86 hires per business day. When adjusted for the disposition of our New York operation, that second quarter number was 79 hires per business day.

現在讓我討論某些操作領域。2024 年第三季度，我們在僱用護理人員的能力方面繼續取得穩健的成果，尤其是在個人護理領域。今年第二季度，我們每個工作日招募了 86 名員工。根據紐約業務的處置情況進行調整後，第二季每個工作日僱用 79 名員工。

During the third quarter of 2024, we saw our personal care hiring numbers continuing the strong trend at 79 hires per business day, while our turnover rates have remained at historically low levels. In addition to our strong hiring numbers, we have continued to see consistent momentum in our starts per business day over the past few quarters, which continues to be a focus of our operations team.

2024 年第三季度，我們的個人護理招聘人數持續保持強勁趨勢，每個工作日招聘 79 名員工，而我們的流動率仍保持在歷史低點。除了強勁的招募人數之外，過去幾季我們的每個工作日的開工率繼續保持穩定的勢頭，這仍然是我們營運團隊的關注重點。

With respect to our clinical service lines, we continue to see improvements in the overall clinical labor environment, consistent with the last few quarters. As we have over the past few years, we continue to utilize the funding we received from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA.

就我們的臨床服務線而言，我們繼續看到整體臨床勞動環境的改善，與過去幾季一致。與過去幾年一樣，我們繼續利用從美國救援計畫法案 (ARPA) 獲得的資金。

During the third quarter of 2024, we received an additional $3.2 million in funding and utilized over $2.5 million, leaving approximately $13 million remaining in accessible funds. These funds are continuing to be used to help with caregiver recruitment and retention efforts, as well as other opportunities to enhance our caregivers' experience and training.

2024 年第三季度，我們額外收到了 320 萬美元的資金，並使用了超過 250 萬美元，剩餘可用資金約為 1,300 萬美元。這些資金將繼續用於幫助護理人員的招募和保留工作，以及提供其他機會來增強我們的護理人員的經驗和培訓。

In our Personal Care segment, our services continue to receive favorable reimbursement support for many of the states in which we operate. We continue to believe that our states remain in good financial position as the economy seems to be stable at this time. We are confident that personal care services continue to deliver real value to state Medicare programs, as well as our managed care partners through a reduction in the overall cost of care.

在我們的個人護理部門，我們的服務繼續在我們開展業務的許多州獲得有利的報銷支援。我們仍然相信，由於目前經濟似乎穩定，我們各州的財務狀況仍然良好。我們相信，個人護理服務透過降低整體護理成本，繼續為州醫療保險計劃以及我們的管理式護理合作夥伴帶來真正的價值。

Let me remind you that effective January 1, 2025, Illinois, our largest state for personal care services, will enact a 5.5% increase for personal care services. Brian will give you more information on how this increase will positively impact our personal care performance for 2025.

讓我提醒您，自 2025 年 1 月 1 日起，我們個人護理服務最大的州伊利諾伊州將制定個人護理服務價格上漲 5.5% 的規定。Brian 將向您提供更多信息，說明這一增長將如何對我們 2025 年的個人護理業績產生積極影響。

As for our Clinical segments, effective October 1, 2024, Medicare hospice reimbursement was increased by approximately 2.9%, largely consistent with what we have seen over the past few years. This increased rate will be reflected in our fourth quarter results. We are pleased with the support from CMS for this valuable end of life care.

至於我們的臨床部分，自 2024 年 10 月 1 日起，醫療保險臨終關懷報銷增加了約 2.9%，與我們過去幾年所看到的基本一致。這一成長速度將反映在我們第四季的業績中。我們很高興 CMS 對這一寶貴的臨終關懷提供支援。

On Friday of last week, CMS announced a final health care rule effective January 1, 2025, which, including all adjustments, results in a 0.5% rate increase versus a previously proposed reduction of 1.7%. While we are appreciative of the final rate adjustment being slightly more positive than the proposed rate, we are disappointed that CMS continues to pursue both temporary and permanent reimbursement reductions from home health providers, which we believe limits patient access to this viable and much needed service.

上週五，CMS 宣布了一項於 2025 年 1 月 1 日生效的最終醫療保健規則，其中包括所有調整在內，費率將上漲 0.5%，而先前提議的費率將減少 1.7%。雖然我們對最終的費率調整比建議的費率稍微積極表示讚賞，但我們對CMS 繼續尋求家庭醫療服務提供者的臨時和永久報銷減少感到失望，我們認為這限制了患者獲得這項可行且急需的服務。

Although the current Medicare home health rate remains challenging and appears will also be in 2025, we continue to believe that traditional Medicare home health reimbursement pressures are likely to moderate over the next few years in response to well-documented patient access issues.

儘管目前的Medicare 家庭健康率仍然具有挑戰性，而且到2025 年似乎也將如此，但我們仍然認為，傳統的Medicare 家庭健康報銷壓力可能會在未來幾年內緩解，以應對有據可查的患者就診問題。

Now let me discuss our same-store revenue growth for the third quarter of 2024. For our Personal Care segment, our same-store revenue growth was 6.8% when compared to the third quarter of 2023. During the third quarter of 2024, we saw personal care same-store hours increased by 0.6% as compared to the same period in 2023.

現在讓我討論一下 2024 年第三季我們的同店營收成長情況。對於我們的個人護理部門，與 2023 年第三季相比，我們的同店收入成長了 6.8%。2024 年第三季度，個人護理同店營業時間較 2023 年同期成長 0.6%。

This growth was negatively impacted by the Medicaid redetermination process, which appears to have slowed the approval of new personal care clients. We believe that all of the states we currently operate in will have completed this redetermination process by the end of the fourth quarter.

這一增長受到醫療補助重新確定流程的負面影響，該流程似乎減緩了新個人護理客戶的批准。我們相信，我們目前開展業務的所有州都將在第四季度末完成這項重新確定過程。

It is encouraging that we will continue to see improvements in our percentage of hours served compared to authorized hours. This improvement, along with the completion of the Medicaid redetermination process in our stage, should help us return to our target same-store personal care hours growth rate of approximately 2%.

令人鼓舞的是，與授權時間相比，我們的服務時間百分比將繼續有所改善。這項改進，加上我們階段醫療補助重新確定流程的完成，應該有助於我們恢復同店個人護理時間增長率約 2% 的目標。

Turning to our Clinical operation. Our hospice same-store revenue increased 3.5% when compared to the third quarter of 2023. Our same-store average daily census increased 2.1% when compared to the same quarter last year. As of the third quarter of 2024, our hospice medium length of stay was 31 days, as compared to 29 days for the second quarter of 2024.

轉向我們的臨床操作。與 2023 年第三季相比，我們的臨終關懷同店營收成長了 3.5%。與去年同期相比，我們的同店日均人口普查增加了 2.1%。截至 2024 年第三季度，我們安寧療護中心的平均住院時間為 31 天，而 2024 年第二季為 29 天。

While we have seen our same-store admissions decreased the last couple of quarters, we have implemented changes to our operation, which we believe will have a positive impact on our ongoing admissions trend. Overall, we are pleased by the steady improvement in our Hospice segment this year.

雖然我們看到過去幾季的同店入場人數有所下降，但我們對營運進行了調整，我們相信這將對我們持續的入場趨勢產生積極影響。總體而言，我們對今年臨終關懷業務的穩步改善感到高興。

Our Home Health segment same-store revenue decreased 1.7% when compared to the same quarter 2023. This decrease was primarily due to the implementation of a standardized intake and scheduling process in our acquired Illinois and Tennessee markets that we believe will ultimately lead to an increase in our referral conversion rate, reduce our administrative costs and allow our clinical staff to increase their focus on providing outstanding patient care. The implementation of these process changes should be complete by the end of the fourth quarter, after which we expect to see our same-store revenue growth improve.

與 2023 年同季相比，我們的家庭健康部門同店營收下降了 1.7%。這一下降主要是由於在我們收購的伊利諾伊州和田納西州市場實施了標準化的接收和調度流程，我們相信這最終將提高我們的轉診轉換率，降低我們的管理成本，並使我們的臨床工作人員能夠更加集中精力致力於提供出色的患者護理。這些流程變革的實施應在第四季末完成，之後我們預期同店營收成長將有所改善。

As demonstrated by the Gentiva Care transaction, acquisitions continue to be an important part of our growth strategy at Addus. Our targeted minimum annual revenue growth of 10% remains our goal, even with the larger size of our revenue base. For us to meet or exceed these goals, we will continue to be focused on using our capital to find additional acquisition targets that meet our strategic criteria.

正如 Gentiva Care 交易所所證明的那樣，收購仍然是我們 Addus 成長策略的重要組成部分。即使我們的收入基礎規模更大，我們的最低年收入成長 10% 仍然是我們的目標。為了達到或超越這些目標，我們將繼續專注於利用我們的資本尋找其他符合我們策略標準的收購目標。

While we await the closing of the Gentiva transaction, we are looking for potential acquisitions for both personal care and skilled segments, particularly home health. Over the past couple of years, the acquisition opportunities that meet our strategic objectives have been somewhat limited due to some unfavorable general market conditions.

在我們等待 Gentiva 交易完成的同時，我們正在尋找個人護理和技術領域（尤其是家庭健康）的潛在收購機會。在過去幾年中，由於一些不利的整體市場條件，滿足我們策略目標的收購機會受到一定限制。

However, we are starting to see a few more opportunities that could strengthen all three of our segments in markets where we currently operate. We remain committed to making future acquisitions that will help us to achieve our overall growth targets while maintaining a conservative approach to our capital deployment.

然而，我們開始看到更多機會可以加強我們目前經營的市場中的所有三個細分市場。我們仍然致力於未來的收購，這將有助於我們實現整體成長目標，同時保持對資本部署的保守態度。

Before I close my remarks, I want to thank our team for the care they are providing to our elderly and disabled consumers and patients. These last few years have shown that the vast majority of clients and patients want to receive care at home, which remains one of the safest and most cost-effective places to receive care.

在結束發言之前，我要感謝我們的團隊為老年和殘疾消費者及患者提供的護理。過去幾年的情況表明，絕大多數客戶和患者希望在家中接受護理，這仍然是最安全、最具成本效益的接受護理的地方之一。

We believe the heightened awareness and the value of home-based care is favorable for our industry and will continue to be a growth opportunity for our company. We understand and appreciate that our operations and growth are dependent on both our dedicated caregivers and other employees who work so incredibly hard providing outstanding care and support to our clients, patients and their families.

我們相信，家庭護理意識和價值的提高有利於我們的行業，並將繼續成為我們公司的成長機會。我們理解並認識到，我們的營運和成長依賴於我們敬業的護理人員和其他員工，他們非常努力地為我們的客戶、患者及其家人提供出色的護理和支援。

With that, let me turn the call over to Brian.

接下來，讓我把電話轉給布萊恩。

Thank you, Dirk, and good morning, everyone. Our third quarter financial results reflect the continued momentum in our business throughout this year. With solid execution, we delivered impressive 7% top line growth and an 11% increase in adjusted EBITDA compared with the third quarter last year.

謝謝你，德克，大家早安。我們第三季的財務表現反映了我們今年業務的持續成長動能。憑藉著紮實的執行力，與去年第三季相比，我們的營收成長了 7%，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 11%。

Driven primarily by favorable reimbursement trends, our Personal Care segment had another impressive performance with solid 6.8% organic revenue growth over the same period last year. This growth trend has consistently tracked above our normal expected range of 3% to 5% this year as we have continued to see strong hiring trends and rate support.

主要在有利的報銷趨勢的推動下，我們的個人護理部門表現出色，有機收入較去年同期穩定成長 6.8%。由於我們繼續看到強勁的招聘趨勢和利率支持，這一成長趨勢一直高於我們今年 3% 至 5% 的正常預期範圍。

With the upcoming statewide reimbursement increase in Illinois scheduled for January 1, 2025, we expect our same-store revenues to remain toward the high end of our normal expected range for the next several quarters. As a reminder, we anticipate the Illinois rate increase to generate approximately $23 million in annualized revenue, with a margin in the low-20s, consistent with the 77% rule in the state.

隨著伊利諾伊州計劃於 2025 年 1 月 1 日在全州範圍內提高報銷金額，我們預計未來幾季的同店收入將保持在正常預期範圍的高端。提醒一下，我們預計伊利諾伊州升息將產生約 2,300 萬美元的年化收入，利潤率在 20 左右，與該州 77% 的規則一致。

As we have discussed previously, we anticipated that the divestiture of our New York operations may qualify for sale treatment under GAAP prior to closing. Effective on October 1, 2024, the requirements for qualification have been met, and the results of our New York operations will no longer be included in our consolidated financial results beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024.

正如我們之前所討論的，我們預計在交易結束前，紐約業務的剝離可能符合公認會計準則下的出售待遇。自 2024 年 10 月 1 日起，我們已滿足資格要求，從 2024 年第四季開始，我們紐約業務的業績將不再包含在我們的合併財務業績中。

In the third quarter of 2024, our New York operations contributed $21.2 million in revenues, which were not included in our same-store numbers, and no EBITDA contribution. With the majority of new clients being directed to buyer over the past few months, we have seen some degradation in our top line revenues, client counts and hours, but with no earnings impact.

2024 年第三季度，我們的紐約業務貢獻了 2,120 萬美元的收入，這不包括在我們的同店數據中，也沒有 EBITDA 貢獻。在過去的幾個月裡，由於大多數新客戶都被引導至買方，我們發現我們的營收、客戶數量和工作時間有所下降，但對獲利沒有影響。

On the Clinical side, our third quarter results included the operations of Tennessee Quality Care, a provider of home health, hospice and private duty nursing services, which we acquired August 1, 2023. Tennessee Quality Care will be reflected in our same-store revenues effective in the fourth quarter.

在臨床方面，我們第三季的業績包括 Tennessee Quality Care 的運營，該公司是一家家庭健康、臨終關懷和私人護理服務提供商，我們於 2023 年 8 月 1 日收購了該公司。田納西優質照護將反映在我們第四季生效的同店收入中。

We saw a steady improvement in our hospice business in the third quarter, with 3.5% organic revenue growth and higher average daily census, patient days and revenue per patient day compared with the third quarter last year. Sequentially, from the second quarter, our average daily census grew by 1.6%, primarily due to an increase in our length of stay.

第三季我們的臨終關懷業務穩步改善，與去年第三季相比，有機收入成長了 3.5%，平均每日人口普查、患者天數和每個患者日的收入更高。接下來，從第二季開始，我們的平均每日人口普查增加了 1.6%，這主要是由於我們停留時間的增加。

Looking ahead, we anticipate the benefit of our 2025 hospice reimbursement update to begin in the fourth quarter, with an increase in annualized revenues of approximately $6.8 million. Hospice care accounted for 19.8% of our business, including the operations of Tennessee Quality Care.

展望未來，我們預計 2025 年臨終關懷報銷更新將於第四季開始受益，年化收入將增加約 680 萬美元。臨終關懷占我們業務的 19.8%，其中包括 Tennessee Quality Care 的業務。

For our Home Health services, which is our smallest segment, accounting for 5.9% of our business, we saw modest improvement in new admissions, recertifications and total volume compared with the third quarter of 2023. Our mix of episodic service business continues to remain stable, including both traditional Medicare and episodic Medicare Advantage volume.

對於我們的家庭健康服務，這是我們最小的細分市場，占我們業務的 5.9%，與 2023 年第三季相比，我們的新入院人數、重新認證和總量略有改善。我們的臨時服務業務組合持續保持穩定，包括傳統醫療保險和臨時醫療保險優勢業務量。

As Dirk referenced, the final rule for home health reimbursement effective January 1, 2025 was published last week. This rule will result in a net 0.5% increase in reimbursement nationally, and we are currently evaluating the impact on our business. Due to our limited exposure in home health today, we expect this to be immaterial to Addus.

正如德克所提到的，上週發布了於 2025 年 1 月 1 日生效的家庭健康報銷最終規則。該規則將導致全國範圍內的報銷淨增加 0.5%，我們目前正在評估對我們業務的影響。由於我們今天對家庭健康的了解有限，我們預計這對 Addus 來說並不重要。

Outside of ongoing reimbursement pressures, we believe home health is a valuable service that is complementary to our personal care and hospice services, and we continue to look for opportunities to support and expand this service line appropriately.

除了持續的報銷壓力之外，我們相信家庭健康是一項有價值的服務，可以補充我們的個人護理和臨終關懷服務，我們將繼續尋找機會來適當支持和擴展這一服務範圍。

In addition to organic growth, we have benefited from our recently acquired operations. We remain focused on identifying acquisitions that will be accretive to our operations and support our ability to expand our market reach.

除了有機成長之外，我們還受益於最近收購的業務。我們仍然專注於尋找能夠增加我們營運並支持我們擴大市場覆蓋範圍的能力的收購。

Our primary objective is to find operations in markets where we can leverage our strong personal care presence and add clinical services so we can offer all three levels of home-based care. We also look for opportunities to add new personal care markets where we can enter at scale.

我們的主要目標是在市場中找到業務，我們可以利用我們強大的個人護理業務並增加臨床服務，以便我們可以提供所有三個級別的家庭護理。我們也尋找機會增加新的個人護理市場，以便我們能夠大規模進入。

The pending Gentiva acquisition fits squarely in this strategy and provides an opportunity to add personal care market coverage in seven states, with the majority in Texas. We currently expect the Gentiva acquisition to close in the fourth quarter and will add $280 million in annualized revenues in personal care services.

即將進行的 Gentiva 收購完全符合此策略，並提供了擴大七個州（其中大部分位於德克薩斯州）個人護理市場覆蓋範圍的機會。我們目前預計 Gentiva 收購將於第四季完成，個人護理服務年化收入將增加 2.8 億美元。

As Dirk noted, total net service revenues for the third quarter were $289.8 million. The revenue breakdown is as follows: Personal Care revenues were $215.4 million or 74.3% of revenue. Hospice care revenues were $57.3 million or 19.8% of revenue. Home Health revenues were $17 million or 5.9% of revenue.

正如 Dirk 指出的那樣，第三季的總淨服務收入為 2.898 億美元。收入明細如下： 個人照護收入為 2.154 億美元，佔總收入的 74.3%。臨終關懷收入為 5,730 萬美元，佔收入的 19.8%。家庭健康收入為 1700 萬美元，佔收入的 5.9%。

Other financial results for the third quarter of 2024 include the following: Our gross margin percentage was 31.8%, compared with 32% for the third quarter of 2023, and a decline sequentially from 32.5% in the second quarter, as expected. As previously indicated, we saw some moderation in the benefit from a lower implicit price concession that we experienced in the first and second quarters of 2024 as we return closer to historical levels.

2024 年第三季的其他財務表現包括： 我們的毛利率為 31.8%，而 2023 年第三季為 32%，與第二季的 32.5% 相比，環比下降，符合預期。如前所述，隨著我們回歸到接近歷史水平，我們在 2024 年第一季和第二季經歷的較低隱性價格優惠帶來的收益有所放緩。

Additionally, we experienced some margin compression sequentially from both an additional holiday in the third quarter and the impact of the PTO caregiver benefit in Illinois. However, in the fourth quarter, we anticipate our gross margin percentage to expand sequentially by approximately 40 basis points from the hospice reimbursement update and an additional approximately 150 basis points as a result of the New York divestiture.

此外，由於第三季的額外假期以及伊利諾伊州 PTO 護理人員福利的影響，我們的利潤率連續受到一些壓縮。然而，在第四季度，我們預計我們的毛利率將因臨終關懷報銷更新而環比增加約 40 個基點，並因紐約資產剝離而額外增加約 150 個基點。

G&A expenses were 21.7% of revenue, compared with 22.3% of revenue for the third quarter a year ago. G&A expenses were also lower sequentially from 22.2% in the second quarter of 2024, primarily due to lower acquisition expenses.

一般及行政費用佔收入的 21.7%，而去年第三季則佔收入的 22.3%。G&A 費用也比 2024 年第二季的 22.2% 有所下降，主要是因為收購費用減少。

Adjusted G&A expenses for the third quarter of 2024 were 20%, a decrease from 20.6% in the comparable prior year quarter. With the divestiture of our New York operations, we anticipate our adjusted G&A expense percentage to increase by approximately 60 basis points going forward, as the New York revenues will no longer be included in our financial results.

2024 年第三季調整後的一般管理費用為 20%，低於去年同期的 20.6%。隨著紐約業務的剝離，我們預計調整後的一般管理費用百分比將增加約 60 個基點，因為紐約收入將不再包含在我們的財務表現中。

The company's adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $34.3 million compared with $30.9 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11.8%, an increase from 11.4% for the third quarter of 2023, but lower sequentially from 12.3% in the second quarter of 2024, primarily as a result of ongoing leverage from our revenue growth and lower legal expenses. We expect the divestiture of our New York operations to have a positive impact of approximately 90 basis points on our adjusted EBITDA margin percentage beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024.

該公司調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 11%，達到 3,430 萬美元，而去年同期為 3,090 萬美元。調整後EBITDA 利潤率為11.8%，較2023 年第三季的11.4% 有所成長，但較2024 年第二季的12.3% 有所下降，這主要是由於我們營收成長的持續槓桿作用和較低的法律費用。我們預計，從 2024 年第四季開始，剝離紐約業務將對我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率產生約 90 個基點的正面影響。

Adjusted net income per diluted share was $1.30 compared with $1.15 for the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 13%. The adjusted per share results for the third quarter of 2024 exclude the following: acquisition expenses of $0.08 and noncash stock-based compensation expense of $0.12. The adjusted per share results for the third quarter of 2023 exclude the following: acquisition expenses of $0.08 and noncash stock-based compensation expense of $0.12.

調整後每股攤薄淨利潤為 1.30 美元，較 2023 年第三季的 1.15 美元成長 13%。2024 年第三季調整後每股業績不包括以下內容：0.08 美元的收購費用和 0.12 美元的非現金股票補償費用。 2023 年第三季調整後每股業績不包括以下內容：0.08 美元的收購費用和 0.12 美元的非現金股票補償費用。

Our tax rate for the third quarter of 2024 was 26.1%, in the range of our expectations. For calendar 2024, we expect our tax rate to remain in the mid-20% range. With the divestiture of our New York operations and the related higher tax rate from the state, we anticipate a favorable impact to our effective tax rate of approximately 50 basis points to 60 basis points, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024.

我們 2024 年第三季的稅率為 26.1%，在我們的預期範圍內。到 2024 年，我們預計稅率將維持在 20% 的中間範圍。隨著我們紐約業務的剝離以及相關州稅率的提高，我們預計從 2024 年第四季開始，我們的有效稅率將受到約 50 個基點至 60 個基點的有利影響。

DSOs were 31.7 days at the end of the third quarter of 2024, compared with 36 days at the end of the second quarter of 2024, as we have continued to experience consistent cash collections from the majority of our payers. Our DSOs for the Illinois Department of Aging for the third quarter were 32.5 days compared with 37.3 days at the end of the second quarter.

2024 年第三季末的 DSO 為 31.7 天，而 2024 年第二季末為 36 天，因為我們繼續從大多數付款人處獲得一致的現金收款。我們為伊利諾伊州老齡化部門提供的第三季 DSO 為 32.5 天，而第二季末為 37.3 天。

Our net cash flow from operations was $48.5 million for the third quarter and included a onetime working capital benefit of $9.7 million, which we expect to revert in the fourth quarter. Exclusive of this onetime benefit, our cash flow from operations would have been $38.8 million.

第三季我們的營運淨現金流量為 4,850 萬美元，其中包括 970 萬美元的一次性營運資本收益，我們預計將在第四季度恢復。除去這筆一次性收益，我們的營運現金流將為 3,880 萬美元。

During the third quarter, we received approximately $3.2 million in ARPA funding, partially offset by $2.6 million in ARPA funds utilized. As of the end of the third quarter, we still have approximately $13.1 million in ARPA funds outstanding to be utilized, primarily in New Mexico.

第三季度，我們收到了約 320 萬美元的 ARPA 資金，部分被已使用的 ARPA 資金 260 萬美元所抵銷。截至第三季末，我們仍有約 1,310 萬美元的 ARPA 資金待使用，主要是在新墨西哥州。

As of September 30, 2024, the company had cash of $222.9 million, with capacity and availability under our revolving credit facility of $511.5 million and $503.5 million, respectively. As previously disclosed, subsequent to the end of the quarter, we entered into an amended and restated credit agreement to increase our revolving credit facility from $600 million to $650 million, expand our incremental facility from $125 million to $150 million and extend the maturity date through July 2028. We appreciate the leadership from Capital One on this transaction and the support from all our current banking partners.

截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日，該公司擁有現金 2.229 億美元，循環信貸額度下的產能和可用性分別為 5.115 億美元和 5.035 億美元。如同先前所揭露的，在本季末之後，我們簽訂了修訂和重述的信貸協議，將我們的循環信貸額度從6 億美元增加到6.5 億美元，將我們的增量額度從1.25 億美元擴大到1.5 億美元，並將到期日延長至2028 年 7 月。我們感謝第一資本在此次交易中的領導以及我們目前所有銀行合作夥伴的支持。

Following the expected closing of our Gentiva acquisition, we will continue to have the financial flexibility to invest in our business and pursue our strategic growth initiatives, including acquisitions. As mentioned, we will continue to selectively pursue acquisitions that align with our strategy. At the same time, we will continue to be disciplined with our capital spending and diligently manage our net leverage ratio. This concludes our prepared comments this morning, and thank you for being with us.

在 Gentiva 收購預計完成後，我們將繼續擁有財務靈活性來投資我們的業務並實施包括收購在內的策略成長計劃。如前所述，我們將繼續有選擇地尋求符合我們策略的收購。同時，我們將繼續嚴格控制資本支出，並努力管理淨槓桿率。我們今天早上準備的評論到此結束，感謝您與我們在一起。

I will now ask the operator to please open the line for your questions.

我現在請接線生接通您的問題電話。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Tanquilut, Jefferies.

（操作員說明）Brian Tanquilut，Jefferies。

Maybe Brian, just to clarify your comments on margin direction sequentially. Am I right in thinking it should be up about 190 basis points on gross margin between hospice and the divestiture? And then maybe also going forward, how should we be thinking about G&A and just the margins overall?

也許布萊恩，只是為了依次澄清您對保證金方向的評論。我認為臨終關懷和剝離之間的毛利率應該會上升約 190 個基點，對嗎？然後也許展望未來，我們該如何考慮一般行政費用以及整體利潤率？

Yeah, that's correct, Brian. Combined between the two, it will be 150 basis points from the divestiture, another 40 basis points on top of that from the hospice update on the gross margin line, that is accurate. I think moving ahead, we're going to see some margin expansion, bottom line, a net 90 basis points from just New York.

是的，這是正確的，布萊恩。兩者相加，資產剝離將帶來 150 個基點，毛利率線上的臨終關懷更新將帶來 40 個基點，這是準確的。我認為，展望未來，我們將看到一些利潤率擴張，底線，光是紐約就淨成長 90 個基點。

You'll see some impact positively from hospice as well fall to the bottom line in Q4. We'll see our normal rate increases in hospice will offset some of that toward the end of Q1 when we give those merits. But I think with New York being out of our numbers going forward, you should see some expansion in our margin profile.

您將看到臨終關懷帶來的一些正面影響，也會在第四季度下降到獲利水準。當我們給予這些優點時，我們將看到臨終關懷的正常費率成長將在第一季末抵消其中的一部分。但我認為，隨著紐約未來不再屬於我們的數據範圍，你應該會看到我們的利潤率擴大。

Got it. And then maybe, Dirk, as I think about the Gentiva acquisition, it looks like you're expecting it to close here pretty soon. So number one, how are you thinking about your ability to -- as you've looked at that asset further through this process, just the ability to grow that business going forward and maybe drive some margin?

知道了。然後也許，德克，當我想到 Gentiva 收購時，看起來你預計它很快就會在這裡結束。那麼第一，你如何看待你的能力——當你透過這個過程進一步審視該資產時，你是否有能力繼續發展該業務，並可能提高一些利潤？

And then at the same time, where you stand in terms of your appetite or willingness or ability to do further acquisitions as you integrate Gentiva?

同時，在整合 Gentiva 時，您對進一步收購的興趣、意願或能力處於什麼位置？

Yeah, Brian. One of the things we've learned by having these months to work together with the Gentiva Personal Care service team is really good to appreciate what they've done and how they built their business over the last few years.

是的，布萊恩。透過這幾個月與 Gentiva 個人護理服務團隊的合作，我們學到的一件事是非常感謝他們在過去幾年中所做的事情以及他們如何建立自己的業務。

We're excited about the fact that now them coming on with a company that is truly focused on personal care services and has the history that Addus does that our operations team, along with their operations team, will be able to drive growth.

我們很高興他們現在加入了一家真正專注於個人護理服務的公司，並且擁有 Addus 的歷史，我們的營運團隊以及他們的營運團隊將能夠推動成長。

And Texas is a great state. As you know, it's about 80% plus of the business we're acquiring. So we're very excited about our ability not only to bring it on appropriately, but also about the ability that we can continue to look at all the markets in which they operate and get them in a growth profile which is very similar to ours, which remains our target of 3% to 5% same-store growth over the next few years.

德克薩斯州是一個偉大的州。如您所知，這大約占我們正在收購的業務的 80% 以上。因此，我們對我們不僅有能力適當地實現這一目標感到非常興奮，而且對我們能夠繼續關注他們經營的所有市場並讓他們獲得與我們非常相似的增長狀況的能力感到非常興奮，我們的目標仍然是未來幾年同店成長3% 至5%。

As it relates to our appetite, one of the things we did following the acquisition of the Gentiva Personal Care service was go out and raise some equity to clean up our balance sheet to make sure we were prepared going forward.

由於這與我們的胃口有關，收購 Gentiva 個人護理服務後我們所做的一件事就是籌集一些股本來清理我們的資產負債表，以確保我們為未來做好準備。

And so today, as we said, Brian mentioned, over $200 million in cash, we've got the new $650 million line of credit with expansion capabilities there for a deal. And so our appetite remains strong. And obviously, as we've gotten larger, certainly looking at some of the larger opportunities that may arise is interesting to us. And will continue to be interesting at us.

因此，今天，正如我們所說的，布萊恩提到的，我們擁有超過 2 億美元的現金，我們獲得了新的 6.5 億美元的信貸額度，並具有用於交易的擴張能力。因此我們的胃口依然強勁。顯然，隨著我們規模的擴大，我們對可能出現的一些更大的機會當然很感興趣。並將繼續引起我們的興趣。

I think our key will be looking at deals that meet our strategic direction in which we're driving the company and also making sure that it can be accretive and positive to our shareholders. And so from that standpoint, we are still looking. We are still excited, but we do have that criteria as we look at deals.

我認為我們的關鍵是尋找符合我們推動公司發展的策略方向的交易，並確保它能夠為我們的股東帶來增值和正面的影響。因此從這個角度來看，我們仍在尋找。我們仍然很興奮，但我們在考慮交易時確實有這個標準。

Joanna Gajuk, Bank of America.

喬安娜·加尤克，美國銀行。

This is Joanna Gajuk here. So just a follow-up first on the organic census growth. You talk about 0.6% increase and you mentioned redetermination process being a headwind there. But I guess, was there anything else, I guess, to call out what about the New York market being a headwind there?

我是喬安娜·加尤克。因此，首先是有機普查成長的後續行動。您談到了 0.6% 的成長，並提到重新確定過程是一個阻力。但我想，還有什麼可以說明紐約市場的逆風嗎？

And you also said you expect this to, I guess, reaccelerate to 2% growth, I guess, heading into next year for guiding census growth. So can you give us a sense what gives you the confidence you can go to 2%?

您還表示，我想，您預計這一增長將重新加速至 2%，進入明年以指導人口普查增長。那麼您能否告訴我們，是什麼讓您有信心達到 2%？

Joanna, this is Brad. When you look at the New York, it's actually carved out of our same-store growth numbers. So we've already kind of cleaned that up when you look at that number. If you think through the redetermination process, there's certainly been a lot of noise about that this year.

喬安娜，這是布萊德。當你看看紐約時，你會發現它實際上是根據我們的同店增長數據雕刻出來的。所以當你看到這個數字時，我們已經清理了它。如果你仔細考慮重新確定的過程，你會發現今年確實有很多噪音。

I think CMS came out with some guidance, probably in the last 30, 45 days, to try to help states with how they're handling redeterminations. Probably would have been better if they would have given that out about six months ago. I think it might have helped the process a little bit.

我認為 CMS 可能在過去 30、45 天內發布了一些指導，試圖幫助各州如何處理重新決定。如果他們在六個月前就給出這個訊息，可能會更好。我認為這可能對這個過程有一點幫助。

But what we're seeing is, I think the states that we operate in are largely done, and I think will be wrapped up by the end of Q4. And what we've seen there is one, we've lost a few clients, nothing material. It's really been more impactful, honestly, on getting new clients through the system.

但我們看到的是，我認為我們運營的州已基本完成，我認為將在第四季度末完成。我們看到的是，我們失去了一些客戶，但沒有什麼實質的損失。老實說，它對於透過該系統吸引新客戶確實更有影響力。

If you think about on the state side going through this process, that was a lot of added work. They didn't have additional staff. So the staff is doing new admissions into the program, same staff that was doing redeterminations.

如果你考慮州政府要經歷這個過程，你會發現需要做很多額外的工作。他們沒有額外的員工。因此，工作人員正在為該計劃進行新的招生，同樣的工作人員正在進行重新確定。

And so you can still see a little more -- a little bumpiness in the referrals week-to-week. I think that's going to steadily get better. So I think -- optimistic that we kind of get back to more regular cadence going into 2025, where I think that, as Dirk alluded to, kind of a 2% target on same-store hours is certainly achievable.

因此，您仍然可以看到更多的情況——每週的推薦量都有些波動。我認為這會穩定好轉。因此，我認為，樂觀地認為，到 2025 年，我們將恢復到更正常的節奏，我認為，正如德克所提到的，同店營業時間 2% 的目標肯定是可以實現的。

And I guess a similar question on hospice. So you mentioned the admissions were down, but I guess census still grew because length of stay keeps improving, but I guess admission number were disappointing in the quarter. And it sounds like you're making some changes in that segment. So can you talk about how we should think about the progression into next year when it comes to hospice census growth?

我想關於臨終關懷也有類似的問題。所以你提到入學人數下降了，但我想人口普查仍然在增長，因為停留時間不斷延長，但我想本季的入學人數令人失望。聽起來您正在對該部分進行一些更改。那麼，您能否談談在臨終關懷普查成長方面我們應該如何考慮明年的進展？

Yeah. We did -- we've made some leadership changes on the hospice side, primarily in -- a little bit -- in some of the hospice positions, but also in the sales leadership positions, we've made some pretty significant changes there. I'm really optimistic about the team that we have on board.

是的。我們確實在臨終關懷方面做了一些領導層的變動，主要是在一些臨終關懷職位上，而且在銷售領導職位上，我們也做了一些相當重大的改變。我對我們的團隊非常樂觀。

Really, the sales leader change out middle of September. So he's just now kind of getting his feet wet. He's been out and met with all the teams. I realize that there's a lot of potential out there for us. We're going through sales training over the next couple of months to just kind of reeducate and work with our on the ground sales team. So optimistic that though we'll be back into, I think, that kind of mid- to high single digits on a growth rate with admission volume increasing.

確實，銷售主管在九月中旬就換了。所以他現在才剛涉足。他已經出去見了所有的球隊。我意識到我們有很大的潛力。我們將在接下來的幾個月內進行銷售培訓，以進行再教育並與我們的現場銷售團隊合作。如此樂觀，但我認為，隨著入場量的增加，成長率將回到中高個位數。

Tao Qiu, Macquarie.

邱濤，麥格理。

I appreciate the comments on Gentiva. Any comment you can provide regarding the reimbursement environment in Missouri and North Carolina, the two new states you're getting to? Are these managed Medicaid states as well? Any initial thoughts on the potential EPS accretion from the transaction for 2025?

我很欣賞對 Gentiva 的評論。您對密蘇裡州和北卡羅來納州這兩個新州的報銷環境有何評論？這些醫療補助州也是受管理的嗎？對於 2025 年交易可能帶來的每股盈餘成長，您有什麼初步想法嗎？

Yeah. So if you look at the new states that we're entering into, North Carolina and Missouri, reimbursement environment in Missouri, I think is solid. It was kind of consistent with what we see in our other markets. Now the North Carolina book of business is actually a little different. It's actually case management, very small good margin business, but it actually gives us an entry into North Carolina and a little bit of different kind of business other than traditional kind of personal care. But again, very small piece of the total pie, but certainly interesting and has a good margin business with it.

是的。因此，如果你看看我們正在進入的新州，北卡羅來納州和密蘇裡州，密蘇裡州的報銷環境，我認為是可靠的。這與我們在其他市場看到的情況是一致的。現在北卡羅來納州的商業名錄實際上有點不同。它實際上是案例管理，利潤率非常低的業務，但它實際上為我們提供了進入北卡羅來納州的機會，以及除傳統個人護理之外的一些不同類型的業務。但同樣，這只是整個蛋糕中很小的一部分，但肯定很有趣，並且有很好的利潤業務。

Yeah. Any comment on the EPS accretion? I know you're not providing guidance for '25, just any high level insight you can provide there would be appreciated.

是的。對每股盈餘的增加有什麼評論嗎？我知道您不會為 '25 提供指導，只是您可以提供任何高水平的見解，我們將不勝感激。

Yeah. Tao, this is Brian. I think we definitely expect it to be accretive to our numbers. I think we've talked about opportunities. Probably 12 to 18 months out for some additional synergies as well that I think is going to be helpful, primarily most of those coming from the system conversion.

是的。陶，這是布萊恩。我認為我們肯定希望它能夠增加我們的數字。我想我們已經討論過機會了。可能還需要 12 到 18 個月的時間才能產生一些額外的協同效應，我認為這將是有幫助的，其中大部分來自系統轉換。

Currently, the system they're on today will convert to Homecare Homebase once we get that set up, but that's probably going to be sometime a little bit down the road. So probably not at a high level out of the gate, but definitely will be accretive on EPS initially.

目前，一旦我們完成設置，他們今天使用的系統將轉換為 Homecare Homebase，但這可能需要一段時間才能完成。因此，一開始可能不會達到很高的水平，但最初肯定會增加每股盈餘。

Got you. My follow-up is about some of the policy proposals in the spirit of the election day here. Could you talk about the potential impact of the proposed federal minimum wage increase, particularly as it pertains to the Texas market, which follows the federal rate?

明白你了。我的後續行動是關於本著選舉日精神提出的一些政策建議。您能否談談擬議的聯邦最低工資增長的潛在影響，特別是與遵循聯邦利率的德克薩斯州市場有關？

And also, there's been a lot of discussion about the Medicare -- potential Medicare expansion to cover personal care services. If that were to become the reality, what changes you will make to your long-term strategy? I think I heard you mention the interesting additional investment in home health. Does Harris' proposal make you more likely to accelerate investment in clinical businesses?

此外，還有很多關於醫療保險的討論——醫療保險可能會擴展到涵蓋個人護理服務。如果這成為現實，您將對長期策略做出哪些改變？我想我聽到你提到了對家庭健康的有趣的額外投資。哈里斯的提議是否讓您更有可能加速對臨床業務的投資？

Yeah. I think when you look at the kind of the election, minimum wage certainly is something that we're always monitoring. Texas does follow the federal rate. But keep in mind, I mean, we're paying way about the federal rate -- or we'll be paying way by the federal rate in Texas as well as in the other states that we operate. So I don't see that as being material at this time, but there's a lot to flesh out on what those proposals might be.

是的。我認為當你看看選舉的類型時，最低工資肯定是我們一直在監控的事情。德州確實遵循聯邦稅率。但請記住，我的意思是，我們正在按照聯邦稅率支付費用，或者我們將按照德克薩斯州以及我們經營的其他州的聯邦稅率支付費用。因此，我目前認為這並不重要，但這些提案可能有很多內容需要充實。

And certainly, the election, it seems to be trending towards more of a split government. So I'm not sure how much of some of the proposals for either candidate will get through. With respect to VP Harris' comments about expanding the benefit to Medicare, very positive. I mean, it's great that there's not a lot of detail around it, but certainly great to see discussions along those lines.

當然，這次選舉似乎更傾向分裂政府。所以我不確定兩位候選人的提案中有多少會獲得通過。關於副總統哈里斯關於擴大醫療保險福利的評論，非常積極。我的意思是，很高興沒有太多細節，但很高興看到沿著這些思路進行討論。

I think we think that there's real opportunity and benefit to expanding their services to the Medicare population. I think we've shown that it's certainly where people want to be taken care of is also the lower cost setting. So certainly an interesting proposal.

我認為我們認為將他們的服務擴展到醫療保險人群確實有機會和好處。我認為我們已經表明，這當然是人們希望得到照顧的地方，也是成本較低的環境。所以這肯定是一個有趣的提議。

Yeah. I think also, let me add to Brad's comments. One of the great things about where we sit with our company is that regardless of which party wins the presidential election, I think we have benefits on both sides. The Republican Democrats have come out.

是的。我也想，讓我補充一下布萊德的評論。我們公司的一大好處是，無論哪個政黨贏得總統選舉，我認為我們雙方都受益。共和民主黨出來了。

And Harris has said that she supports expanding elderly care, which is very exciting, although not a lot of specifics at this point. But at the same time, then President Trump came out and also mentioned supporting elderly care through tax means.

哈里斯表示，她支持擴大老年護理，這非常令人興奮，儘管目前還沒有太多具體細節。但同時，時任總統川普也出面提到透過稅收手段支持養老。

And so for us, we're just excited that both sides have looked at what we do, we being Addus and the industry in which we operate, taking care of the elderly and disabled population in their home, and both feel supportive of that. So we believe we're in good shape regardless of how the election ends up tonight.

因此，對我們來說，我們很高興雙方都關注我們所做的事情，我們是 Addus 和我們所在的行業，照顧家裡的老年人和殘疾人，雙方都對此表示支持。因此，我們相信，無論今晚選舉結果如何，我們都處於良好狀態。

Scott Fidel, Stephens.

斯科特·菲德爾，史蒂芬斯。

First question, just wanted to make sure we've got all the moving pieces for modeling operating cash flow sequentially in the fourth quarter. Brian, maybe if you could just sort of walk us through those. So we've got -- I know the $9.7 million sort of benefit again in 3Q, that reverses. But maybe if you could walk us through as well, any other moving pieces to operating cash flow in the fourth quarter?

第一個問題，只是想確保我們已經掌握了第四季度連續建模營運現金流的所有移動部件。布萊恩，也許你能引導我們完成這些。因此，我知道第三季再次帶來 970 萬美元的收益，情況相反。但也許您也可以向我們介紹一下第四季度營運現金流的其他變化因素嗎？

Yeah, Scott. Outside of that, that's going to be the big piece sequentially, Q3 into Q4. I think even without that benefit in Q3, it was still a very strong cash flow quarter for us. Which we expected, I think, largely kind of just benefiting from working cap changes.

是的，斯科特。除此之外，這將依序成為重要的部分，從第三季到第四季。我認為即使沒有第三季的收益，這對我們來說仍然是一個非常強勁的現金流季度。我認為，我們預計這很大程度上會受益於工作上限的變化。

So we were down a little bit in Q2. I think if you look at our DSOs, our IDOA specifically, just their payment cycle, they were a very strong payer for us in Q3. There's always a little bit of timing difference between when we get their payments kind of quarter-to-quarter.

所以我們在第二季略有下降。我認為，如果你看看我們的 DSO，特別是 IDOA，看看他們的付款週期，他們在第三季度對我們來說是一個非常強大的付款人。我們每季收到付款的時間總是存在一些時間差異。

So nothing I would kind of call out or say, hey, should be definite material impacts into Q4 outside of the 9.7 reversing. So you are going to see a little bit lower as a result of that in Q4, but nothing else that I would flag out that which should be unusual.

因此，除了 9.7 的逆轉之外，我不會大聲疾呼或說，嘿，應該對第四季度產生明確的重大影響。因此，您會看到第四季度的結果有所下降，但我不會指出任何不尋常的事情。

Okay. Got it. And then just my follow-up question, just curious on looking out to 2025. Any additional contracts that you're implementing in terms of your preferred payer strategy on home health and sort of maximizing the margin opportunity on the MA business?

好的。知道了。接下來是我的後續問題，只是對展望 2025 年感到好奇。您正在根據您的家庭健康首選付款人策略以及最大化 MA 業務的利潤機會實施任何其他合約嗎？

And then also curious, there's been quite a bit of discussion that I would say has probably increased over the last several quarters, just around payer sort of friction with providers and sort of gumming up the works, I guess, a little bit around approvals and prior authorizations.

然後也很好奇，有相當多的討論，我想說在過去的幾個季度中可能有所增加，只是圍繞付款人與提供者的摩擦以及某種搞砸工作的情況，我猜，有點圍繞審批和事先授權。

And clearly, that's been a lot, I would say, sort of heavily focused on the acute care hospitals. But I'm just curious, as you look at your three lines of business in terms of the posture of payers -- managed care payers, whether you've seen any changes from them around approvals and sort of denials and just sort of level of friction?

顯然，我想說，這很大程度上集中在急診醫院。但我只是好奇，當您從付款人（管理式醫療付款人）的角度審視您的三個業務線時，您是否看到它們在批准和拒絕以及某種水平方面發生了任何變化摩擦？

Yeah. I think if you look at on the payer side, I mean, let's start with PCS, our largest business. We really haven't seen any noticeable changes in our relationships with payers. Other than, frankly, with the Gentiva acquisition, certainly a lot more interest in talking to us about looking at some creative value-based type of arrangement. So I think there's certainly opportunities to work with those payers. But good relationships on the personal care side. They've also offered to kind of help us on the skills side to making contact.

是的。我認為，如果你從付款人的角度來看，我的意思是，讓我們從我們最大的業務 PCS 開始。我們與付款人的關係確實沒有看到任何明顯的變化。坦白說，除了收購 Gentiva 之外，肯定會有更多人有興趣與我們討論一些基於創意價值的安排類型。所以我認為肯定有機會與這些付款人合作。但在個人護理方面關係良好。他們也主動提出在技能方面幫助我們建立聯繫。

So when you switch over to hospice, there's not a lot of payer activity there. It's pretty minimal. Home health, we have had and are continuing to have ongoing discussions. We've had some wins on the payer front. Typically, it's just really increasing the per visit rates. We haven't had as much success moving to full episodic payments with some of the larger kind of payers or on a national basis. But certainly, we'll continue to pursue that in 2025.

因此，當您轉到臨終關懷醫院時，那裡的付款活動並不多。這是相當小的。家庭健康，我們已經並將繼續進行持續的討論。我們在付款人方面取得了一些勝利。通常，它只是真正提高了每次訪問率。我們在向一些較大類型的付款人或在全國範圍內進行全面的間歇性付款方面還沒有取得那麼大的成功。但當然，我們將在 2025 年繼續追求這一目標。

And certainly, if we can get some quick wins, just a base increase in rates or visit rates, we'll start there, but we'll certainly be continuing to push for episodic or some sort of case rates with those payers. Really haven't seen a lot on the prior authorizations with MA players as far as any changes in the posturing there. So I think it really has not been that big of a factor for us.

當然，如果我們能夠快速取得一些成果，只是費率或訪問率的基本增長，我們將從這裡開始，但我們肯定會繼續推動這些付款人的偶發或某種案件費率。確實沒有看到太多關於 MA 玩家的事先授權，就姿態而言有任何變化。所以我認為這對我們來說確實不是那麼大的因素。

Okay. Great.

好的。偉大的。

Jared Haase, William Blair.

賈里德·哈斯，威廉·布萊爾。

I appreciate the commentary in the prepared remarks on the outlook for state budget, maybe I'll just follow-up to that. There's been a lot of noise recently from the larger, I guess, managed Medicaid payers on the unfavorable rates that they're currently getting from states relative to sort of risk pools after redeterminations.

我很欣賞準備好的關於國家預算前景的評論，也許我會對此進行跟進。我猜想，最近來自較大的管理醫療補助支付者的聲音很大，他們目前從各州獲得的利率相對於重新確定後的風險池而言是不利的。

I'm curious as kind of states update the rates that they're paying for managed Medicaid, does that factor in at all to your outlook for state budgets? And I'm wondering if that has any impact on, I guess, the availability for funding for clinical services like personal care?

我很好奇，隨著一些州更新他們為管理醫療補助支付的費率，這是否會影響您對州預算的前景？我想知道這是否會對個人護理等臨床服務的資金可用性產生任何影響？

I think most of the states in which we operate in the personal care environment understand the value of personal care. It's something that is very important to them. We've seen great support through that. And so -- and as far as their status today, their budgets, we think most of them are in pretty good shape. The ones -- the biggest state we had concerned about was New York, which we're no longer in.

我認為我們在個人護理環境中開展業務的大多數州都了解個人護理的價值。這對他們來說非常重要。我們從中看到了巨大的支持。因此，就他們今天的狀況和預算而言，我們認為他們中的大多數都狀況良好。我們擔心的最大的州是紐約，但我們已經不在了。

As far as some of the pressures that the Medicare Advantage or managed Medicaid providers are seeing from the states, we have not seen that affect us from the standpoint of the state, almost -- all of our states, but one dictate the price that we get.

就醫療保險優勢或託管醫療補助提供者從各州看到的一些壓力而言，從各州的角度來看，我們還沒有看到這對我們產生影響，幾乎所有州，但其中一個決定了我們的價格得到。

So it's a stated price, and the managed Medicare providers, when they sign on, they are subject to paying us that rate. So at this point in time, it's really business as usual, and we're really kind of excited about where we see our states today as far as financial stability.

因此，這是一個規定的價格，而託管醫療保險提供者在簽約時，必須向我們支付該價格。因此，在這個時候，一切都一切如常，我們對今天我們各州在金融穩定方面的情況感到非常興奮。

Okay. I appreciate that. And then maybe as a follow-up, just one on the labor environment. It seems like things have been fairly stable across the board for several quarters now. Do you feel like that's sustainable going into 2025? I guess, is there anything you're monitoring in terms of either the broader economic environment or the industry that could impact hiring trends in your view?

好的。我很欣賞這一點。然後也許作為後續行動，只是關於勞工環境的一個。現在看來，幾個季度以來一切都相當穩定。您認為這種情況到 2025 年可持續嗎？我想，在您看來，在更廣泛的經濟環境或產業方面，您是否正在監控任何可能影響招募趨勢的事情？

No. I mean, I think when you look at our hiring, we've been very solid, particularly on the personal care side for probably 1 year, 1.5 years now with some good solid hiring numbers. So I think we're in a good place there. Clinical services, we've certainly seen that improve over the last six to nine months.

不。我的意思是，我認為當你看看我們的招聘時，我們一直非常穩定，特別是在個人護理方面，可能已經有 1 年、1.5 年了，現在有一些良好可靠的招聘數據。所以我認為我們處於一個很好的位置。在過去的六到九個月裡，我們確實看到臨床服務有所改善。

So I think that trend continues to be favorable. There will always be some challenges on the clinical side depending on markets, but that's nothing that I think is unusual. I don't see anything kind of in the future that would materially impact that kind of continued improvement, just the solid hiring numbers on the personal care side and continued improvement on the skilled side.

所以我認為這種趨勢仍然是有利的。根據市場的不同，臨床方面總是會遇到一些挑戰，但我認為這並不罕見。我認為未來不會有任何事情會對這種持續改進產生重大影響，只是個人護理方面的穩定招聘人數和技術方面的持續改進。

Okay. Appreciate all the color.

好的。欣賞所有的顏色。

Matthew Gillmor, KeyBanc.

馬修·吉爾莫，KeyBanc。

I wanted to follow-up on the personal care growth metrics. I think Dirk had referenced the improvement in the fill rate, which we see in the hours percentage metric, I was curious what was driving that. Is that more favorability in terms of just the labor dynamic and caregivers filling hours?

我想跟進個人護理成長指標。我認為德克提到了填充率的提高，我們在工時百分比指標中看到了這一點，我很好奇是什麼推動了這一點。就勞動力動態和護理人員填補時間而言，這是否更有利？

Or is there an operational thing going on behind the scenes that is also helping that? And just overall, what's sort of the sustainability around that favorable fill rate?

還是幕後正在發生的一些操作也對此有所幫助？總體而言，這種有利的填充率的可持續性如何？

Yeah. I think it's two things. One, certainly, the hiring environment has helped on the fill rate. But also from an operational standpoint, we've provided additional tools to our schedulers that I think has enhanced that. And we'll continue to look at opportunities to make the scheduling process better. So I think there's opportunities for incremental improvement in that number, but certainly very pleased how that number has rebounded.

是的。我認為這是兩件事。其一，招募環境確實有助於提高招募率。而且從營運的角度來看，我們為調度程序提供了額外的工具，我認為這增強了這一點。我們將繼續尋找機會來改善調度流程。因此，我認為這個數字有逐步改善的機會，但當然對這個數字的反彈感到非常高興。

And again, I think it's kind of twofold. One, strong hiring but then also some of the things that we're doing on the operational front to identify where we have availability with caregivers who want to work more hours, what their hour -- when they -- what their availability is during the week. And getting that more in real time has certainly helped us increase that fill rate.

再說一次，我認為這是雙重的。第一，強有力的招聘，但我們也在營運方面做了一些事情，以確定我們在哪裡可以為那些想要工作更長時間的護理人員提供服務，他們的工作時間是什麼時候，他們在工作期間的空閒時間是多少。即時獲取更多資訊肯定有助於我們提高填充率。

And then I wanted to ask on the value-based care topic. I was curious with the close of Gentiva, that was serving as a catalyst to move things forward, particularly given their exposure to Texas, which is a stronger value-based care market. Anything you report in terms of how you're thinking about value-based care with the Gentiva close?

然後我想問基於價值的護理主題。我對 Gentiva 的關閉感到好奇，這成為推動事情向前發展的催化劑，特別是考慮到他們在德克薩斯州的業務，這是一個更強大的基於價值的護理市場。您有什麼關於 Gentiva 關閉時如何看待基於價值的護理的報告嗎？

No, we're excited about with the additional size and moving into the Texas market. We'll be able to work with some of the payers in those type of contracts. Just realize that from a value-based standpoint, it's really about relationships if you think about it.

不，我們對擴大規模並進入德克薩斯州市場感到興奮。我們將能夠與此類合約中的一些付款人合作。只要意識到，從基於價值的角度來看，如果你仔細想想，這其實與關係有關。

The value base itself, the revenue, as we've said before, is somewhat immaterial to a company our size. But what it allows us to do is to prove our ability to help our payers reduce their overall cost of some of the high-cost clients or patients that we take care of. So we will continue along those lines. It's exciting, but it really, to us, really helps us solidify our relationships with these payers.

正如我們之前所說，價值基礎本身，也就是收入，對我們這種規模的公司來說並不重要。但它讓我們能夠做的是證明我們有能力幫助我們的付款人降低我們照顧的一些高成本客戶或患者的整體成本。因此，我們將繼續沿著這些路線前進。這很令人興奮，但對我們來說，它確實有助於我們鞏固與這些付款人的關係。

Andrew Mok, Barclays.

安德魯·莫克，巴克萊銀行。

Wanted to follow-up on the labor comments. I understand there's been some nice hiring trends in the broader home care sector and in your Personal Care segment. But wage inflation and unit cost inflation still looks like it's running a bit elevated in the 5% to 6% range or so. So we'd love to hear your outlook on wage inflation over the next 15 months or so and what it's going to take to drive unit cost inflation down to more historical levels.

希望跟進勞工評論。據我所知，在更廣泛的家庭護理領域和個人護理領域存在一些良好的招聘趨勢。但薪資通膨和單位成本通膨看起來仍然在 5% 至 6% 左右的範圍內略高。因此，我們很想聽聽您對未來 15 個月左右工資通膨的展望，以及如何將單位成本通膨推低至歷史水平。

Well, when you look at it on the personal care side, we really haven't seen that type of wage inflation. And we've been fortunate in the markets. Our larger markets that we've gotten rate increases that have offset that and been able to kind of maintain our gross margin profile on the personal care side. So that's three- fourts of our business there.

好吧，當你從個人護理方面來看時，我們確實沒有看到這種類型的薪資通膨。我們在市場上很幸運。我們在更大的市場上獲得了升息，這抵消了這一影響，並能夠在一定程度上維持我們在個人護理方面的毛利率狀況。這就是我們在那裡的業務的四分之三。

When you look at the skilled side, again, I think it's gotten better. I think we're actually kind of running more in that 3%, depending on -- maybe 3% to 4% wage inflation in markets. There might be a market or two that's an outlier there. But I think overall, that has improved on the clinical side. But again, on the personal care side, we've been fortunate to get the rate increases that have been able to offset those pressures.

當你再看看熟練的一面時，我認為它已經變得更好了。我認為我們實際上在 3% 的水平上運行得更多，這取決於——也許是 3% 到 4% 的市場工資通膨。那裡可能有一兩個市場是異常值。但我認為總體而言，臨床方面已經有所改善。但同樣，在個人護理方面，我們很幸運能夠提高費率，從而抵消這些壓力。

Right. Understood. But the underlying cost inflation is still running in that mid-single digit so you're just getting the higher reimbursement to offset that, correct?

正確的。明白了。但潛在的成本通膨仍然在中個位數，所以你只是得到更高的報銷來抵消這一點，對嗎？

It really -- Andrew, it depends on the personal care side, where we have markets where we either have a union contracts. So those wage rates are largely set in those markets. And those that have minimum wage pressures, which we've seen over the last few years, that could be anywhere from 2%, 3%, 4%, depending on kind of what the raises are there from minimum wage, but we've seen corresponding reimbursement offsets for those.

這確實是 - 安德魯，這取決於個人護理方面，我們的市場要么有工會合約。因此，這些工資率很大程度上是由這些市場決定的。那些有最低工資壓力的企業，我們在過去幾年中看到，可能會在 2%、3%、4% 之間，具體取決於最低工資的上漲幅度，但我們已經看到了相應的報銷抵銷。

Okay. Great. And then on the hospice side, length of stay seems to be bouncing around quite a bit in recent years. I know M&A skewed some of those metrics, but hoping you could provide a bit more color on underlying trends in length of stay. What's driving some of the variability in that line? And where would you expect that to stabilize on a normalized basis?

好的。偉大的。然後在臨終關懷方面，近年來住院時間似乎有很大變化。我知道併購扭曲了其中一些指標，但希望您能為停留時間的潛在趨勢提供更多資訊。是什麼導致了該生產線的一些變化？您預計在正常化的基礎上穩定在什麼水平？

Well, I think on the hospice, we're actually starting to see those numbers stabilize. I mean certainly, if you're comparing it to the COVID years, the -- we certainly saw a much shorter length of stay. There were things that were in place during the public health emergency that influenced that. That really drove down length of stay, particularly in skilled facilities.

嗯，我認為在臨終關懷方面，我們實際上開始看到這些數字穩定下來。我的意思是，如果你將其與新冠疫情期間進行比較，我們的停留時間肯定會短得多。公共衛生緊急事件期間發生的一些事情影響了這一點。這確實縮短了停留時間，尤其是在熟練的設施中。

Once those left us kind of ended, you've actually started seeing length of stay numbers which revert back to a kind of more normalized basis. So I think where we currently sit is about right, both from an average length of stay and honestly, even from a median length of stay.

一旦這些離開我們結束，你實際上開始看到停留時間數字恢復到更正常化的基礎。因此，我認為我們目前的位置大致正確，無論是從平均停留時間來看，還是老實說，甚至從中位數停留時間來看也是如此。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Ryan Langston, TD Cowen.

（操作員說明）Ryan Langston，TD Cowen。

Maybe back to the PCS rate environment. I mean you keep getting pretty good rates, I think, 5.5% in '25 in Illinois. I guess at some point, should we maybe be on 2025 sort of think about reverting back to more lower single digit rates? Or maybe now, are we structurally thinking slightly higher than historical rates? And might those assumptions kind of change depending on the outcome of today's election?

也許回到PCS速率環境。我的意思是，我認為你一直獲得相當不錯的利率，25 年伊利諾伊州的利率為 5.5%。我想在某個時候，我們是否應該在 2025 年考慮恢復到更低的個位數利率？或者也許現在，我們的結構性思考是否略高於歷史利率？這些假設是否會根據今天的選舉結果而改變？

Yeah, Ryan. I think with Illinois, 5.5%, I think, is a good example of some of the markets that we've seen recently that have decided to start giving rate increases for our services, not in necessarily in relation to rising minimum wage that we've seen in the last several years, but actually in an effort to expand and increase access to the service.

是的，瑞安。我認為伊利諾伊州的 5.5% 是我們最近看到的一些市場的一個很好的例子，這些市場決定開始提高我們的服務費率，但這不一定與我們提高最低工資有關。看到了這一點，但實際上是為了擴大和增加對該服務的訪問。

So we were already nicely ahead of even where Chicago minimum wage, for instance, was in Illinois. The rate increase we're getting Jan of '25 actually continues to put us even further ahead of the minimum wage scale there in order to try to get more access.

因此，我們已經遠遠領先伊利諾州芝加哥最低工資標準等地區。我們在 25 年 1 月獲得的加息實際上繼續使我們進一步領先於那裡的最低工資水平，以便嘗試獲得更多機會。

And we are starting to see that in a few of our markets that have given us rate increases, which is a little bit of a new dynamic. I think the last two, three, four years with minimum wage coming up, that's really been the impetus for a lot of the reimbursement increases.

我們開始看到，在我們的一些市場中，我們已經提高了利率，這是一種新的動態。我認為過去兩年、三年、四年隨著最低工資的提高，這確實是大量報銷增加的推動力。

So I think our comments at a high level have been, yes, over the next couple of years, we expect probably the frequency of rate increases to probably go back to more of a historical norm, keeping us kind of in that 3% to 5% overall kind of growth rate.

因此，我認為我們高層的評論是，是的，在接下來的幾年裡，我們預計升息頻率可能會回到歷史常態，使我們的利率保持在 3% 到 5% 的水平。率。

So we kind of talked earlier on our call about targeting a 2%-ish increase in hours growth. So the rest of that would be from rate. But we expect to see that moderate. But again, still promising to see certain markets that are doing things in order to increase access and actually given us good support in that effort.

因此，我們早些時候在電話會議上談到了將工作時間增加 2% 左右的目標。所以剩下的部分將來自利率。但我們預計會看到這種溫和的情況。但同樣，我們仍然承諾看到某些市場正在採取行動以增加准入，並且實際上在這方面為我們提供了良好的支持。

Okay. And then just last one for me on the Gentiva acquisition. Can you remind us if there's any unusual seasonality, the cadence of revenues or EBITDA may be different from your current PCS book? And I know you're not planning to bring them onto your EMR for a little bit, but are you able to overlay any sort of internal technology or planned initiatives in the next maybe year or 18 months until you get them onto Homecare Homebase?

好的。最後一篇是關於收購 Gentiva 的。您能否提醒我們是否存在任何不尋常的季節性、收入節奏或 EBITDA 可能與您目前的 PCS 帳簿不同？我知道您暫時不打算將它們納入您的 EMR，但是您是否能夠在未來一年或 18 個月內疊加任何類型的內部技術或計劃舉措，直到將它們納入 Homecare Homebase？

Yeah. Nothing else from a seasonality standpoint that would be any different than our kind of normal business. I think the big drivers there, obviously, and PCS particularly, we see Q1 usually being the lowest margin quarter for us, just from the reset of payroll taxes, things like that. Usually see some step up into Q2 and Q3, and Q4 is usually our best quarter in PCS. But more along those economic lines of payroll taxes, but nothing else to note really that's any different in the Gentiva business.

是的。從季節性的角度來看，沒有什麼與我們的正常業務有什麼不同。我認為，顯然，主要的驅動因素，特別是 PCS，我們認為第一季通常是我們利潤率最低的季度，僅是由於工資稅的重置等原因。通常會在第二季和第三季看到一些進步，而第四季通常是我們在 PCS 方面表現最好的季度。但更多的是沿著工資稅的經濟路線，但沒有什麼值得注意的，這在 Gentiva 業務中確實有什麼不同。

But I think from a perspective of technology, they're going to come on to our payroll system very quickly. So anything that we have and we've implemented in our business is to kind of support the hiring efforts, onboarding efforts, the caregiver app, things like that. Those are all things I think we'll be able to deploy into that population even before going into an EMR or a patient billing system down the road.

但我認為從技術的角度來看，他們很快就會進入我們的工資系統。因此，我們在業務中所擁有和實施的一切都是為了支持招聘工作、入職工作、護理人員應用程式等。我認為這些都是我們能夠在進入電子病歷或患者計費系統之前部署到該人群中的所有東西。

Ben Hendrix, RBC Capital Markets.

本‧亨德里克斯，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場部。

This is [Mike Murray] on for Ben. Hospice same-store ADC growth is pretty good, but admissions were a little bit softer. Can you touch on the competitive dynamics in this segment? And do you expect same-store ADC growth to do -- to continue to improve moving forward?

這是本的[麥克·莫瑞]。臨終關懷同店 ADC 成長相當不錯，但入院人數稍微疲軟。您能談談這個領域的競爭動態嗎？您預計同店 ADC 的成長會持續改善嗎？

Yeah. I think when you look at the same-store numbers, I am optimistic that those numbers will continue to improve on a sequential basis. I also think that there's opportunity to move more into that kind of the mid- to upper single digits on the same-store growth there.

是的。我認為，當您查看同店數據時，我樂觀地認為這些數字將繼續連續改善。我還認為，那裡的同店成長有機會進一步達到中上個位數。

So I think we're in a good place. I think with the new sales leadership is going to certainly be helpful there. It kind of brings new energies and new thoughts, new ideas around it. But certainly, I think there's a continued improvement.

所以我認為我們處於一個很好的位置。我認為新的銷售領導層肯定會有所幫助。它帶來了新的能量、新的想法、新的想法。但當然，我認為有持續的改進。

All right. And then just another question. So same-store home health stats seem to be trending in the right direction in the last few quarters. Obviously, they took a meaningful step back during the quarter. I appreciate the commentary on the operational investments in certain markets. Excluding these markets, could you give us a sense of what same-store growth would have been?

好的。然後還有一個問題。因此，過去幾季同店家庭健康統計數據似乎正朝著正確的方向發展。顯然，他們在本季邁出了有意義的一步。我很欣賞對某些市場的營運投資的評論。如果排除這些市場，您能否讓我們了解同店成長情況？

Yeah, I think we would continue to see, actually, if you look at one of our larger markets that has went through the process operational changes earlier, we actually saw a nice growth there. Not quite to the mid to upper digits that we'd like to see it, but certainly more in the 2% to 3% range there.

是的，我認為我們會繼續看到，實際上，如果你看看我們之前經歷過流程營運變革的較大市場之一，我們實際上看到了那裡的良好成長。雖然沒有達到我們希望看到的中高位數字，但肯定會在 2% 到 3% 的範圍內。

So there are certainly opportunities to improve on home health and certainly optimistic that once we get through these operational changes there as far as this kind of around centralization of admissions and intake and scheduling, I think there's going to be some real opportunities to improve the numbers on the home health side.

因此，當然有改善家庭健康的機會，而且肯定樂觀的是，一旦我們完成了這些操作上的變化，就招生、招生和日程安排的集中化而言，我認為將會有一些真正的機會來改善數字在家庭健康方面。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dirk Allison for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回德克·艾利森發表閉幕詞。

Thank you very much, operator. I want to thank everyone for their interest in Addus today and for being part of our call. We hope everyone has a good day and a good week. Thank you.

非常感謝您，接線生。我要感謝大家今天對 Addus 的興趣並參與我們的電話會議。我們希望每個人都有美好的一天和美好的一周。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。