American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2020 Results

Company Provides Update on COVID-19 Pandemic and Updates 2020 Outlook for Adjusted EBITDA-NCI

BEVERLY, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ARA) (the “Company”), a leading kidney care and dialysis provider focused on partnering with local nephrologists, today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020. The Company also provided an update on its COVID-19 impact and affirmed its 2020 Adjusted EBITDA less noncontrolling interests (“Adjusted EBITDA-NCI”) Outlook. These updates are highlighted later in this release.

Certain metrics, including those expressed on an adjusted basis, are Non-GAAP financial measures (See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the reconciliation tables further below).

Second Quarter 2020 Highlights (all percentage changes compare Q2 2020 to Q2 2019 unless noted):

• Patient service operating revenues decreased 3.8% to $205.1 million;
• Net income attributable to American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. was $0.8 million as compared to a net loss of $8.2 million in Q2 2019;
• Adjusted EBITDA-NCI was $25.8 million as compared to $24.3 million in Q2 2019;
• Adjusted net income attributable to American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. was $2.6 million, or $0.07 per share, for Q2 2020 as compared to adjusted net loss of $1.3 million, or $(0.04) per share, for Q2 2019;
• Total dialysis treatments increased 2.1%, all of which was non-acquired growth. Normalized total and normalized non-acquired treatment growth were each 3.6%; and
• As of June 30, 2020, the Company operated 251 outpatient dialysis clinics serving more than 17,300 patients.

Joseph (Joe) Carlucci, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our staff and physician partners have worked tirelessly with dedication and compassion to continue providing life-sustaining dialysis services to our patients across our network of 251 clinics, despite the many unprecedented challenges the pandemic has presented to our country, our health care system and each and every one of us. Their unwavering focus on the health and well-being of our patients in the face of the pandemic is humbling, and I thank them for their extraordinary work.”

Mr. Carlucci continued, “This quarter we began to see the benefits of our additional investment and continuing focus on efficiencies to our revenue cycle. These efforts resulted in significant improvement in our revenue per treatment over the first quarter. We are also pleased with our solid treatment volume growth and our expense management during the quarter, even though we saw impacts on both from the pandemic. As we look ahead, while the environment remains uncertain, we believe our commitment to our Core Values, our excellence in patient care and our partnership with outstanding physicians will enable us to continue the positive momentum we saw this quarter.”

Financial and operating highlights include:

Revenue: Patient service operating revenues for the second quarter of 2020 were $205.1 million, a decrease of $8.1 million, or 3.8%, as compared to $213.3 million for the prior-year period. Patient service operating revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $398.3 million, a decrease of $6.7 million, or 1.7%, as compared to $405.0 million for the prior-year period. The decrease in the three months and six months ended June 30, 2020 was primarily due to lower contributions from calcimimetics, a favorable resolution of certain commercial claims during the 2019 periods and adverse changes in commercial treatment reimbursement rates reflecting a larger base of in-network commercial payor relationships, partially offset by an increase of 2.1% and 3.4% in the number of dialysis treatments in the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, and a recognition of $1.1 million from the temporary suspension under the CARES Act of the 2% Medicare sequestration reimbursement reduction, which became effective May 1, 2020, in the second quarter of 2020.

Treatment Volume: Total dialysis treatments for the second quarter of 2020 were 627,451, representing an increase of 2.1% over the second quarter of 2019, all of which was non-acquired treatment growth, normalized total treatment growth and normalized non-acquired treatment growth were each 3.6%, as compared to Q2 2019.

Total dialysis treatments for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were 1,247,000, representing an increase of 3.4% over the six months ended June 30, 2019. Non-acquired treatment growth was 3.2% for the six months ended June 30, 2020. Normalized total treatment growth and normalized non-acquired treatment growth were 4.1% and 4.0%, respectively, as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Clinic Activity: As of June 30, 2020, the Company provided services at 251 outpatient dialysis clinics serving 17,356 patients. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, we opened four and five de novo clinics, respectively.

Net income (loss), Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests, Net income (loss) attributable to American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc., Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA-NCI:

Operating Expenses: Patient care costs for the second quarter of 2020 were $146.9 million, or 71.6% of patient service operating revenues, as compared to $153.0 million, or 71.8% of patient service operating revenues, in the prior-year period. General and administrative expenses were $22.7 million, or 11.0% of patient service operating revenues, as compared to $23.9 million, or 11.2% of patient service operating revenues, in the prior-year period.

Patient care costs for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $301.1 million, or 75.6% of patient service operating revenues, as compared to $301.2 million, or 74.4% of patient service operating revenues, in the prior-year period. General and administrative expenses during the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $47.6 million, or 11.9% of patient service operating revenues, as compared to $49.5 million, or 12.2% of patient service operating revenues, in the prior-year period.

Cash Flow: Cash provided by operating activities for the second quarter of 2020 was $137.3 million, as compared to $17.7 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted cash provided by operating activities less distributions to noncontrolling interests (see “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures”) for the second quarter of 2020 was $125.1 million, as compared to $0.9 million in the prior-year period. Cash provided by operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was $151.0 million as compared to $7.7 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted cash provided by operating activities less distributions to noncontrolling interests for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was $128.0 million as compared to adjusted cash used in operating activities less distributions to noncontrolling interests of $13.9 million in the prior-year period. The increase in each period is largely due to additional investment and focus on our revenue cycle and collections and the impact of cash received under the provisions of the CARES Act.

Total capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2020 were $7.1 million, compared to $5.7 million in the prior-year period. Capital expenditures for the three months ended June 30, 2020 included $5.8 million for existing clinic expansions and de novo clinic development and $1.2 million for other capital expenditures. Total capital expenditures for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $12.8 million, compared to $14.2 million in the prior-year period. Capital expenditures for the six months ended June 30, 2020 included $10.1 million for existing clinic expansions and de novo clinic development and $2.7 million for other capital expenditures.

Balance Sheet: At June 30, 2020, the Company’s balance sheet included consolidated cash and restricted cash of $148.7 million, including the impact of cash received under the provisions of the CARES Act, and consolidated debt of $585.1 million, including the current portion of long-term debt. Excluding clinic-level debt not guaranteed by the Company and clinic-level cash not owned by the Company, Adjusted owned net debt (see “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures”) was $445.8 million at June 30, 2020, as compared to $515.2 million at December 31, 2019. As of June 30, 2020, we were in compliance with the consolidated net leverage ratio covenant in our Credit Agreement. As of June 30, 2020, net patient accounts receivable was $91.7 million.

Clinic Sales: Subsequent to June 30, 2020, the Company completed the sale of certain clinics in Pennsylvania that accounted for, in the aggregate, $3.6 million of its patient services operating revenues for each of the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, and $7.5 million and $7.0 million of its patient service operating revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. These clinics accounted for approximately 12,000 treatments for each of the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, and 25,000 treatments and 24,000 treatments for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

COVID-19 Update

The safety of our patients, staff and physician partners continues to be our primary focus, and we have undertaken and will continue to undertake steps to provide for their protection and enable our continued operation in the face of the pandemic. We are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and working closely with local and national health authorities to ensure we implement and maintain appropriate infection control and clinical best practices in response to COVID-19. In addition, our dedicated COVID-19 task force has proactively implemented business continuity plans and developed measures to ensure the ongoing availability of our dialysis services while maintaining patient and staff safety. These measures include:

• Restricting entry to our clinics to only patients, staff and medical professionals;
• Screening all individuals for symptoms and exposure to COVID-19 before allowing access to our clinics;
• Implementing a mask policy for every patient and staff member who enters our clinics and requiring that masks be worn at all times in our clinics;
• Increased purchases and use of personal protective equipment for patients and staff and of cleaning and sanitization materials at our facilities to maintain infection control protocols that meet CDC guidelines;
• Securing COVID-19 testing for patients and staff;
• Implementing screening procedures for corporate office staff prior to entering our corporate offices, requiring social distancing within workspaces and throughout our corporate offices, and restricting access to our corporate offices to only ARA staff;
• Engaging a physician infectious disease consultant to assist us in the development of policies and procedures to protect our patients and staff;
• Establishing dedicated COVID-19 treatment shifts at certain of our clinics, where necessary, to care for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection; and
• Modifying our sick leave policy to accommodate quarantine and isolation when warranted.

In addition to these safety measures, in March 2020 we implemented a hazard pay program to provide increased pay to our clinic staff on the front lines of the pandemic. This program remains in place for those clinic staff who provide direct care to patients who have been identified as COVID-19 positive. These and other measures we have taken in response to COVID-19 have resulted in increased operating expenses, including higher salary and wage expense from the hazard pay program, incremental hours and overtime needed to staff the dedicated treatment shifts for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, increased expenses from the higher utilization and cost of personal protective equipment, and additional costs to purchase additional supplies and cleaning materials. In addition, we have incurred additional corporate office costs related to legal, consulting costs and cleaning costs, as well as increased purchases of computer equipment and information technology to provide additional infrastructure for staff who are working remotely. Though significantly offset by grant funds received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), these added expenses began to rise during March, and became more significant through April, May, June, and July. We expect to incur many of these additional operating expenses for the duration of the pandemic, and if the severity or geographic coverage of the pandemic increases, these additional expenses could increase. In light of our increased expenses, we have and will continue to implement cost saving initiatives; however, these initiatives may not offset the additional expenses and reductions in revenue resulting from the pandemic in the event we exhaust government funds provided for this purpose.

From a volume perspective, patients suffering from end-stage renal disease generally have co-morbidities that often place them at increased risk with COVID-19, resulting in increased hospitalizations, missed treatments and higher mortality. For the three months ended June 30, 2020, we experienced a negative 1.0% impact in treatment volume growth as a result of patients contracting COVID-19.

We are appreciative of Congress and the Administration’s recognition of the burden this pandemic is having on our nation’s healthcare system and providers like ARA who have remained fully operational during this crisis to continue to provide life-sustaining care and prevent, prepare and respond to COVID-19. The passage of the CARES Act in late March, in combination with other regulatory relief from CMS, will help healthcare providers like ARA manage through this public health crisis. Some aspects of this relief received by ARA include the following:

• Approximately $5 million of additional revenue due to the CARES Act provision that eliminates the 2% sequestration reduction from May 1 until December 31, 2020;
• Approximately $27 million of CARES Act grant funds received during April 2020, although these funds are subject to terms and conditions, and we may not be able to utilize and retain all of this money;
• Approximately $83 million of advance payments on future Medicare revenue received during April 2020 under CMS’ Accelerated and Advance Payment Program;
• An estimated $12 million to $13 million liquidity benefit from Q2 2020 through Q4 2020 related to the CARES Act provision that permits payment deferral of the employer portion of social security payroll taxes; and
• An estimated cash tax refund of approximately $8 million, expected before December 31, 2020, related to specific tax code provisions of the CARES Act.

Outlook for 2020 Adjusted EBITDA-NCI:

The Company is affirming its outlook for 2020 Adjusted EBITDA-NCI to be in a range of $87 million to $95 million. The Company is also re-affirming its commitment to reduce its leverage ratio by year-end 2020, as compared to 5.9x at December 31, 2019.

The Company is not providing a quantitative reconciliation of its Non-GAAP outlook to the corresponding GAAP information because the GAAP measures that it excludes from its Non-GAAP outlook are not available without unreasonable effort on a forward-looking basis due to their unpredictability, high variability, complexity and low visibility. These excluded GAAP measures include noncontrolling interests, interest expense, income taxes, certain legal and other matters, and other charges. The Company expects the variability of these charges to have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on its future GAAP financial results.

Please see the “Forward-Looking Statements” section of this release for a discussion of certain risks to our outlook.

Conference Call

American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. will hold a conference call to discuss this release on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Investors will have the opportunity to listen to the conference call by dialing (877) 407-8029, or for international callers (201) 689-8029, or may listen over the Internet by going to the Investor Relations section at www.ir.americanrenal.com. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available and can be accessed by dialing (877) 660-6853, or for international callers (201) 612-7415. The conference ID for the live call and the replay is 13697057.

About American Renal Associates

American Renal Associates (“ARA”) is a leading provider of outpatient dialysis services in the United States. As of June 30, 2020, ARA operated 251 dialysis clinic locations in 27 states and the District of Columbia serving more than 17,300 patients with end stage renal disease. ARA operates principally through a physician partnership model, in which it partners with approximately 400 local nephrologists to develop, own and operate dialysis clinics. ARA’s Core Values emphasize taking good care of patients, providing physicians with clinical autonomy and operational support, hiring and retaining the best possible staff and providing comprehensive management services. For more information about American Renal Associates, visit www.americanrenal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our outlook for Adjusted EBITDA-NCI, are based upon currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “strategy,” “target” or “will” or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms.

Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the effect of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and responses thereto; the effect of the restatement of our previously issued financial results and related matters; our ability to remediate material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting; continuing decline in the number of patients with commercial insurance, including as a result of changes to the healthcare exchanges or changes in regulations or enforcement of regulations regarding the healthcare exchanges and challenges from commercial payors or any regulatory or other changes leading to changes in the ability of patients with commercial insurance coverage to receive charitable premium support; decline in commercial payor reimbursement rates, including with respect to Medicare Advantage plans; the ultimate resolution of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Interim Final Rule published December 14, 2016 related to dialysis facilities Conditions for Coverage (CMS 3337-IFC), including an issuance of a different but related Final Rule; reduction of government-based payor reimbursement rates or insufficient rate increases or adjustments that do not cover all of our operating costs; our ability to successfully develop de novo clinics, acquire existing clinics and attract new nephrologist partners; our ability to compete effectively in the dialysis services industry; the performance of our joint venture subsidiaries and their ability to make distributions to us; changes to the Medicare end-stage renal disease (“ESRD”) program that could affect reimbursement rates and evaluation criteria, as well as changes in Medicaid or other non-Medicare government programs or payment rates, including the ESRD prospective payment rate system final rule for 2020 issued October 31, 2019; federal or state healthcare laws that could adversely affect us; our ability to comply with all of the complex federal, state and local government regulations that apply to our business, including those in connection with federal and state anti-kickback laws and state laws prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine or fee-splitting; heightened federal and state investigations and enforcement efforts; the impact of the SEC investigation; changes in the availability and cost of erythropoietin-stimulating agents and other pharmaceuticals used in our business; changes in the reimbursement rates of the calcimimetics pharmaceutical class reimbursed under the Medicare Transitional Drug Add-on Payment Adjustment; development of new technologies or government regulation that could decrease the need for dialysis services or decrease our in-center patient population; our ability to timely and accurately bill for our services and meet payor billing requirements; claims and losses relating to malpractice, professional liability and other matters; the sufficiency of our insurance coverage for those claims and rising insurances costs, and negative publicity or reputational damage arising from such matters; loss of any members of our senior management; damage to our reputation or our brand and our ability to maintain brand recognition; our ability to maintain relationships with our medical directors and renew our medical director agreements; shortages of qualified skilled clinical personnel, or higher than normal turnover rates; competition and consolidation in the dialysis services industry; deterioration in economic conditions, particularly in states where we operate a large number of clinics, or disruptions in the financial markets or the effects of natural or other disasters, public health crises or adverse weather events; the participation of our physician partners in material strategic and operating decisions and our ability to favorably resolve any disputes; our ability to honor obligations under the joint venture operating agreements with our physician partners were they to exercise certain put rights and other rights; unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable, protected health or other sensitive or confidential information; our ability to meet our obligations and comply with restrictions under our substantial level of indebtedness; and the ability of our principal stockholder, whose interests may conflict with yours, to strongly influence or effectively control our corporate decisions.

Contacts

Mark Herbers, Interim CFO

Telephone: (978)-522-3945; Email: mherbers@americanrenal.com

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