While Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ: ACHC) saw a slow start to 2024, its leadership said that an improving labor market and rate improvements are tailwinds for the rest of the year.
The first quarter of 2024 was plagued by weaker-than-anticipated patient volumes, which leadership attributed primarily to seasonality, and lower-than-expected admission rates in its military specialty programs. The provider noted that government facilities opened in the first quarter, which contributed to some of Acadia’s decline in military program admission rates.
Still, the leadership team projects that the company will be on target to meet its full-year guidance.
“We’re already well on our way towards rebuilding the census at these facilities. Overall demand for our services remains strong,” Christopher Hunter, CEO of Acadia, said during the company’s Q1 earnings call. “We believe we are well positioned within our markets for continued growth, especially given the visibility we have with new beds coming online and ramping up over the course of the calendar year.”
Overall, Acadia’s revenue totaled $768.1 million, an increase of 9.1% over Q1 2023. Its same facility revenue increased by 9.2% yearly, and its revenue per patient day increased by 6.9% year over year.
The company continues to implement its five-point growth strategy, which includes facility expansion, de novo growth, JV partnerships, acquisitions, and expanding the care continuum.
Earlier this year, Hunter hinted that M&A would be a key focus for the company in 2024 and beyond.
That appears to be coming to fruition. Acadia kicked off the year with a number of acquisitions, including 76-bed specialty substance use disorder provider Turning Point Centers. In March, it also picked up three comprehensive treatment centers (CTCs) in North Carolina, which treat opioid use disorder.
Overall, CTCs continue to be a significant focus for Acadia. In the call, Hunter announced that the company plans to open 14 additional CTCs in 2024. It currently operates 160 CTC locations across 32 states.
” As the opioid epidemic continues to intensify, we will continue to expand this important area of our business as we see record demand for our CTC services,” Hunter said. “It’s estimated that 9 million Americans are suffering from OUD and only about 10% of this group is in treatment for medication-assisted therapy, which is considered the gold standard for treatment …We remain focused on meeting the critical demand for treatment by improving access to treatment, driving favorable clinical outcomes and delivering an exceptional patient experience.”
CTCs aren’t the only expansion target for this year. The company has also zeroed in on its effort to grow its outpatient programs. It launched 15 outpatient programs in the first quarter of the year. These programs are made up of partial hospitalization programs (PHPs), intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) and virtual services.
IOPs and PHPs are seeing a lot of interest from providers and investors across the industry.
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