Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 26, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Holley Schmidt - Assistant Controller

Kevin McNamara - President and Chief Executive Officer

Dave Williams - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Nick Westfall - President and Chief Executive Officer, VITAS Healthcare Corporation

Conference Call Participants

Ben Hendrix - RBC Capital Markets

Joanna Gajuk - Bank of America

Holley Schmidt

Good morning. Our conference call this morning will review the Financial Results for the Third Quarter of 2023 ended September 30, 2023.

Before we begin, let me remind you that the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 apply to this conference call. During the course of this call, the company will make various remarks concerning management's expectations, predictions, plans, and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements.

Actual results may differ materially from those projected by these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those identified in the company's news release of October 25 and in various other filings with the SEC. You are cautioned that any forward-looking statements reflect management's current view only, and that the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements in the future.

In addition, management may also discuss non-GAAP operating performance results during today's call, including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization or EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP results is provided in the company's press release dated October 25, which is available on the company's website at chemed.com.

I would now like to introduce our speakers for today, Kevin McNamara, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chemed Corporation; Dave Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chemed; and Nick Westfall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chemed's VITAS Healthcare Corporation subsidiary.

I will now turn the call over to Kevin McNamara.

Kevin McNamara

Thank you, Holley. Good morning. Welcome to Chemed Corporation's third quarter 2023 conference call.

I will begin with highlights for the quarter, and Dave and Nick will follow up with additional operating details. I will then open up the call for questions.

Our third quarter 2023 operating results released last night, reflect continued improvement in VITAS' operational metrics. In the quarter, our admissions increased 7.5% over the prior year period. These strengthening admissions continued to drive higher patient census. In the third quarter, our Average Daily Census, or ADC, expanded 1,617, an increase of 9.4%, when compared with the prior year and 2.5% when compared with the second quarter of 2023.