AdaptHealth targets diabetes business for improvement But respiratory business sees boost from new tech-enhanced ordering process
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Updated 9:43 AM CST, Fri November 8, 2024
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – AdaptHealth CEO Suzanne Foster is doubling down on efforts to turn around the company’s struggling diabetes business, saying it was “worse” than she initially thought it was.
The product category, which makes up 17% of the AdaptHealth’s revenues, declined 11.8% during the third quarter, following a worse than expected performance during the second quarter.
“Following last quarter's results, I turned my attention to our diabetes product line and found the outlook was much worse than I thought after my first two months,” said Foster, who took the reins in May, during a recent call to discuss the company’s latest earnings. “The reality is the market is growing, our competitors are growing, and we are not.”
AdaptHealth has identified systemic operational issues to address, as well as named Gary Sheehan as general manager, senior vice president of diabetes, and Graham Ward, who previously worked at Medtronic and Cardinal, as the new sales leader for the business.
“Given that Gary has a long history in leading sleep HME businesses, in his words, he'll say, ‘Diabetes is essentially the same business without the big CPAP machine’ – the timeliness of service, the catering for the patient, the experience,” said Foster.
Sleep & respiratory see growth
Sleep revenue for the quarter increased 3.5% and the company added 29,000 new resupply patients for a total of more than 1.63 million patients. Respiratory revenue increased 8.6%, led by oxygen, with the company surpassing 325,000 oxygen patients for the first time, said Jason Clemens, CFO.
“During the quarter, 7.5% of our O2 patients ordered tank refills without having to interact with an Adapt customer service representative via new technology just launched in myAPP, as well as chatbot technology recently launched in our interactive voice response telephone systems,” he said. “This tech was launched in the second quarter with only 1.5% of O2 patients ordering through these platforms 90 days ago, so we are making progress quickly.”
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