The home health segment of The Pennant Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PNTG), to some extent, carried the company at the beginning of 2022. In the first quarter alone, it had an 11.9% growth in admission rate.
After “sobering” moments in 2021 – when the company performed beneath its standards – Pennant CEO Daniel Walker is pleased with how the company has turned things around, he said on Tuesday’s first quarter earnings call.
“Our commitment to culture — and recommitment when necessary — is the foundation of our strategy within the marketplace and the greatest reason for hope in the future, regardless of the operating conditions we face,” Walker said. “While I’m proud of the progress that has been made to this point in our history, we are just scratching the surface of our enormous potential.”
The Pennant Group, Inc. is a holding company based in Eagle, Idaho. Its network includes 88 home health and hospice agencies and 52 senior living communities. The company has locations in 14 states.
Pennant’s total revenue for Q1 of 2022 came in at $113.9 million, which is an increase of $8.2 million — or 7.8% — over the first quarter of last year.
While hospice saw a slight bump year over year – a 2.5% increase – Pennant’s home health revenue saw an increase of $4.2 million, or 12.7%, in that same time frame.
“Our home health business continues to experience solid growth on all fronts, with total admissions and Medicare admissions increasing 11.9% and 3%, respectively,” Brent Guerisoli, Pennant’s president, said during Tuesday’s call.
Growth by acquisition
During the first quarter, Pennant closed on the transfer of five senior living communities, acquired a home health agency in Montana and also an 82-unit assisted living and memory care community in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Derek Bunker, Pennant’s chief investment officer, said Tuesday that the assisted living acquisition gives Pennant another lever to pull in its growth strategy.
“We’ll continue to pursue operations that we feel like have a lot of organic upside,” Bunker said. “I think we can provide a lot of value to our stakeholders. As you know, sometimes in those senior living acquisition opportunities, real estate is part of that transaction. Using your own balance sheet is one tool that we have and we may continue to grow that over time in a healthy way.”
The company wants to integrate its recent acquisitions before deploying more capital, but still plans to remain aggressive in home health and hospice dealmaking during the rest of the year.
“Our pipeline is pretty strong,” Bunker said. “The conversations we’ve had with potential sellers have really been positive. We’re excited to continue our historical acquisition pace in our home health and hospice segment, particularly where we have strength. While we don’t have quotas or targets for how we deploy that capital, we feel really good and we’re really optimistic about continuing to grow.”
The post Pennant Touts Growth in Home Health Segment, ‘Excited’ About M&A Pipeline appeared first on Home Health Care News.
