National Healthcare Corp. is giving credit to newly acquired hospice division Caris Healthcare for helping it navigate through a difficult first quarter. On Friday, the Murfreesboro, TN-based company reported earnings of $0.91 cents per share for the quarter on net income of $14.1 million. That compares to $1.08 on net income of $16.6 million during the same quarter a year earlier.
NHC attributed the tough quarter to the loss of federal stimulus funds from the COVID-19 pandemic and increased labor costs and other inflation-related costs. But the company said additional revenues from Caris, as well as higher occupancy at its skilled nursing facilities helped cushion the losses in the quarter.
Last summer, NHC acquired the remaining interest in Caris Healthcare, which provides hospice services to more than 1,200 patients a day in Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
NHC is the nation’s oldest publicly traded senior healthcare company. It operates 34 home care agencies, 28 hospice agencies, 75 skilled nursing facilities, 24 assisted living communities, five retirement communities and a behavioral health hospital.
