Baton Rouge-based home health and hospice service provider Amedisys announced this morning that it’s replacing its chief operating officer. Effective Jan. 3, Christopher Gerard will take the place of current COO Daniel McCoy, who was appointed to the position in April 2015 amid a number of leadership changes in the company.
The announcement comes as the company reports third quarter net income of $11.4 million, or 34 cents per share, up from $8.4 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same three-month period last year. Despite the rise in net income, The Associated Press reports Amedisys still missed Wall Street expectations for earnings of 45 cents per share.
In a prepared statement, Amedisys President and CEO Paul Kusserow says the company encountered some challenges in home health volumes, increased health insurance and bad debt expenses.
“We are focused on continued growth and delivering on the operational efficiencies we have promised our shareholders,” Kusserow says in the statement. “At the same time, we are actively pursuing opportunities to reinvest in our business and deploy capital toward accretive acquisitions.”
As for the leadership change, Kusserow says Gerard “has proven to be a successful and trusted leader, and his wealth of healthcare industry experience will be a valuable asset as we continue to accelerate growth.”
Gerard is the former co-founder, president and CEO of IntegraCare Home Health. According to a news release, Gerard grew the startup from a single location to a company with 54 branches, generating $71 million in annual revenue. He sold IntegraCare to Kindred Healthcare in 2012, becoming vice president of the South Central Region for the Kindred at Home division. In that role, he facilitated the integration of IntegraCare and four other acquisitions. Most recently, Gerard served as president of Kindred at Home’s South Central Region.
