As the economy has slowed, some nursing home and home health companies said they have been able to hire more employees and, in turn, take on more patients.
Post-acute providers — including Enhabit Home Health and Hospice, Addus HomeCare and The Ensign Group, among others — told analysts during first-quarter earnings calls they have been able to recruit more staff members in some service lines. Some also said raising pay has helped them attract employees in certain markets facing hiring challenges lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Enhabit Home Health and Hospice increased the number of registered nurses on staff by about 4% between December and March, Chief Financial Officer Ryan Solomon said in response to analyst questions during a first-quarter earnings call Thursday.
Leaders at the Dallas-based company are confident they can maintain the hiring pace for the remainder of the year, in part because Enhabit negotiated with insurers for better Medicare Advantage rates, Solomon said. The higher reimbursement has helped Enhabit raise worker wages, he said. The company offers home health and hospice services across 34 states.
Frisco, Texas-based Addus HomeCare hired 79 home care aides a day in the first quarter of this year, compared with 78 daily hires in the year-ago period and 76 in the final three months of last year, Chair and CEO Dirk Allison said during an earnings call Tuesday. The company offers non-medical home care, home health and hospice services in 22 states.
The robust hiring rate was not consistent across all markets and service lines, however, President and Chief Operating Officer Brad Bickham told analysts.
“There are pockets that are still challenging. The clinical side is going to be where we will see the most headwinds, but it’s much better than it was a few years ago," Bickham said.
The post-acute industry has struggled to meet growing demand from an aging population after the COVID-19 pandemic drove hundreds of thousands of workers from the industry due to safety concerns and low wages. The disconnect has created logjams that make it difficult to move patients seamlessly out of hospitals.
Hiring in the sector has been improving over the last year, though, particularly in home healthcare. The segment lost about 108,000 jobs during the pandemic, but recovered all of them and added another 100,000 jobs over the last two years, according to the Labor Department.
The nursing home industry has not fared as well. Skilled nursing facilities are still short about 50,000 workers from the 243,000 they lost during the first two years of the pandemic, according to the Labor Department.
But some nursing home companies told analysts during first-quarter earnings calls they are finding moderate success recruiting and retaining staff.
Tustin, California-headquartered Sabra Healthcare REIT, which owns 225 skilled nursing facilities, is steadily reducing the use of contract nurses in its nursing homes, CEO Rick Matros said during an earnings call Tuesday.
“Labor still is difficult but is certainly moderating at a much quicker pace than we would have anticipated,” Matros told analysts. He said it is easier to hire staff in part because the rate of wage inflation is much lower than it was a few years ago.
The Ensign Group CEO Barry Port said during an earnings call last week that staffing is nearing pre-pandemic levels at the approximately 300 nursing homes the San Juan Capistrano, California-based company owns or operates in 17 states.
A recession could mean further staffing increases, Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Snapper said in response to analyst questions during the call.
“One of the things that happens for us is when there is a recession, we definitely see more opportunity on the [hiring] front where people come back into the workforce," Snapper said.
A recession could also lead to home health companies adding even more workers. The Pennant Group President and Chief Operating Officer John Gochnour said after a Wednesday earnings call that the company has seen boosted hiring and productivity during past economic downturns. Eagle, Idaho-based Pennant, which offers home health and hospice care in 13 states, added approximately 200 home health nurses in the first quarter, Gochnour said during the call.
“In prior recessions, we have found that we had more access to clinical staff and were able to hold people accountable to productivity, documentation standards and clinical best practices more effectively,” Gochnour said in an email.
