LAFAYETTE, La., May 12, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LHC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:LHCG) announced that at 4:37 p.m. Central Time today, the Company received a letter from the Senate Finance Committee regarding the April 26, 2010, article in the The Wall Street Journal entitled, "Home Care Yields Medicare Bounty." The Committee has asked us to respond to some questions regarding therapy utilization in prior years, and we intend to cooperate with the request. Although our response will contain a comprehensive analysis, we wanted to take this opportunity to provide a few of the key facts that will be included in our response.
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As a company, therapy represents a much lower portion of our episodes than the national average. In 2007, 36.6% of our total Medicare episodes received therapy versus the national average of 49.8%, and only 38.2% of our total Medicare episodes in 2008 received therapy versus the national average of 50.2%.
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All home care services, including therapy, are dictated by an independent physician order.
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The average number of therapy visits received by our top 20 patient diagnoses that required therapy in 2007, as compared to those same patient diagnoses in 2008, was consistent despite the change in therapy thresholds from 2007 to 2008. In fact, in none of those top 20 diagnoses did the average visits increase to a level that would result in our meeting or exceeding a higher therapy threshold.
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The Wall Street Journal article assumes a static patient population when in fact, due to growth resulting from industry consolidation, our home health patient population on December 31, 2007, was 17,850, and on December 31, 2008, our home health patient population was 26,163, an increase of 46.6%. During this same period, our home health locations increased from 144 to 206. We also increased the number of states in which we operated from 11 to 17. As a result of this growth, the make-up of our top 20 patient diagnoses in 2007 was very different from our top 20 patient diagnoses in 2008.
- Since 1996, we have maintained a corporate compliance program and an employee compliance hotline operated by an independent third party.
Keith Myers, our President and Chief Executive Officer, issued the following statement to Senators Baucus and Grassley: "We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 12, 2010, and your joint request for documents relating to our home health agency performance and operations. We intend to cooperate with the request and will be working diligently to provide as complete a production as possible by the deadline you set forth. We look forward to providing detailed and accurate answers to your questions presented, and we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate LHC Group's commitment to compliance and program integrity. In the meantime, should you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me."
About LHC Group, Inc.
LHC Group, Inc. (www.LHCGroup.com) is a national provider of home health and hospice services, providing quality, cost-effective healthcare to patients within the comfort and privacy of their home or place of residence. LHC Group provides a comprehensive array of post-acute healthcare services through home health and hospice locations in its home-based division and long-term acute care hospitals in its facility-based division.
Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements about the Company's future financial performance and the strength of the Company's operations. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "continue," "expect," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including changes in reimbursement, changes in government regulations, changes in LHC Group's relationships with referral sources, increased competition for LHC Group's services, increased competition for joint venture and acquisition candidates, changes in the interpretation of government regulations, and other risks set forth in Item 1A. Risk Factors in LHC Group's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. LHC Group undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.