Amedisys Reports Fourth Quarter Financial Results

Issues 2013 Guidance

Amedisys to Host Conference Call Today at 10:00 A.M. ET

BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amedisys, Inc. (NAS: AMED) , a leading home health and hospice company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2012 and issued 2013 guidance.

Three-Month Periods Ended December 31, 2012 and 2011

• After adding back $153.4 million and $11.3 million ($113.9 million and $7.1 million, net of income tax ) or $3.75 and $0.24 per diluted share for certain items* in 2012 and 2011, the following would have been our adjusted results**:

• Net service revenue of $362.9 million compared to $370.3 million in 2011, a decrease of $7.4 million or 2.0%.

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc., of $7.2 million compared to $14.5 million in 2011, a decrease of 50.5%.

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $0.23 compared to $0.49 per diluted share in 2011, a decrease of 53.1%.

• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization attributable to continuing operations ("EBITDA") of $23.3 million compared to $35.9 million in 2011, a decrease of 35.1%.

Twelve-Month Periods Ended December 31, 2012 and 2011

• After adding back $159.5 million and $588.7 million ($115.1 million and $441.7 million, net of income tax) or $3.83 and $15.36 per diluted share for certain items* in 2012 and 2011, the following would have been our adjusted results**:

• Net service revenue of $1,487.9 million compared to $1,463.6 million in 2011, an increase of $24.3 million or 1.7%.

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc., of $32.8 million compared to $66.8 million in 2011, a decrease of 50.9%.

• Net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share of $1.08 compared to $2.29 per diluted share in 2011, a decrease of 52.8%.

• EBITDA of $103.2 million compared to $157.1 million in 2011, a decrease of 34.3%.

William F. Borne, Chief Executive Officer stated, "I'm pleased to report that after appropriate adjustments, we generated $1.00 in earnings per diluted share for the year, falling within the guidance we provided at both the beginning of the year and on our last earnings call. To better reflect core operations and as a basis to present adjusted results going forward, we have further adjusted earnings for legal costs associated with governmental investigations which were incurred in each quarter of the year and tax credits earned in the third quarter. On this basis, we earned $1.08 in earnings per diluted share for the year, compared to $2.29 per diluted share in 2011. In 2012, we faced another year of significant reimbursement cuts, slow industry growth, and limited acquisition opportunities. Yet, in addition to achieving guidance, we had a number of accomplishments including stabilizing our Medicare home health admissions, increasing our managed care business, lowering operating costs in the face of declining volumes, continuing development of our next generation operating system, and improving our capital structure.

"Moving into 2013, in addition to a focus on growth, operational efficiency, and clinical excellence, we are making significant investments in technology and evolving our model of care. This differentiating strategy recognizes the changes taking place within the health care industry. We believe these investments will yield positive long-term results for our patients, our partners, employees and shareholders."

2013 Guidance

• Net service revenue is anticipated to be in the range of $1.425 billion to $1.45 billion.

• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.60 to $0.70 based on an estimated 31.5 million shares outstanding.

This guidance includes an estimate of legal costs associated with our on-going government investigations and anticipates that the 2% Medicare sequestration goes into effect April 1, 2013 on any admissions starting on or after that date.

We urge caution in considering the current trends and 2013 guidance disclosed in this press release. The home health and hospice industry is highly competitive and subject to intensive regulations, and trends and guidance are subject to numerous factors, risks, and uncertainties, some of which are referenced in the cautionary language below and others that are described more fully in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K which can be found on the SEC's internet website, http://www.sec.gov , and our internet website, http://www.amedisys.com . We disclaim any obligations to update disclosed information on trends.

* See footnote 2 on page 10 for explanation of these certain items.

** See page 9 for the reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures.

Earnings Call and Webcast Information

To participate in the conference call, please call a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, to either (877) 490-9717 (Toll free) or (704) 385-4855 (Toll), use conference ID #15174665. A replay of the conference call will be available through March 19, 2013. The replay dial in number is (855) 859-2056 (Toll free) or (404) 537-3406 (Toll), use conference ID #15174665.

The call will also be available through our website and for seven days thereafter at the following web address: http://investors.amedisys.com.

We are headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "AMED."

Additional information

Our company website address is www.amedisys.com. We use our website as a channel of distribution for important company information. Important information, including press releases, analyst presentations and financial information regarding our company, is routinely posted on and accessible on the Investor Relations subpage of our website, which is accessible by clicking on the tab labeled "Investors" on our website home page. We also use our website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding our company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the SEC disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations subpage of our website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to our website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations subpage of our website.

Forward-Looking Statements

When included in this press release, words like "believes," "belief," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," "projects," "estimates," "may," "might," "would," "should" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described therein. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following: changes in Medicare and other medical payment levels, our ability to open care centers, acquire additional care centers and integrate and operate these care centers effectively, changes in or our failure to comply with existing Federal and State laws or regulations or the inability to comply with new government regulations on a timely basis, competition in the home health industry, changes in the case mix of patients and payment methodologies, changes in estimates and judgments associated with critical accounting policies, our ability to maintain or establish new patient referral sources, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, changes in payments and covered services due to the economic downturn and deficit spending by Federal and State governments, future cost containment initiatives undertaken by third-party payors, our access to financing due to the volatility and disruption of the capital and credit markets, our ability to meet debt service requirements and comply with covenants in debt agreements, business disruptions due to natural disasters or acts of terrorism, our ability to integrate and manage our information systems, changes in or developments with respect to any litigation or investigations relating to the Company, including the SEC investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Investigative Demand and various other matters, many of which are beyond our control.

Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on any forward-looking statement as a prediction of future events. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking and we do not intend to release publicly any updates or changes in our expectations concerning the forward-looking statements or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any forward-looking statement may be based, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes the following non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules: EBITDA, defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. before provision for income taxes, net interest expense and depreciation and amortization, adjusted EBITDA, defined as EBITDA plus certain items, adjusted net service revenue, defined as net service revenue plus certain items, adjusted net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc., defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. plus the certain items and adjusted net income from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. per diluted share, defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Amedisys, Inc. common stockholders per diluted share plus the earnings per share effect of certain items. In accordance with SEC rules, we have provided herein a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable measures under GAAP. Management believes that these are useful gauges of our performance and are common measures used in our industry to assess relative financial performance among companies.