Humana said Wednesday home care services under its CenterWell brand are poised for strong growth in 2023.
Company executives told analysts during an earnings call Wednesday CenterWell would earn between $1.3 billion and $1.45 billion this year. That’s expected to be slightly less than the company earned last year before selling a 60% stake in its hospice and personal care divisions under the former Kindred at Home brand.
Still, Humana CFO Susan Diamond told analysts expansion of CenterWell’s value-based care to more Medicare Advantage members would help offset the loss of hospice and personal care. The division is adding more clinicians to also help drive growth in the home health business, she said.
“We certainly will continue to watch labor trends and are making further investments in nursing recruiting and retention,” Diamond said.
Last year, Louisville-based Human rebranded its Kindred at Home unit under CenterWell. In addition to home health services, the brand also includes primary care and pharmacy services.
Humana also announced Thursday Sanjay Shetty, MD, will lead CenterWell starting April 1. Shetty currently serves as president of Dallas-based Steward Health Care System, the largest physician-owned for-profit health system in the U.S.
“This newly created role comes as we continue to meaningfully expand our Centerwell capabilities, strengthening our payer agnostic platform and integrating the clinical experience with patients across the CenterWell platform,” Humana President and CEO Bruce Broussard told analysts.
Humana’s 2022 fourth quarter and full-year earnings beat Wall Street expectations. The company earned $1.62 a share on $22.44 billion in revenues for the quarter. It earned $1.24 a share on $21.05 billion in revenues during the same period in 2021. Wall Street analysts forecast the company would earn $1.46 for the quarter. The company earned $25.24 per share for the full year versus $20.64 a share for 2021.
