Addus Homecare Corp (ADUS) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Addus Homecare's fourth quarter and year-end 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions). Please note this event is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Addus Homecare 2025 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。（操作說明）請注意，本次活動正在錄影。

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

現在我將把會議交給德魯安德森主持。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Addus Homecare Corporation fourth quarter and 2025 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. To the extent of 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 第四季及 2025 年財報電話會議。今天的通話將會被錄音。如果在今天的電話會議中討論了任何非GAAP財務指標，您也可以訪問公司網站並查看昨天的新聞稿，找到該指標與根據GAAP計算的最直接可比較財務指標的調節表。

This conference call may also contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and including statements, among others, regarding Addus' expected quarterly and annual financial performance for 2026 or beyond.

本次電話會議可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所指的前瞻性陳述，其中包括有關 Addus 公司 2026 年及以後季度和年度財務業績的預期陳述。

For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing discussions of forecasts, estimates, targets, plans, beliefs, expectations and the like are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

為此，本次電話會議中任何非歷史事實的陳述均可被視為前瞻性陳述。在不限制前述討論的前提下，預測、估計、目標、計劃、信念、期望等旨在識別前瞻性陳述。

You are hereby cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors, among others -- the fourth in Addus filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in its fourth quarter 2025 news release. 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.

特此提醒您，這些聲明可能會受到重要因素的影響，其中包括 Addus 向美國證券交易委員會提交的第四份文件以及其 2025 年第四季新聞稿。因此，實際營運和結果可能與前瞻性聲明中討論的結果有重大差異。無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，本公司均不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

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

現在，我想把電話交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 2025 fourth quarter earnings call. With me today are Brian Poff, our Chief Financial Officer; and Heather Dixon, our President and Chief Operating Officer. As we do on each of our quarterly earnings call, I'll begin with a few overall comments, and then Brian will discuss the fourth quarter results in more detail. Following our comments, the three of us would be happy to respond them to any questions.

謝謝你，德魯。早安，歡迎參加我們2025年第四季財報電話會議。今天陪同我的是我們的財務長布萊恩·波夫，以及我們的總裁兼營運長希瑟·迪克森。就像我們以往的季度財報電話會議一樣，我將先做一些整體評論，然後布萊恩將更詳細地討論第四季的業績。在我們發言之後，我們三人很樂意回答大家提出的任何問題。

As we announced yesterday afternoon, our total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $373.1 million an increase of 25.6% as compared to $297.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. This revenue growth resulted in adjusted earnings per share of $1.77 as compared to adjusted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2024 of $1.38 and an increase of 28.3%. Our adjusted EBITDA was $60.3 million compared to $37.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 33.3%.

正如我們昨天下午宣布的那樣，我們 2025 年第四季的總收入為 3.731 億美元，比 2024 年第四季的 2.971 億美元增長了 25.6%。營收成長使得調整後每股收益為 1.77 美元，而 2024 年第四季調整後每股收益為 1.38 美元，成長了 28.3%。我們調整後的 EBITDA 為 6,030 萬美元，而 2024 年第四季為 3,780 萬美元，成長了 33.3%。

For 2025, our total revenue was approximately $1.4 billion, which is an increase of 23.2% as compared to approximately $1.1 billion for 2024. This revenue growth resulted in adjusted earnings per share of $6.23 as compared to adjusted earnings per share for 2024 of $5.26, an increase of 18.4%. Our adjusted EBITDA for 2025 was $180 million as compared to $140.3 million for 2024 in an increase of 28.3%.

2025 年，我們的總營收約為 14 億美元，比 2024 年的約 11 億美元成長了 23.2%。營收成長使得調整後每股收益為 6.23 美元，而 2024 年調整後每股收益為 5.26 美元，成長了 18.4%。我們 2025 年的調整後 EBITDA 為 1.8 億美元，而 2024 年為 1.403 億美元，成長了 28.3%。

For the fourth quarter of 2025, cash flow from operations was $18.8 million as of December 31, 2025, and we had cash on hand of approximately $81.6 million. We ended the fourth quarter with bank debt of $124.3 million, leaving us with a net leverage of under 1 times adjusted EBITDA, allowing us flexibility, we continue to evaluate and pursue acquisition opportunities that meet our ongoing strategy of creating geographic density and scale while focusing on the full continuum of Homecare.

截至 2025 年 12 月 31 日，2025 年第四季經營活動產生的現金流量為 1,880 萬美元，我們手邊現金約為 8,160 萬美元。在第四季末，我們的銀行債務為 1.243 億美元，淨槓桿率低於調整後 EBITDA 的 1 倍，這使我們擁有了靈活性。我們將繼續評估和尋求符合我們持續策略的收購機會，即在專注於家庭護理全流程的同時，創造地理密度和規模。

As we mentioned on our last earnings call, both the states of Texas and Illinois have recently increased our rates in personal care services. The Texas rate increase was effective on September 1, 2025. The Illinois rate increase went into effect on January 1, 2026, and will be reflected and our 2026 first quarter results.

正如我們在上次財報電話會議上提到的，德州和伊利諾州最近都提高了個人護理服務的收費標準。德州的利率上漲於 2025 年 9 月 1 日生效。伊利諾伊州的利率上漲於 2026 年 1 月 1 日生效，並將反映在我們 2026 年第一季的業績中。

While there are potential future changes to Medicaid due to OB3, we believe that our value proposition for personal care services is recognized by the states where we operate. We believe that we can be a cost-effective partner to both our states and managed Medicaid payers as they look for potential savings as home-based care is substantially less costly and facility-based care.

儘管由於 OB3 法案，醫療補助計劃未來可能會發生變化，但我們相信，我們所提供的個人護理服務的價值主張已得到我們運營所在州的認可。我們相信，對於尋求節省開支的各州和醫療補助計劃管理機構而言，我們可以成為具有成本效益的合作夥伴，因為居家護理的成本遠低於機構護理。

We will continue our legislative efforts in states where we operate to emphasize the benefits generated by their continuing support of these services. As we've stated before, we continue to believe that the 80-20 provision of the Medicaid access rule will be eliminated in the near future.

我們將繼續在我們開展業務的各州進行立法努力，以強調他們持續支持這些服務所帶來的好處。正如我們之前所說，我們仍然相信，醫療補助准入規則中的 80/20 條款將在不久的將來被取消。

While implementation is still several years away and has no current impact on our business or financial performance, we believe this outcome would be a significant and encouraging development for the industry and our company.

雖然距離實施還有幾年時間，目前對我們的業務或財務業績沒有影響，但我們相信，這一結果對於行業和我們公司來說將是一個意義重大且令人鼓舞的發展。

During the fourth quarter of 2025, we continue to experience positive powering trends in our personal care segment. While the holiday cyclically slow our hiring, we are still able to achieve 101 hires per business day during the fourth quarter. As we began 2026, our hiring numbers for the first two weeks of January increased to 107 hires per business day.

2025年第四季度，我們的個人護理業務持續呈現正面的成長趨勢。雖然假日期間我們的招募速度會週期性地放緩，但我們在第四季仍然能夠實現每個工作日招募 101 人。2026 年開始，1 月前兩週的招募人數增加到每個工作日招募 107 人。

However, we saw a slight slowdown in hiring due to -- superior in certain of our markets over the last couple of weeks of January. We have seen hiring rebound in February as the winter storms have dissipated. As we have mentioned in the last few quarters, our clinical hiring remains consistent and has been mostly signal outside of a few more challenging urban markets.

然而，由於某些市場在 1 月最後幾週表現出色，我們看到招募速度略有放緩。隨著冬季風暴的消散，我們看到二月的招募情況有所反彈。正如我們在過去幾個季度中提到的那樣，我們的臨床招聘一直保持穩定，並且在少數更具挑戰性的城市市場之外的大部分地區都取得了成功。

Now let me discuss our same-store limited growth for the fourth quarter of 2025. As a reminder, these calculations exclude our Gentiva acquisition as they were not part of our business for the entire fourth quarter in 2024. For our personal care segment, our same-store revenue growth was 6.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

現在讓我來討論一下我們 2025 年第四季的同店銷售額成長情況。需要提醒的是，這些計算不包括我們對 Gentiva 的收購，因為在 2024 年第四季度，Gentiva 並不屬於我們的業務範圍。就個人護理業務而言，與 2024 年第四季相比，我們的同店收入成長了 6.3%。

During the fourth quarter of 2025, we saw personal care same-store hours increased by 2.4% compared to the same period in 2024 while our percentage of authorized hours served in the fourth quarter remained consistent with what we experienced in the third quarter of 2025.

2025 年第四季度，個人護理同店營業時間比 2024 年同期成長了 2.4%，而第四季的授權營業時間百分比與 2025 年第三季的情況保持一致。

On a sequential basis, personal care same-store billable census was down slightly although we continue to see census growth in the majority of our key dates. This should positively impact our billable census during 2026. During the fourth quarter, our personal care same-store growth was more evenly divided between volume and rate as we have been expecting.

從環比來看，個人護理同店可計費人口略有下降，但我們在大多數關鍵日期仍然看到人口增長。這應該會對我們 2026 年的計費人口普查產生正面影響。第四季度，我們的個人護理同店銷售成長在銷售量和價格之間更加均衡，正如我們一直預期的那樣。

Turning to our clinical operations. Our hospice same-store revenue increased 16% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. Our average daily census increased to 3,885 for the fourth quarter, up from 3,472 for the same period last year, an increase of 11.9%. For the fourth quarter of 2025, our hospice median length of stay inclusive of our Illinois Journey Care operation was 25 days as compared to 22 days for the third quarter, again, including Journey Care.

接下來談談我們的臨床操作。與 2024 年第四季相比，我們的臨終關懷同店營收成長了 16%。第四季度，我們的日均人口普查數增加至 3,885 人次，高於去年同期的 3,472 人次，增幅達 11.9%。2025 年第四季度，包括伊利諾伊州 Journey Care 營運在內，我們的臨終關懷中心平均住院時間為 25 天，而第三季度為 22 天（同樣包括 Journey Care）。

We are very pleased by the continued growth in our hospice segment over the past several quarters as a result of operational improvements. While our home health same-store revenue decreased 7.54% when compared to the same quarter of 2024, it is important to point out that over 25% of our hospice admissions in New Mexico and Tennessee are currently coming from our Addus Homecare operations, which overlap in these two markets.

由於營運方面的改進，我們非常高興地看到，在過去的幾個季度裡，我們的臨終關懷業務持續成長。雖然與 2024 年同期相比，我們的家庭健康同店收入下降了 7.54%，但值得指出的是，目前我們在新墨西哥州和田納西州的臨終關懷入院人數中，超過 25% 來自我們的 Addus Homecare 業務，這兩個市場存在重疊。

We are pleased to see more patients receiving the benefit of the full continuum of post-acute care and anticipate seeing similar clinical collaboration and support, develop in Illinois, where we also have both home health and hospice operations.

我們很高興看到越來越多的患者享受到完整的急性後期護理服務，並期待在伊利諾伊州看到類似的臨床合作和支持，我們在那裡也開展了家庭健康和臨終關懷業務。

Our development team continues to focus on both clinical and nonclinical acquisition opportunities, which would increase both density and geographic coverage. We will continue our disciplined approach to identify strategic personal care service transactions as well as to evaluate smaller clinical transactions.

我們的開發團隊將繼續專注於臨床和非臨床收購機會，這將提高收購密度和地理覆蓋範圍。我們將繼續採取嚴謹的方法，確定具有策略意義的個人護理服務交易，並評估較小的臨床交易。

That said, while there is more optimism around home health care due to the final health rule for 2026 being more favorable than was originally proposed. Questions remain about potential future rate increases and the uncertainty of the retrospective payment adjustments.

儘管如此，由於 2026 年的最終醫療規則比最初提出的方案更有利，人們對家庭醫療保健的前景更加樂觀。未來利率上漲的可能性以及追溯性付款調整的不確定性仍然存在疑問。

Before I turn the call over to Brian, I want to thank the Addus team for the care they are providing or elderly and disabled consumers and patients. We all have come to understand that the overwhelming majority of this population refers to receive care at home, which remains one of the safest and most cost-effective places to receive this care.

在將電話轉給布萊恩之前，我想感謝Addus團隊為老年人和殘疾消費者及患者提供的關懷。我們都逐漸意識到，絕大多數患者都希望在家接受護理，而家仍然是接受護理最安全、最具成本效益的場所之一。

We believe the heightened awareness of 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，人們對居家照護價值的認識不斷提高，這對我們產業來說是有利的，並將繼續為我們公司帶來成長機會。我們理解並感謝我們的營運和發展依賴我們敬業的護理人員和其他員工，他們辛勤工作，為我們的客戶、患者及其家人提供卓越的護理和支援。

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

那麼，我把電話交給布萊恩吧。

Thank you, Dirk, and good morning to everyone. The fourth quarter of 2025 marked a strong finish to another year of growth and progress for Addus. Our results for the year reflect the continuing execution of our strategy, which allows us to both deliver consistent organic growth and realize the benefit of our recent acquisitions. Our results were highlighted by 25.6% top line revenue growth and a 33.3% increase in adjusted EBITDA compared with the fourth quarter last year.

謝謝你，德克，大家早安。2025 年第四季標誌著 Addus 又一個成長和進步之年圓滿結束。今年的業績反映了我們策略的持續執行，這使我們能夠實現持續的內生成長，並實現近期收購帶來的收益。與去年第四季相比，我們的業績亮點包括營收成長 25.6%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 33.3%。

Our personal care Services segment was the primary driver of our business with a solid 6.3% organic revenue growth rate over the same period last year above our normal expected range of 3% to 5%. Our results were supported by stable hiring trends favorable rate support for personal care services in some of our larger markets, including a 9.9% rate increase in Texas that was effective September 1, 2025.

我們的個人護理服務部門是我們業務的主要驅動力，與去年同期相比，有機收入成長率穩健地達到了 6.3%，高於我們通常預期的 3% 到 5% 的範圍。我們的業績得到了穩定的招聘趨勢以及一些較大市場中個人護理服務有利的費率支持的支持，其中包括德克薩斯州 9.9% 的費率增長，該增長於 2025 年 9 月 1 日生效。

State of Illinois, which represents our largest personal care market had previously approved a 3.9% increase that became effective January 1, 2026, and is expected to add approximately $17.5 million and annualized revenue whereas margins consistent in the low 20% range. Our personal care results include the Gentiva personate operations, our largest acquisition to date, which we completed on December 2, 2024.

伊利諾伊州是我們最大的個人護理市場，此前已批准了 3.9% 的增長，將於 2026 年 1 月 1 日生效，預計將增加約 1750 萬美元的年化收入，而利潤率則保持在 20% 左右。我們的個人護理表現包括 Gentiva 個人護理業務，這是我們迄今為止最大的收購，我們於 2024 年 12 月 2 日完成了收購。

The results also include, Great Lakes Homecare acquired on March 1, 2025, Helping Hands Homecare services acquired on August 1, 2025, and the first care operations of Dell's Yellow Homecare acquired on October 1, 2025.

結果還包括：2025 年 3 月 1 日收購的 Great Lakes Homecare，2025 年 8 月 1 日收購的 Helping Hands Homecare 服務，以及 2025 年 10 月 1 日收購的 Dell's Yellow Homecare 的首個護理業務。

Additionally, during the fourth quarter, we had a benefit of approximately $1.9 million related to accounts relievable settlements from our previously divested New York operations. This was reflected as a positive revenue adjustment and has been excluded from our adjusted results and same-store metrics.

此外，在第四季度，我們因先前剝離的紐約業務的可豁免帳戶結算而獲得了約 190 萬美元的收益。這反映為一項積極的收入調整，並且已從我們調整後的績效和同店指標中剔除。

We continue to see solid performance in our hospice business, which accounted for 18.9% of our revenue for the fourth quarter. The operational improvements we have made over the past year resulted in solid 16% year-over-year organic revenue growth supported by increases in admissions, average daily census and revenue per patient day. We also benefited from an approximate 3.1% increase in the 2026 Medicare hospice reimbursement rate that became effective October 1, 2025.

我們的臨終關懷業務持續保持穩健成長，第四季占我們營收的 18.9%。過去一年，我們在營運方面進行了改進，在入院人數、平均每日床位佔用率和每位患者每日收入增加的支持下，實現了穩健的 16% 的同比增長。我們也受惠於 2026 年醫療保險臨終關懷報銷率約 3.1% 的成長，該成長於 2025 年 10 月 1 日生效。

Our home health services represent our smallest segment, accounting for 4.6% of fourth quarter revenue. We continue to look for ways to support and expand the service line, including the acquisitions, and we believe there are synergy opportunities associated with offering all three levels of home-based care in the markets we serve.

我們的家庭健康服務是我們最小的業務板塊，僅佔第四季度收入的 4.6%。我們將繼續尋找支持和擴展服務線的方法，包括收購，我們相信，在我們服務的市場中提供所有三個級別的居家護理服務，將帶來協同效應的機會。

In addition to the consistent organic growth achieved in 2025, we have also benefited from our recent acquisitions. Last year was the first full year to include acquired personal care operations of Gentiva which we completed in December 2024, adding approximately $280 million annualized revenues and significantly expanded our market coverage.

除了2025年實現的持續內生成長外，我們也受惠於近期的收購。去年是我們完成對 Gentiva 個人護理業務的收購後的第一個完整財年，該收購於 2024 年 12 月完成，每年增加約 2.8 億美元的收入，並顯著擴大了我們的市場覆蓋範圍。

In 2025, we completed three other acquisitions, the operations of Great Lakes Homecare in Michigan on March 1, Helping Hand Homecare Service in Pennsylvania on August 1 and the personal care operations of Dell's Yellow Homecare Services in Texas on October 1.

2025 年，我們完成了另外三項收購，分別是 3 月 1 日收購密西根州 Great Lakes Homecare 的業務，8 月 1 日收購賓州 Helping Hand Homecare Service 的業務，以及 10 月 1 日收購德州 Dell's Yellow Homecare Services 的個人護理業務。

We will continue to source and evaluate additional similar acquisitions that are strategic for Addus. Our primary focus will be on markets where we can leverage our strong personal care network as we believe having geographic coverage and density provides us with a competitive advantage.

我們將繼續尋找和評估其他對Addus具有策略意義的類似收購案。我們將主要關注那些我們可以利用我們強大的個人護理網絡的市場，因為我們相信，地理覆蓋範圍和密度能夠為我們提供競爭優勢。

We will also look for opportunities to add clinical services in pursuit of our goal of offering the full continuum of home-based care in the markets we serve. With our size and expanding scale and the support of a strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to execute our acquisition strategy.

我們也將尋找機會增加臨床服務，以實現我們在所服務市場提供全方位居家照護的目標。憑藉我們龐大的規模和不斷擴大的規模以及強勁的資產負債表的支持，我們完全有能力執行我們的收購策略。

As Dirk noted, total net service revenues for the fourth quarter were $373.1 million or $371.2 million, excluding the impact of the New York accounts receivable settlements. The revenue breakdown, excluding the New York impact is as follows personal care revenues were $284.1 million or 76.5% revenue. Hospice care revenues were $70 million or 18.9% of revenue and home health revenues were $17.1 million or 4.6% of revenue.

正如德克指出的那樣，第四季度的總淨服務收入為 3.731 億美元，如果不包括紐約應收帳款結算的影響，則為 3.712 億美元。不包括紐約的影響，收入組成如下：個人護理收入為 2.841 億美元，佔總收入的 76.5%。臨終關懷收入為 7,000 萬美元，佔總收入的 18.9%；家庭醫療保健收入為 1,710 萬美元，佔總收入的 4.6%。

Sequentially, from the fourth quarter of 2025 revenue of $371.2 million, excluding the New York impact, we expect the first quarter of 2026 to benefit from the Illinois rate increase offset by two fewer business days in personal care and some seasonal impact from the winter storms we experienced in certain markets.

從 2025 年第四季 3.712 億美元的收入（不包括紐約的影響）來看，我們預計 2026 年第一季將受益於伊利諾伊州的費率上漲，但個人護理業務營業日減少兩天以及某些市場遭遇冬季風暴帶來的季節性影響將被抵消。

Other financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025 include the following excluding the impact of the New York accounts receivable settlements, our gross margin percentage was 32.8% compared with 33.4% for the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily driven by a higher mix of personal care services from the Gentiva acquisition.

2025 年第四季的其他財務表現如下：不包括紐約應收帳款結算的影響，我們的毛利率為 32.8%，而 2024 年第四季為 33.4%，這主要是由於收購 Gentiva 後個人護理服務佔比增加所致。

As expected, we saw a positive impact sequentially from the third quarter of 2025 from the Medicare hospice rate increase and lower unemployment taxes. Looking ahead to the first quarter of we expect normal seasonality in our gross margin percentage with a negative impact from our annual merit increases and the normal annual reset of payroll taxes. Cumulatively, we expect these items to contribute a decline sequentially in gross margin percentage of approximately 120 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.

正如預期的那樣，從 2025 年第三季開始，醫療保險臨終關懷費率的提高和失業稅的降低帶來了積極的影響。展望第一季度，我們預計毛利率將受到正常的季節性影響，但年度績效加薪和工資稅的正常年度調整將產生負面影響。總體而言，我們預計這些項目將導致毛利率環比下降約 120 個基點，與 2025 年第四季相比。

G&A expense was 20.7% of revenue compared with 24% of revenue for the fourth quarter a year ago, primarily due to lower acquisition expenses as well as incremental leverage from our higher revenue base. Adjusted G&A expense for the fourth quarter was 19.1%, a decrease from 20.5% in the comparable prior year quarter and lower sequentially from 19.8% in the third quarter of 2025.

管理費用佔收入的 20.7%，而去年同期為 24%，這主要是由於收購費用降低以及收入基數提高帶來的額外槓桿效應。第四季調整後的一般及行政費用為 19.1%，低於去年同期的 20.5%，也低於 2025 年第三季的 19.8%。

The company's adjusted EBITDA increased 33.3% to $50.3 million compared with $37.8 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 13.6% compared with 12.9% for the fourth quarter of 2024 and higher sequentially from 12.5% in the third quarter of 2025.

該公司調整後的 EBITDA 成長 33.3%，達到 5,030 萬美元，而去年同期為 3,780 萬美元。經調整的 EBITDA 利潤率為 13.6%，而 2024 年第四季為 12.9%，較 2025 年第三季的 12.5% 有所成長。

Adjusted net income per diluted share was $1.77 compared with $1.38 for the fourth quarter of 2024. The adjusted per share results for the fourth quarter of 2025 exclude the following the impact of New York accounts receivable settlements of $0.07, acquisition expenses of $0.05 and non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $0.18.

經調整後每股攤薄淨收益為 1.77 美元，而 2024 年第四季為 1.38 美元。2025 年第四季的調整後每股盈餘不包括以下各項的影響：紐約應收帳款結算 0.07 美元、收購費用 0.05 美元以及非現金股票選擇權費用 0.18 美元。

The adjusted per share results for the fourth quarter of 2024 exclude the following gain on sale of assets related to the New York divestiture of $0.15, impact of lease impairment of $0.20 and impact of the retroactive New York rate increase of $0.14, acquisition expenses of $0.29 and non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $0.11. Our tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2025 was 25.8% within our expected range. For calendar 2026, we expect our tax rate to remain in the mid-20% range.

2024年第四季的調整後每股盈餘不包括以下項目：與紐約資產剝離相關的資產出售收益0.15美元、租賃減損影響0.20美元、紐約追溯性稅率上調影響0.14美元、收購費用0.29美元以及非現金股權激勵費用0.11美元。我們2025年第四季的稅率為25.8%，符合預期範圍。預計到 2026 年，我們的稅率將維持在 20% 左右。

DSO was 38.2 days at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with 35 days at the end of the third quarter of 2025. We have continued to experience consistent cash collections from the majority of our payers. Our DSO for the Illinois Department of Ag -- for the fourth quarter increased to 54.7 days compared with 32.5 days at the end of the third quarter of 2025 as we saw some expected timing differences in payment cycles.

2025 年第四季末的 DSO 為 38.2 天，而 2025 年第三季末的 DSO 為 35 天。我們持續收到大部分付款方的穩定現金付款。由於我們在付款週期中看到了一些預期的時間差異，伊利諾伊州農業部的 DSO 在 2025 年第四季增加到 54.7 天，而 2025 年第三季末為 32.5 天。

In the first quarter of 2026, we have seen our DSO in Illinois returned to a level more consistent with what we experienced for the majority of 2025. Our net cash flow from operations was $18.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025 and $111.5 million for 2025.

2026 年第一季度，我們在伊利諾州的 DSO 已恢復到與 2025 年大部分時間所經歷的水平更為一致的水平。2025 年第四季度，我們的營運活動淨現金流為 1,880 萬美元；2025 年全年淨現金流量為 1.115 億美元。

And with some negative working capital impact in the fourth quarter, primarily from the increase in Illinois DSO. During the fourth quarter of 2025, we did leave approximately $7.2 million in Phase 3, ARPA funding from New Mexico with an additional $5.8 million received from the state in the first quarter of 2026 for a total of $13 million. We anticipate these to be the last scheduled disbursements from New Mexico which will leave us with approximately $17.5 million in funds remaining to be utilized.

第四季營運資本受到一些負面影響，主要原因是伊利諾州應收帳款週轉天數 (DSO) 增加。2025 年第四季度，我們從新墨西哥州獲得了約 720 萬美元的 ARPA 第三階段資金，2026 年第一季又從該州獲得了 580 萬美元，總計 1,300 萬美元。我們預計這些將是新墨西哥州最後一批預定撥款，屆時我們將剩餘約 1,750 萬美元資金可供使用。

As of December 31, 2025, the company had cash of $81.6 million with capacity and availability under our revolving credit facility of $650 million and $517.7 million, respectively. Total bank debt was $124.3 million at the end of the quarter, a reduction of $30 million from the end of the third quarter.

截至 2025 年 12 月 31 日，本公司擁有現金 8,160 萬美元，循環信貸額度分別為 6.5 億美元及 5.177 億美元。截至本季末，銀行總債務為 1.243 億美元，比第三季末減少了 3,000 萬美元。

During 2025, we were able to reduce our revolver balance by $98.7 million as we continue to experience consistent cash flow. We have a capital structure that supports our ability to continue to invest in our business and pursue our strategic growth initiatives, including acquisitions.

2025年，由於我們持續獲得穩定的現金流，我們得以將循環信貸餘額減少9,870萬美元。我們的資本結構能夠支持我們繼續投資於我們的業務並推進我們的策略成長計劃，包括收購。

Looking ahead, we will selectively pursue acquisitions in 2026 and that complement our organic growth and align with our strategy. At the same time, we will maintain our disciplined capital allocation strategy and continue to diligently manage our net leverage ratio through ongoing debt reduction.

展望未來，我們將在 2026 年選擇性地進行收購，以補充我們的內生成長並符合我們的策略。同時，我們將繼續保持嚴謹的資本配置策略，並透過持續降低債務來持續有效地管理淨槓桿率。

This concludes our prepared comments this morning, and thank you for being with us. I'll now ask the operator to please open the line for your questions.

今天早上的演講到此結束，感謝各位的收看。現在我請接線生開通線路，以便您提問。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions).

謝謝。（操作說明）

Ben Hendrix, RBC Capital Markets.

Ben Hendrix，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

Great. Thank you very much and good morning. Just a quick question on the rate backdrop. I appreciate all your commentary about receptivity to the PC setting amid the OBBBA headwinds. But outside of Texas and Illinois, can you give a little bit of context to how your rate conversations are going I'm thinking particularly in states like New Mexico and Tennessee?

偉大的。非常感謝，早安。關於利率背景，我有個小問題。我非常感謝您對在 OBBBA 逆風中對 PC 設定的接受度發表的所有評論。但除了德克薩斯州和伊利諾伊州之外，您能否簡要介紹一下您在新墨西哥州和田納西州等州的費率談判進展？

Thanks.

謝謝。

This is Brian. Yeah. I think it's still a little early in the year, but some of the legislative sessions that have already started or states that have midyear fiscals. We've gotten some information. I think probably the key one there being New Mexico, our understanding is there is what we estimate to be probably between a 4% and 5% rate increase has been passed through the legislature, awaiting for the governor to signature we don't have any reason to believe that it won't be signed, but we would anticipate that to benefit us in the back half of this year.

這是布萊恩。是的。我認為現在距離年底還有一段時間，但有些州的立法會議已經開始，或者有些州正在進行年中財政評估。我們獲得了一些資訊。我認為最關鍵的可能是新墨西哥州，據我們了解，該州立法機構已經通過了一項預計漲幅在 4% 到 5% 之間的利率上漲法案，目前正等待州長簽署。我們沒有任何理由相信法案不會被簽署，但我們預計這將在今年下半年對我們有利。

So I think we -- I'd mentioned last year, New Mexico was a state that had considered one kind of held pat with OB3 and kind of some of the noise there, but we were hopeful that they would readdress that this year. So nice to see that it looks like that may actually come through.

所以我覺得我們——我去年提到過，新墨西哥州對OB3持保留態度，也對一些爭議置之不理，但我們希望他們今年能重新考慮這個問題。很高興看到這件事似乎真的有可能實現。

Outside of that, I think nothing else really to report on A lot of other states, I know in Illinois governor has kind of put out his initial view on budget currently does not have a rate increase in there for us for next year, but I would point out that's consistent with where he started last year, and we did get something toward the end, not to say that we will necessarily this year, but something that we'll continue to watch as the legislative session goes through their process. But that's probably the two that I would flag out for a moment.

除此之外，我想沒什麼其他要報告的了。我知道很多其他州的情況也是如此，例如伊利諾伊州州長已經公佈了他目前的預算初步方案，其中並沒有包含明年的加息計劃。但我要指出的是，這與他去年的計劃一致，而且我們在去年年底確實得到了一些進展，但這並不意味著我們今年一定會得到加息，我們會繼續關注立法會議的進展。但我想先特別指出這兩點。

Brian Tanquilut, Jefferies.

Brian Tanquilut，傑富瑞集團。

Hey, good morning guys, and congrats on the quarter and the year. Maybe, Brian, just a follow-up on those question on New Mexico. How do we think about the pass-through there in terms of margin flow through? I know New Mexico, I think, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't have a mandatory pass-through rule. So just curious how you're thinking about that.

嘿，各位早安，祝賀你們本季和本年度的業績。布萊恩，或許可以為新墨西哥州的那些問題做個後續說明。我們如何看待利潤傳遞過程中的這種傳遞效應？我知道新墨西哥州，如果沒記錯的話，沒有強制性的過境規定。我只是好奇你是怎麼看待這個問題的。

Yeah. There isn't a mandatory pass rule. It's not similar to like in Illinois, Texas where it's formulaic. So I think we're probably still in the early stages of making some decisions on what and where we'll pass through some of that to caregivers in the form of salaries and additional wages. So probably still early that our team is continuing to assess, but I'm fair to say there will be some portion of that definitely will be passed through to caregivers.

是的。沒有強制通過的規定。這和伊利諾州、德州那種千篇一律的模式不一樣。所以我覺得我們可能還處於早期階段，需要決定將其中一部分以工資和額外報酬的形式發給護理人員。所以現在可能還為時過早，我們的團隊仍在繼續評估，但我可以肯定地說，其中一部分訊息肯定會傳遞給護理人員。

Okay. That makes sense. And then maybe as we talk about caregivers, just curious what you're seeing now in the labor market, obviously, things are different today versus a year ago. So just curious what recruiting looks like and retention for your carryovers.

好的。這很有道理。然後，當我們談到護理人員時，我很好奇您現在在勞動市場上看到了什麼，顯然，今天的情況與一年前有所不同。所以我很好奇你們的招募狀況以及留住現有員工的策略。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Hi Brian, it's Heather. I'll take that question. Dirk mentioned that our hires per day for Q4 were right at 101, and that's typically what we would expect to see from Q3 to Q4 as we move and see the effects of seasonality because November, December, the holidays impact some of our hiring activities.

嗨，布萊恩，我是希瑟。我來回答這個問題。Dirk提到，我們第四季的日均招募人數正好是101人，這通常是我們預期從第三季到第四季會看到的，因為隨著11月、12月和假日的到來，季節性因素會影響我們的一些招募活動。

Dirk mentioned also that in January, we had a strong start to the month as we would expect after we come back from the holiday period. but then some slower volumes for hiring towards the back half of the month when we saw some geographies that were impacted by the weather that passed through the country.

德克也提到，一月份開局強勁，正如我們預期的那樣，假期過後招聘業務會比較活躍。但到了下半月，由於部分地區受到天氣影響，招聘業務放緩。

But then so far in February, we are seeing strong hiring trends, and we would expect to finish the month in a really good position for hiring overall. We're not -- to your question about are we seeing any impacts or difficulties hiring, we're not seeing anything to point out. We continue to see stability. The numbers point to that, but also just in our hiring efforts in the market. We always have small pockets here and there, usually in more densely populated urban areas, not all of them, but a couple of them.

但就目前二月的情況來看，我們看到了強勁的招募趨勢，預計本月整體招募狀況將非常樂觀。關於您提出的招募是否受到任何影響或遇到任何困難的問題，我們目前沒有發現任何需要指出的情況。我們持續看到穩定局面。數據顯示了這一點，我們在市場上的招募工作也印證了這一點。我們總會在各處發現一些小的聚集區，通常是在人口較密集的城市地區，不是所有地方都有，但確實有幾個地方有。

And those are usually related to specific jobs on the clinical side. but nothing really to call out. We're seeing consistency. We're seeing good progress on the hiring front there.

這些通常與臨床方面的特定工作有關，但沒什麼特別值得一提的。我們看到的是一致性。我們看到那裡的招募工作進展順利。

Thanks. AJ Rice, UBS.

謝謝。AJ Rice，瑞銀集團。

Hi, everybody. Just first of all, part of the long-term growth algorithm for Addus has been tuck-in deals. And we had a little bit of a slowdown in the back half of last year. I wonder if you could comment a little further on what you're seeing in the pipeline prospects for transactions, tuck-ins or even bigger transactions where you're seeing opportunities?

大家好。首先，Addus 長期成長演算法的一部分就是透過收購其他公司來實現成長。去年下半年我們的業務成長略有放緩。我想請您進一步談談您在交易、收購或更大規模交易方面看到的潛在機會？

Yeah, I think where we sit today kind of early this year, we've heard from a lot of folks that I think are optimistic there's going to be more opportunities this year. I think we've said before, we've heard that before as well. But I think where we sit today is probably looking at more things in our pipeline that are comparable to the deals that we closed last year, so probably more mostly in markets that we're in today, maybe some adjacencies to create density.

是的，我認為就目前今年的情況來看，我們聽到很多人都樂觀地認為今年會有更多機會。我想我們之前說過，我們也聽過類似的說法。但我認為，我們目前的情況可能是在關注更多與我們去年完成的交易類似的項目，所以可能主要集中在我們目前所在的市場，也許還會關註一些鄰近市場以增加密度。

I think our understanding is, and we alluded to this, I think, on some prior calls. There are some potential larger personal care assets that we think will be coming to market and would be available right now, I think our estimate is those are probably midyear toward the back half of the year based on the timing that we're hearing.

我認為我們的理解是，而且我們在之前的幾次通話中也提到過這一點。我們認為有一些潛在的大型個人護理資產即將上市，現在就可以購買。根據我們目前所了解的情況，我們估計這些資產可能會在年中或下半年上市。

So obviously, we'll be looking at those. But I think in the interim, we'll continue to focused on the type of deals that we did in 2025. We'd love to have a little more of a cadence on those. Our guys are out working really hard to try to find deals that make sense for us and the right spaces, but hopefully, we're able to be successful in that.

所以很顯然，我們會關注這些方面。但我認為在此期間，我們將繼續專注於我們在 2025 年完成的那一類交易。我們希望這些事情能更規律。我們的員工正在努力尋找對我們有利的交易和合適的場地，希望我們能成功。

Okay. And then I just wanted to ask you about the adult Homecare business. Obviously, the industry was geared up that it might have to absorb a 6.5% hit at end getting phase rolled back significantly to 1.5%. I wonder that may be immaterial to you guys, but I wondered if that was a little bit of a tailwind you can look forward to in '26 that you're geared up for a much more significant cut that didn't materialize.

好的。然後，我還想問問您關於成人居家照護業務的問題。顯然，該行業已經做好準備，可能會在後期階段承受 6.5% 的衝擊，而後期階段的衝擊則大幅回落至 1.5%。我不知道這對你們來說是否無關緊要，但我想知道這對你們來說是否是一個小小的順風，因為你們原本準備迎接一次更大的裁員，但這次裁員並沒有發生。

And then the other thing I wanted to ask you about with that was, it does seem like some of the players in the space are seeing whatever CMS is trying to say in the final rule as incremental clarity that allows them to go out and start to look at acquisitions in that area. Obviously, we saw the inhabit the private transaction announced yesterday. I just wanted to put a finer point on it.

另外，我還想問你一件事，那就是，該領域的一些參與者似乎認為 CMS 在最終規則中試圖表達的任何內容都是逐步明確的，這使他們能夠開始考慮在該領域進行收購。顯然，我們已經看到了昨天宣布的私人交易。我只是想更詳細地說明一下。

Are you guys now open to being a little more actively there? It sounds like in your prepared remarks, you're still somewhat cautious.

你們現在是否願意更積極地參與其中？聽起來，在你準備好的發言稿中，你仍然有些謹慎。

Hey AJ, I appreciate the question, AJ listen, we've always been a little bit cautious as we look at acquisitions out there, we want to make sure that they meet our strategy and we do so thoughtfully as far as the valuation, what we're able to pay.

嘿 AJ，感謝你的提問。 AJ，聽著，我們在考慮收購目標時一直比較謹慎，我們希望確保它們符合我們的策略，我們會認真考慮估值以及我們能夠支付的價格。

That being said, look, we're encouraged by the final rule that came out. It's kind of interesting to say when it was still a rate reduction, but it was positive movement, and I think it was due to a lot of very strong work by companies in the industry as they worked with the federal government to try to prove that there is real value to home health care services.

也就是說，我們對最終出台的規則感到鼓舞。雖然當時只是降價，但這確實是一個積極的進展，我認為這要歸功於業內多家公司與聯邦政府合作，努力證明家庭醫療保健服務的真正價值，並為此付出了巨大的努力。

And so we agree with that. We support that theory. We will continue to look at opportunities in home health. And if a larger transaction comes up that we think can make sense for us as far as valuation strategy fits geographically, we will certainly look at that. But again, there's still a couple of things out there.

所以，我們同意這一點。我們支持這種理論。我們將繼續關注居家醫療保健領域的機會。如果出現我們認為在估值策略和地理上都符合我們需求的較大交易，我們一定會考慮。但話說回來，還有一些事情需要解決。

We would like to see them finalized. And hopefully, maybe they'll give them a little more clarity this coming year on some potential clawback.

我們希望看到它們最終定稿。希望明年他們能就一些潛在的追回款項給出更明確的答案。

Andrew Mok, Barclays.

Andrew Mok，巴克萊銀行。

Hi, good morning. Same-store billable census was down 1.1% year-over-year, and you mentioned that it was down slightly sequentially. But I think you also said that you're seeing growth in a majority of your key states. So can you help us understand that dynamic and provide more detail on the geographies and items that are weighing on the portfolio?

您好，早安。同店可計費人口年減 1.1%，您提到環比也略有下降。但我認為你也說過，在你們大多數的主要州，你們都看到了成長。那麼，您能否幫助我們理解這種動態，並詳細說明哪些地區和專案對投資組合構成壓力？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Hi Andrew, I'll take that question. Yeah, I'll give some color on what we're seeing in terms of volume and census. We've mentioned that same-store hours increased 2.4% and we're roughly in line with Q3 as well. And during 2025, we've mentioned before that we had a focus on serving to authorized hours as well as census. And we've seen some positive movement in terms of the service percentage year-over-year.

嗨，安德魯，我來回答這個問題。是的，我會詳細介紹我們在銷售和人口普查方面看到的情況。我們之前提到過，同店營業時間成長了 2.4%，這與第三季的情況大致相同。我們之前提到過，在 2025 年，我們的重點是遵守規定的服務時間和人口普查。我們看到服務百分比比去年同期出現了一些正面的成長。

Again, it was essentially flat on a sequential basis just as a result of normal seasonality that we would expect. And then as we think about census growth, we have seen some trajectory that we like that we're seeing. We've seen sequential census growth. We've been focused on that for 2025, and we have seen that each quarter during 2025.

同樣，由於正常的季節性因素，其環比基本持平。然後，當我們考慮人口普查成長時，我們看到了一些我們樂見的成長軌跡。我們已經看到人口普查數據逐年增加。我們一直專注於2025年的目標，並且在2025年的每個季度都看到了這一點。

And until the slight tick down in Q4, again from the holidays as we would have expected. We're closing that census gap on a same-store basis. And as we move into the second half of 2026, I would expect that we would start to see positive year-over-year growth, particularly as we continue to consistently see admissions and starts to care outpacing discharges.

正如我們預期的那樣，第四季度由於假期影響，股價略有下降。我們正在以同店為基礎縮小人口普查差距。隨著我們進入 2026 年下半年，我預計我們將開始看到同比正增長，特別是隨著入院人數和開始護理人數持續超過出院人數。

Great. And just as a follow-up. There's been heightened attention recently on fraud waste and abuse in the personal care space. Can you talk about how states are approaching this issue and what steps you're taking to ensure that you're aligned with the evolving policy and guidelines?

偉大的。作為後續補充。最近，個人護理領域的詐欺、浪費和濫用行為受到了越來越多的關注。您能否談談各州是如何處理這個問題的，以及您正在採取哪些措施來確保您與不斷變化的政策和指導方針保持一致？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yeah, Andrew, one of the things that we, as a management team, tried to do 10 years ago now, almost 11 years ago, when we came into Addus at that time, we wanted to really have a very strong compliance program. And so we spend a lot of dollars building this stroke up. We have a leader there. who's very familiar with the various aspects that goes on in both the clinical side and the nonclinical side as it relates to various audits by the state and the federal government.

是的，安德魯，我們管理團隊在大約 10 年前，或者說 11 年前，當我們剛加入 Addus 時，就嘗試過建立一套非常強大的合規體系。因此，我們花費了大量資金來建立這一筆。我們那裡有一位領導，他對州政府和聯邦政府的各種審計相關的臨床和非臨床方面的各個方面都非常熟悉。

So for us, when people talk about fraud and abuse, we understand that, that does occur in all levels of care in which we operate. I think the important thing for you to understand is we are -- we like the fact that there is a focus on fraud abuse because we believe we spend extra dollars and extra time and make sure we're trying to comply with what is out there and not -- some of the smaller players may not have that ability to make those investments.

所以對我們來說，當人們談論欺詐和濫用時，我們明白，這種情況確實發生在我們運營的各個層面的護理中。我認為你需要明白的重要一點是，我們——我們很高興地關注欺詐濫用行為，因為我們相信，投入額外的資金和時間，確保我們努力遵守現有的規定，而不是——一些規模較小的公司可能沒有能力進行這些投資。

So for us, as people look at states look at -- abuse. It may give us the opportunity for our business as maybe some of the smaller mom-and-pops realize that there are things they need to do that maybe they can't afford to do and they look and go out of the business. So for us, we're -- we're pleased with the focus on prod and use and will continue internally to always focus on making sure that we're as compliant as we can be.

所以對我們來說，當人們檢視國家時，就會看到──濫用權力。這或許會為我們帶來商機，因為一些規模較小的夫妻店可能會意識到，有些事情他們需要做，但可能負擔不起，於是他們開始反思，最終倒閉。所以對我們來說，我們很高興看到生產和使用方面的重點，並將繼續在內部始終專注於確保我們盡可能地合規。

Matthew Gillmor, KeyBanc.

Matthew Gillmor，KeyBanc。

Thanks for the question. You all have done a good job driving penetration of authorized hours, particularly in Illinois as you've rolled out the caregiver app. I was curious how the rollout has gone in New Mexico, just where that stands. And can you help us think through the sort of future opportunity in terms of driving greater penetration of authorized hours as you roll out to New Mexico and other states?

謝謝你的提問。你們在提高授權工時的普及率方面做得很好，尤其是在伊利諾伊州，你們推廣了護理員應用程式。我很好奇這項服務在新墨西哥州的推廣情況如何，目前進展如何。您能否幫助我們思考一下，隨著您將服務推廣到新墨西哥州和其他州，未來在推動授權工時普及方面有哪些機會？

Sure. Matthew, it's nice to hear from you. I'll address that. So you are correct that we are seeing some very nice momentum in terms of service percentage that I just talked about. We are seeing that momentum in Illinois specifically, where we've had the caregiver app rolled out for the entire year of 2025.

當然。馬修，很高興收到你的來信。我會處理這個問題。所以你說得對，正如我剛才提到的，我們在服務率方面確實看到了非常好的發展勢頭。我們在伊利諾伊州尤其看到了這種勢頭，我們已經在伊利諾伊州推出了護理人員應用程序，有效期至 2025 年全年。

We have seen that service percentage rate up in the upper 80th percentile consistently. And we believe that is a large amount due to the asset we rolled out. We've also seen utilization by the caregivers in that market of flex hours on a pretty steady basis, which is also very encouraging.

我們看到服務百分比一直保持在前 80% 的水平。我們認為，由於我們推出的資產，這筆金額相當可觀。我們也看到，該市場的護理人員對彈性工時的使用情況相當穩定，這也非常令人鼓舞。

You -- as you mentioned, we did begin to roll that out in 2025 to New Mexico, and we're making steady progress there. We are also beginning to deploy in Texas here imminently in and we are aiming to have that complete in Texas by the end of Q2 or early into Q3.

正如您所提到的，我們確實從 2025 年開始在新墨西哥州推廣這項計劃，並且我們在那裡取得了穩步進展。我們即將開始在德克薩斯州進行部署，目標是在第二季末或第三季初完成在德克薩斯州的部署。

And we believe that our greater opportunity to capture momentum will be in that Texas market. just due to some of the market dynamics and how some of the EBV is submitted in Texas versus others in New Mexico or in Illinois. So we are pleased with what we're seeing, and we are still carrying that momentum forward to continue to roll it out.

我們相信，我們在德州市場將擁有更大的發展機遇，這主要是因為該州的市場動態以及一些EBV（疫苗接種證明）在德州的提交方式與新墨西哥州或伊利諾州的其他申請方式有所不同。所以我們對目前的情況感到滿意，並將繼續保持這種勢頭，繼續推廣這項服務。

That's great, thank you. And then as a follow-up, I was curious, this may be a Brian question. But as we think about Gentiva rolling into the same-store base, will that be sort of additive to the same-store growth that you report as Gentiva growing sort of in line to below sort of the corporate average? I just want to a sense for how Gentiva in the same store base that influence your same-store growth metric?

太好了，謝謝。然後，作為後續問題，我很好奇，這可能是布萊恩的問題。但當我們考慮 Gentiva 併入同店銷售基礎時，這是否會對您報告的 Gentiva 同店增長起到一定的促進作用，因為 Gentiva 的增長與公司平均水平基本持平或低於平均水平？我只是想了解 Gentiva 在同一家門市的銷售情況如何影響你們的同店成長指標？

Yeah, Matt, I think it's fair to say, Gentiva, probably is probably in a fairly similar path to the remainder of our business. So not probably expecting material uptick or downtick from putting Gentiva in that number should be fairly consistent in our view.

是的，馬特，我認為可以公平地說，Gentiva 的發展道路可能與我們公司的其他業務發展道路相當相似。因此，我們認為，將 Gentiva 納入該數字後，不應期望出現實質的增長或下降，這應該是相當合理的。

Jared Haase, William Blair.

賈里德·哈斯，威廉·布萊爾。

Yeah, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Yeah. Maybe just to unpack the comments on the personal care and labor side a little bit more. I'm curious how much of the strong hiring trends that you've experienced over the last couple of months, would you attribute to I guess things Addus can control.

早上好，各位。謝謝您回答問題。是的。或許可以再詳細解讀一下關於個人照護和勞動的評論。我很好奇，在過去幾個月裡，你們所經歷的強勁招募趨勢中，有多少是Addus可以控制的因素造成的。

So thinking obviously just having a good caregiver experience, maybe some improvement around the onboarding process to get caregivers matched up with patients sufficiently as opposed to maybe just broader macro trends that might be bringing incremental caregivers into the market.

所以，顯然，我們應該關注如何讓護理人員擁有良好的體驗，或許可以改進入職流程，使護理人員與患者充分匹配，而不是僅僅關注可能將更多護理人員引入市場的宏觀趨勢。

Sure, I'll take that. It's definitely a mix of both. I think maybe starting in reverse order from a macro perspective. we're certainly seeing some trends that are working in our favor that are helping with our results from a hiring perspective.

好的，我接受。這絕對是兩者的混合體。我認為或許應該從宏觀角度反向分析。我們確實看到一些對我們有利的趨勢，這些趨勢正在幫助我們提升招募績效。

But from our perspective, we are absolutely focused on what we can control, and that includes from beginning to end of the process with how we source and recruit caregivers all the way through to how we can ensure that they are getting a schedule and are ready to go very quickly after they have been through the hiring and training process to make sure that we capture that momentum.

但從我們的角度來看，我們絕對專注於我們能夠控制的事情，這包括從頭到尾的整個流程，包括我們如何尋找和招聘護理人員，以及我們如何確保他們在完成招聘和培訓流程後能夠盡快獲得工作安排並做好準備，以確保我們能夠抓住這一勢頭。

So all of the things in between as well. But I would say it's a mix of both of those things.

所以，介於兩者之間的所有事情也都包括在內。但我認為它是這兩者的混合。

Okay. Great. That's really helpful. And then this is maybe for Brian, but I'm just curious, are there any guardrails or sort of puts and takes we should be thinking about relative to your opportunity to expand margins year-over-year in 2026 EBITDA margins, I'm thinking?

好的。偉大的。這真的很有幫助。那麼，這個問題或許是問布萊恩的，但我只是好奇，關於您在 2026 年 EBITDA 利潤率方面逐年擴大利潤率的機會，我們是否應該考慮任何限製或風險因素？

Yeah. I mean, I think our thesis has always been, as we continue to see consistent top line growth, we should get leverage particularly on G&A. So with everything being said, looking at the landscape right now in '26 would expect to see something similar to occur this year.

是的。我的意思是，我認為我們的論點一直是，隨著營收持續成長，我們應該能夠更好地控制一般及行政費用。綜上所述，從 2026 年目前的情況來看，預計今年也會出現類似的情況。

So we finished last year in a pretty good spot. I think a couple of years ago, we had maybe some higher wage pressures coming out of COVID with some of the -- ration shortages and the like. We haven't seen that in the last couple of years. Don't expect to see that this year. So I think that's reasonable to think, just from an EBITDA perspective, top line growth should continue to drive some bottom line additional leverage, for sure.

所以我們去年的成績相當不錯。我認為幾年前，由於新冠疫情導致的物資短缺等問題，我們可能面臨更高的薪資壓力。近幾年我們都沒看到這種情況。今年別指望能看到這種情況。所以我認為，僅從 EBITDA 的角度來看，營收成長肯定會繼續推動利潤成長，這是合理的。

Sean Dodge, BMO Capital Markets.

Sean Dodge，BMO資本市場。

Hey, good morning. This is Thomas Keller on for Sean. Thanks for taking our questions. I wanted to follow up on the caregiver app, and I might have just missed it. But -- are you all able to specifically quantify the volume lift that you've seen that you think is directly attributable to the app?

嘿，早安。這裡是托馬斯凱勒替肖恩發言。謝謝您回答我們的問題。我想跟進一下照顧者應用程式的情況，但我可能錯過了。但是——你們能否具體量化一下你們所看到的、認為直接歸功於該應用程式的流量成長幅度？

Thanks.

謝謝。

So I'll point to sort of how we measure it internally. And it's -- I'll start by saying we can't directly attribute specific pieces of growth to the app that's not something a bit possible to track. But what we can see are a couple of different metrics, which are encouraging. The first is the number of caregivers that are utilizing the app. We see that has grown throughout the year in Illinois, and it has stabilized at a rate that, frankly, I think, means most caregivers we've captured, and they are using the app.

所以我將指出我們內部是如何衡量它的。首先我要說的是，我們無法將具體的成長部分直接歸功於該應用程序，因為這根本無法追蹤。但我們可以看到一些令人鼓舞的不同指標。第一個指標是使用該應用程式的護理人員數量。我們看到，伊利諾伊州的這一數字在過去一年中一直在增長，並且已經穩定在一個速度，坦白說，我認為這意味著我們已經接觸到的大多數護理人員都在使用該應用程式。

The second metric would be the frequency of utilization of the app. So we can see if someone is using the app regularly versus if they just downloaded at once and haven't really been interacting with it. We're actually seeing increasing utilization as well.

第二個指標是應用程式的使用頻率。這樣我們就可以看出某人是否經常使用該應用程序，還是只是下載了一次但並沒有真正使用它。實際上，我們也看到利用率不斷提高。

And then the final thing that I'll mention -- briefly before, is the utilization of flex hours and effectively, that is where a caregiver can go into the app, and they can see incremental hours that they can serve and capture those so that they can make sure they're serving their clients to the authorized level and also for them, it's an opportunity to earn some more hours for the period. So we're tracking that as well, and we're seeing some nice movement and continued utilization at pretty strong rates there.

最後，我要簡單提及的是彈性工時的利用。實際上，護理人員可以登入應用程序，查看他們可以服務的額外工時，並記錄下來，以確保他們為客戶提供的服務達到授權水準。同時，對他們來說，這也是賺取更多工時的機會。所以我們也在關注這方面的情況，我們看到了一些不錯的進展，並且利用率持續保持強勁成長。

And you see that coming through in the service percentage that we've been talking about. So hopefully, that helps you think or understand how we think about the benefits from that app. But again, it's not possible for us to give you a direct number because of the different moving pieces.

這一點從我們一直在討論的服務率中就能看出來。希望這能幫助你思考或理解我們是如何看待這款應用程式帶來的好處的。但是，由於涉及許多因素，我們無法直接給您一個確切的電話號碼。

Yeah. That's helpful. And then on the Homecare Homebase EMR transition in PCS, is there any update on the time line there? And how soon after the integration should that start to drive more clinical referrals and value-based opportunities?

是的。那很有幫助。另外，關於PCS中Homecare Homebase EMR的過渡，時間表方面有任何更新嗎？整合完成後多久才能開始推動更多臨床轉診和基於價值的機會？

Yeah. I think where we are with Homecare Homebase. We've been obviously working with them for quite some time. We've got probably 30 plus of our locations are on the system today over a few different states as we move through it is developing the software. I think we've got a schedule for a more enterprise-wide rollout.

是的。我認為我們與Homecare Homebase的合作現況。我們顯然已經和他們合作了相當長一段時間。目前，我們大約有 30 多個地點（分佈在幾個不同的州）已連接該系統，我們正在逐步開發該軟體。我認為我們已經制定了在企業範圍內更廣泛地推廣該計劃的時間表。

But as we've always talked in the past, we're going to take a very measured approach to that. So we'll be working on that over '26 and probably into the better part of '27 before we get all of our personal care business over onto that platform. So again, we'll be looking market to market one at a time to make sure that, that goes very smoothly. But that's kind of the existing expectation on timeline today.

但正如我們過去一直強調的那樣，我們將採取非常謹慎的態度來處理這個問題。因此，我們將在 2026 年以及可能到 2027 年的大部分時間裡致力於此，之後才能將我們所有的個人護理業務轉移到該平台上。所以，我們會逐一進行考察，以確保一切進展順利。但這就是目前人們對時間表的普遍預期。

Ryan Langston, TD Cowen.

Ryan Langston，TD Cowen。

Thank you. Dirk, you mentioned you believe the 80/20 will ultimately be repealed. And I think you actually said specifically in the near future. Are you hearing anything specific from CMS to your lobbyists that give you the confidence they're going to ultimately repeal that rule?

謝謝。德克，你曾說過你認為 80/20 法案最終會被廢除。而且我覺得你剛才特意提到了在不久的將來。CMS是否向你的遊說者透露了任何具體訊息，讓你相信他們最終會廢除該規定？

Well, Ryan, first, I understand that anything we hear is always subject to change, as you know. But yes, we've been hearing good things. Our team has been working with our lobbyists working with CMS, we believe that they're in the process of looking at these rules and making some changes. We've had some indication that the timing will be sooner rather than later.

瑞恩，首先，我知道我們聽到的任何事情都可能隨時改變，你也知道這一點。是的，我們確實聽到了一些好消息。我們的團隊一直在與遊說人員合作，與 CMS 合作，我們相信他們正在研究這些規則並做出一些改變。我們已經得到一些跡象表明，這件事發生的時間不會太晚。

But again, I want to caution, this is a rule that doesn't take effect for a number of years. So there's not that immediacy to it. However, from what we're hearing, it should be that rule should change, and we're hoping will change in the near future, which we believe will just send the signal to the industry into various additions in the industry that, that is not an issue anybody has to worry about anymore.

但我再次提醒大家，這條規定要過幾年才會生效。所以它沒有那種即時性。然而，據我們所知，這條規則應該改變，我們希望它能在不久的將來改變，我們相信這將向業內發出一個信號，即這不再是任何人需要擔心的問題。

Clarke Murphy, Truist.

克拉克墨菲，Truist。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for squeezing me in here. Just a question on your payer mix in the quarter, specifically in personal care. Shifting a little bit towards managed care. Just kind of wanted to get a sense for was that bad design? Or is that kind of just happenstance? And anything that we should be thinking about as it relates to personal care payer mix would be helpful.

嘿，大家早安。謝謝你擠出時間讓我過來。我有一個關於本季度付款方構成的問題，特別是個人護理方面的付款方構成。稍微轉向管理式醫療。我只是想知道這算不算糟糕的設計？還是這只是巧合？任何與個人護理支付方組合相關的建議都將對我們有所幫助。

Hey Clarke, that was just a direct result of the Del Cielo acquisition we did in Texas. Texas is a heavy managed Medicaid state. So that is what impacted the mix in the fourth quarter was that acquisition.

嘿，克拉克，那完全是我們收購德克薩斯州的 Del Cielo 公司的直接結果。德克薩斯州是一個高度管理醫療補助計劃的州。所以，影響第四季產品組合的因素就是那次收購。

Okay. Great. And then just as my follow-up, can you give us an update on the home health and hospice bridging program that you guys have in place? Kind of how much more wood there is to chop on that front and if we could start to see potential return to growth in 2026 on the research side.

好的。偉大的。最後，我想問一下，你們能否介紹一下你們目前實施的家庭健康和臨終關懷銜接計劃的最新進展？還有多少工作要做，以及我們能否在 2026 年看到研究方面成長的跡象。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Sure. Let me take those in a couple of pieces. So first, on the bridging program, we continue to have a heavy focus on that program because we do see the benefits First, it's providing the right levels of care to our clients and our patients in sort of the setting and the utilization that they need.

當然。讓我分成幾部分來處理。首先，關於銜接課程，我們繼續高度重視課程，因為我們確實看到了它的好處。首先，它為我們的客戶和患者提供所需的環境和利用方式，並提供適當的照護。

But also because it's a really good source for us to be able to serve patients when they are ready for hospice as opposed to home health. We have seen, as we've mentioned, some nice transitions and referrals coming from home health into hospice in the markets where we have density and where we have been really focused on this program for a bit of time.

但這也是因為我們能夠為那些準備接受臨終關懷而不是居家照護的病人提供非常好的服務來源。正如我們之前提到的，在我們人口密度較高且我們已經重點關注該項目一段時間的市場中，我們看到了一些來自家庭醫療保健到臨終關懷的良好過渡和轉診。

New Mexico specifically, we have density. We're co-located in most of our locations there between home health hospice and PCS. And so we have really good opportunities, and we are -- it's just part of the program. And so we continue to see nice results, and we would expect for that to continue as we focus on it with our operations team and sales teams.

具體來說，新墨西哥州人口密度很高。在大多數地方，我們的家庭健康臨終關懷和個人護理服務 (PCS) 部門是共享辦公室的。因此，我們有很多很好的機會，而這只是專案的一部分。因此，我們持續看到良好的成果，我們預計隨著營運團隊和銷售團隊的持續努力，這種成果將會繼續維持下去。

Tennessee, we rolled that out in 2025 and began to do the same work there from a bridging perspective. That is a little bit of a newer program, but we're seeing nice returns on what we have been focused on and what we're implementing with the Bridge program in Tennessee.

我們在田納西州於 2025 年推出了這項計劃，並開始從橋樑的角度在那裡進行同樣的工作。這是一個比較新的項目，但我們一直在關注並在田納西州實施的「橋樑計劃」取得了不錯的成效。

So in order for us to continue to see that program flourish we'll continue to drive it in the markets where we have density. And then as we have opportunities for growth in specific markets for home health and for hospice, I think that's going to become very useful for us to grow the program.

因此，為了讓該計劃繼續蓬勃發展，我們將繼續在人口密集的市場中推動該計劃。然後，隨著我們在家庭醫療保健和臨終關懷等特定市場獲得成長機會，我認為這將對我們發展該計畫非常有幫助。

And then secondly, if I turn to the second part of your question about home health and how we are thinking about that, we're driving home health, we're making some changes to really focus on some of the basics. And a couple of things I would point out. The first is admissions growth. We did see admissions growth during the fourth quarter.

其次，如果我轉向你問題的第二部分，關於家庭健康以及我們如何看待這個問題，我們正在推動家庭健康，我們正在做出一些改變，真正專注於一些基本面。還有幾點我想指出。首先是招生成長。我們在第四季度確實看到了入學人數的成長。

It picked up slightly from Q2 to Q3 to Q4 with a little bit of a higher tick up in Q4. So we are seeing admissions going in the right direction and we have seen some positive momentum in some of our key markets where we have confidence that we will return to growth.

從第二季到第三季再到第四季度，略有回升，第四季的增幅更大一些。因此，我們看到招生情況正朝著正確的方向發展，並且在一些主要市場看到了積極的勢頭，我們有信心在這些市場恢復成長。

And just maybe a couple of things to point out in terms of home health. We have -- just to show the focus that we have here. First, we've just hired a new market president to lead the home health business, which is something that we've not had before, but we're focused on the business, and we've hired someone with very specific industry experience to come in and really take the lead on that business so that we can focus on it.

關於居家照護方面，或許有幾點需要指出。我們這樣做只是為了表明我們在這裡所關注的重點。首先，我們剛剛聘請了一位新的市場總裁來領導家庭健康業務，這是我們以前從未有過的，但我們專注於這項業務，我們聘請了一位擁有非常具體的行業經驗的人來真正領導這項業務，以便我們能夠專注於它。

And then second, similarly, we are focused on bringing in the right sales leaders and sales team. there from a home health perspective, and that will work in tandem with this new market president to lead from an operation side. So those two changes are things that we are very intentionally doing to focus on the home health business and capture the growth opportunities there for 2026 and beyond. And our goal and what we would expect is that we'll start to see some growth there towards the second half of 2026.

其次，同樣地，我們也專注於引進合適的銷售領導者和銷售團隊，從家庭醫療保健的角度出發，與這位新任市場總裁協同合作，從營運方面進行領導。因此，我們有意做出這兩項改變，以專注於家庭醫療保健業務，並抓住 2026 年及以後在該領域的成長機會。我們的目標和期望是，到 2026 年下半年，我們將開始看到這方面的成長。

John Ransom, Raymond James.

約翰·蘭索姆，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Good morning. You know how hard just to come up with a clever question, 54 minutes into the call. I just want to explain that. So my question is, A lot of companies are getting asked about technology, AI, et cetera. It wouldn't appear from the outside that there's a ton of opportunity there. I know you rolled out the caregiver app, but I'm thinking in terms of back office automation and AI. Is there a technology lever longer term that we're not thinking about that the company is working on?

早安.你知道在通話進行到 54 分鐘的時候，想出一個巧妙的問題有多難嗎？我只是想解釋一下。所以我的問題是，很多公司都被問到科技、人工智慧等等方面的問題。從表面上看，那裡似乎沒有什麼機會。我知道你們推出了照護者應用程序，但我考慮的是後台自動化和人工智慧方面的問題。從長遠來看，是否存在我們尚未考慮到，但公司正在努力開發的某種技術槓桿？

Yeah, John. I think in a couple of places, we see there's some opportunity, and we're working with our vendors to see if there are ways to see some AI implementation. But I think, two, we would flag out. Obviously, you referenced uses back-office rev cycle. There should be some opportunities there that we're looking at.

是的，約翰。我認為在某些方面，我們看到了一些機會，我們正在與供應商合作，看看是否有辦法實現人工智慧的應用。但我認為，第二點，我們會脫穎而出。顯然，你提到的是後台收入周期。那裡應該有一些機會，我們正在關注。

I think the other large one for us is just we think about scheduling and the logistics of our personal care business. Can we use some AI there to help automate some of those processes on the front end rather than having to have as many manual interventions.

我認為對我們來說，另一個大問題是我們要考慮個人護理業務的日程安排和物流問題。我們能否利用人工智慧來幫助自動化前端的一些流程，進而減少人工幹預？

So I think those are probably the two big areas. But I would say we've got a AI committee internally across multiple of our disciplines led by our CIO that is looking at ways to implement AI in a way that would benefit and work well for the company, but all things that we're looking at.

所以我覺得這大概是兩個主要面向。但我想說的是，我們公司內部有一個由資訊長領導的跨多個學科的人工智慧委員會，正在研究如何以有利於公司發展和有效的方式實施人工智慧，這些都是我們正在考慮的事情。

Okay. And then just kind of speaking of your rate negotiations, is it different when you're talking to a Medicaid payer versus directly to state, do the payers seem more rational? Or is it kind of the same conversation regardless of where it comes from?

好的。再說說你們的費率談判，和醫療補助支付方談判與直接和州政府談判有什麼不同嗎？支付方似乎更理性一點嗎？或者說，無論對話來自哪裡，本質上都是一樣的？

It depends on the state. I think as you know, most states, even if they have managed Medicaid, the payers really have no voice in that because it's a rate set by the state. They're acting more as a TPA. So there's not really a lot of opportunity to talk rates with them. I think the one difference we have is in New Mexico.

這取決於所在州的情況。我想你也知道，大多數州，即使他們管理醫療補助計劃，付款方也真的沒有發言權，因為費率是由州政府設定的。他們更像是第三方管理機構（TPA）。所以其實沒有太多機會跟他們談價格。我認為我們之間唯一的不同之處在於新墨西哥州。

We actually have the ability there to negotiate directly with the three large MCOs. I referenced earlier the state -- be a comment across the board to the MCOs and then we have the ability to go have conversations with the MCOs and get some leverage. But I think we've been very successful in New Mexico. I think we've done well. We're obviously the largest in the state.

我們實際上有能力直接與這三家大型醫療機構進行談判。我之前提到過，要向所有管理式醫療機構 (MCO) 提出統一的意見，這樣我們才能與這些 MCO 進行對話，並獲得一些談判籌碼。但我認為我們在新墨西哥州取得了巨大的成功。我認為我們做得很好。我們顯然是州內規模最大的。

So have a have pretty good leverage. And I think with all three lines of care, I think that's also a benefit for us, but really kind of isolated to that state in those conversations with payers on the personal care side today.

所以你擁有相當大的談判籌碼。我認為對於所有三條護理線來說，這對我們來說也是一個優勢，但實際上，在今天與支付方就個人護理方面進行的對話中，這種情況僅限於該州。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Joanna Gajuk, Bank of America.

Joanna Gajuk，美國銀行。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for squeezing me and yeah, actually, I want to follow up on this last commentary around payers because we actually do here still managed Medicaid plans calling out higher LTSS and that includes Homecare spending.

嘿，早安。謝謝你抽出時間陪我，是的，實際上，我想就上次關於支付方的評論做個後續說明，因為我們這裡確實還有一些管理型醫療補助計劃，這些計劃要求提高長期護理服務 (LTSS)，其中包括居家護理支出。

It sounds like you have a good relation in New Mexico, but any incremental changes you're seeing there from any of your payers at the state level? I'm thinking anything about denials of just delaying payments or anything else that maybe you're watching?

聽起來你和新墨西哥州的關係不錯，但是你從州一級的付款方看到任何實質性的變化嗎？我在想，有沒有關於拒絕付款、延遲付款或其他你可能在關注的事情？

Not that we've seen, Joanna. I think in all the other states where they kind of are acting in that kind of TPA role. We haven't seen any changes in behavior. We haven't seen any shifts in utilization or authorized hours, those are all processes that the state usually has somebody independently go in and assess what the needs are in the patients homes. So I haven't seen any change or pressure there. That would be something that the state would control, but not today. No changes that we've noticed.

喬安娜，我們還沒見過這種情況。我認為在其他所有州，他們也都扮演著類似的第三方管理機構的角色。我們沒有看到任何行為上的改變。我們沒有看到使用率或授權工時有任何變化，這些都是州政府通常會安排專人獨立進入病人家中評估需求的流程。所以，我沒有看到任何變化或壓力。那本應由國家來管控，但今天還不行。我們沒發現任何改變。

And as it relates to payers in the past, we talked about some opportunities there in managing the dual population because that's more underserved and high cost. So maybe give us an update where you stand there? Are you engaging any specific contracting that targets the dual population? And could this be an opportunity for you guys?

至於支付方方面面，我們過去曾討論過在管理雙重人群方面存在的一些機會，因為這個人群的服務不足且成本較高。那麼，能否請您更新一下您目前的看法呢？你們是否開展了任何針對雙重國籍人群的特定合約？這或許是你們的機會？

Yeah. We've been doing some things, what we call the value-based side, where we are working with managed Medicaid, where they have some high-risk populations that they're responsible for. I think we've shown some fairly compelling results if you're leading with personal care and mitigation to some of the costs for those high-risk patients.

是的。我們一直在做一些事情，我們稱之為基於價值的方面，我們正在與管理式醫療補助計劃合作，他們負責一些高風險人群。我認為，如果我們以個人護理為先導，並採取措施降低高風險患者的一些成本，那麼我們已經取得了一些相當令人信服的成果。

So think New Mexico, obviously, the market where we've been doing that the longest and have some pretty mature data. We've been implementing those as well in Illinois that have started in Tennessee, probably still a little earlier there, but I think early on seeing similar results.

所以，想想新墨西哥州，顯然，這是我們開展這項業務時間最長的市場，我們擁有一些相當成熟的數據。我們在伊利諾州也開始實施田納西州已經開始實施的那些措施，伊利諾州可能比田納西州早一些，但我認為早期就能看到類似的結果。

So probably isn't going to be something just from a contractor perspective that's going to turn into like a sizable revenue opportunity. But I think the information that we're gathering the data and the savings that we're showing when you lead with personal care, we think is fairly compelling, and it should be helpful in conversations in the future.

所以，從承包商的角度來看，這可能不會變成一個可觀的收入機會。但我認為，我們收集到的數據以及以個人護理為先導所顯示的節省情況，都相當有說服力，並且應該對未來的對話有所幫助。

And last one, a different topic. I don't know if I missed it, but did you guys talk about the winter storms in late January. Have you seen much of an impact on how I get the rescheduling or catching up on that occurred in February.

最後一個問題，換個話題。我不知道我是否錯過了，但你們有沒有討論過一月底的冬季風暴？你覺得二月發生的重新安排或補課工作對我的進度影響有多大？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah. With the storms in late January, kind of coming through the Midwest, we probably saw a little bit of pressure. I think you think personal care, we tried to schedule as many visits as we could in advance. We don't knew the storm was coming. In trying to make up as many as on the other side and variable, you're probably going to miss a few visits just as a result. So again, nothing we think is material, but definitely did see a little bit of impact from those storms coming through in late January.

是的。一月底席捲中西部地區的風暴可能為我們帶來了一些氣壓。我想您指的是個人護理，我們盡量提前安排了盡可能多的探訪。我們事先並不知道這場風暴即將到來。為了彌補另一邊的許多不足和變化，你很可能會因此錯過幾次訪問。所以，我們認為這些影響都不算實質的，但一月底的那些風暴確實造成了一些影響。

And any observation in February after this one?

二月還有什麼其他觀察嗎？

Not that we've noticed. We think about where most of that is sitting, we really don't have a lot of operations up in that part of the country. So nothing that we're seeing at the moment, no.

我們沒注意到。我們考慮了一下大部分資產的所在地，我們在這個地區的業務其實不多。所以目前我們還沒有看到任何跡象。

Raj Kumar, Stephens

拉傑·庫馬爾，史蒂芬斯

Hi, good morning. Maybe just kind of focusing on cost base length of stay. 4Q tends to be a seasonal high point. But -- it was a nice sequential bump. So I'm just kind of curious on what were kind of the underlying drivers, maybe kind of referral normalization or further play out of that? And then, I guess, maybe just any commentary around comfortability around kind of cap space on the hospice payment front as well?

您好，早安。或許可以主要關注以成本為基礎的停留時長。第四季通常是季節性高峰期。但是——這是一個不錯的連續成長。所以我很好奇背後的驅動因素是什麼，也許是轉診規範化，或是在此基礎上進一步發展？然後，我想，或許還可以就臨終關懷支付方面的上限空間發表一些看法？

Sure. I'll take that, Raj. So we've mentioned before, and I'll just go into a little bit more detail that we are -- we've had a focus for 2025 on really diversifying and ensuring that we have the right mix of referral sources in each market. Each market is a little bit different. As you point out, we have different lengths of stay depending on the patients that we have been caring for.

當然。我接受，拉傑。正如我們之前提到的，我再詳細說——我們2025年的目標是真正多元化，並確保我們在每個市場都有合適的推薦來源組合。每個市場的情況都略有不同。正如您所指出的，根據我們所照顧的病人的不同情況，我們的住院時間也各不相同。

And so we are very intentionally focusing on a market-by-market basis on the correct referral sources there. I think that's driving what we can see some nice trends in the length of stay it's driving nice trends in terms of the mix of patients and also admissions of new patients have grown very nicely throughout 2025, and that will also contribute to the mix that we're seeing.

因此，我們正在有意識地逐一市場地關注正確的推薦來源。我認為這正是我們看到的住院時長良好趨勢的驅動因素，也是我們看到患者構成良好趨勢的驅動因素，而且2025年新入院患者人數也增長得非常好，這也將有助於我們看到的患者構成變化。

In terms of cap, we did see improvements in the overall cap position. We actually had a little bit of a benefit, nothing material overall, but it was a material positive movement in terms of its relation to the total cap position that we had seen. And I think that's in large part to the efforts and the refocused efforts of the sales team in terms of diversifying that referral mix.

就薪資上限而言，我們確實看到整體薪資上限狀況有所改善。實際上我們獲得了一些好處，雖然總體上沒有什麼實質的好處，但就我們所看到的總資本狀況而言，這是一個實質的正面變化。我認為這很大程度上要歸功於銷售團隊在多元化推薦管道方面所做的努力和重新調整的工作重點。

Got it. And then maybe just one more kind of broader question around kind of labor environment and then potential tailwinds from Medicaid work requirements I guess just thinking about the Arkansas book and how that state has had Medicaid work requirements.

知道了。然後，或許還可以提出一個更廣泛的問題，關於勞動環境以及醫療補助工作要求可能帶來的利好，我想到的是阿肯色州那本書，以及該州是如何實施醫療補助工作要求的。

Any way to kind of contextualize that kind of labor market in Arkansas in terms of if there has been kind of any benefit -- significant benefit on the hiring and labor front from a statement of Medicaid work clients. As you think about other states start to implement that towards the back half of '26 and the implications around that?

有沒有辦法從醫療補助工作客戶聲明的角度，對阿肯色州的勞動力市場進行一些背景分析，看看是否對招聘和勞動力方面產生了任何好處——顯著的好處。想想看，如果其他州在 2026 年下半年開始實施這項措施，會產生哪些影響？

Sure. There's nothing I would point to specifically in relation to Arkansas. I know they've had those in place before, and that's been part of how they operate. But we haven't seen really anything to point out in terms of what our hiring prospects have looked like as a result of that.

當然。就阿肯色州而言，我沒有特別想指出的地方。我知道他們以前就採取過這些措施，而這已經是他們運作方式的一部分了。但就招募前景而言，我們還沒有看到任何值得一提的結果。

We actually see the opportunity, I think, as you were alluding to, here for us in terms of the work requirements as being something that could benefit us as people are looking for work, they're looking for incremental work or even flexible or part-time work, we can help with that. And so we don't see it as something that we need to be cautious, and we see it as potentially an opportunity.

我認為，正如您所暗示的那樣，我們確實看到了這裡的機會，就工作需求而言，這對我們來說是一個有利的機遇，因為人們正在尋找工作，他們正在尋找增量工作，甚至是靈活的或兼職的工作，我們可以在這方面提供幫助。因此，我們並不認為這是一件需要謹慎對待的事情，反而認為這可能是個機會。

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。我謹將會議交還給德克·艾利森，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, operator. I want to thank each of you today for taking the time to join us on our call. And I hope for you to have a great week.

謝謝接線生。今天我要感謝各位抽空參加我們的電話會議。祝你有美好的一周。

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

會議已經結束。感謝各位參加今天的報告會。您現在可以斷開連線了。