Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ted Wahl: Sean, I think — and this is Ted speaking, about 12.5 would have impacted the top line, with the balance impacting bad debt. And that’s just a function of the way the accounting guidance works. There was still a partial ongoing relationship with the smaller, much leaner operation that the existing customer is organized. So, because there’s still an existing customer that’s accounted for as a one-time revenue step down in the quarter. And then conversely, the other restructuring has been divested in four to two separate operators. And because that’s a former customer that’s accounted for as bad debt. So, it’s just geography in terms of the P&L, but the same impact non-cash one time from our perspective, legacy issue.

Andy Wittmann: Got it. So, then I guess the question is from a process point of view, given that you’ve got about $9 million of kind of bad debt, is this idea of adjusted revenue that’s going to add back some of the bad debt unique to the circumstance of this quarter? Or should we expect that this is a metric that you’re going to report on an ongoing basis?

Ted Wahl: We would believe it’s going to be circumstance driven. I would expect in most, if not just about in most quarters, it would be a zero in terms of the adjusted revenue. But we at least wanted to introduce that possibility because again, the accounting rules for revenue are pretty clear. I believe it’s ASC 606, that if you’re in a negotiation and you’re accepting getting paid less on what you had previously billed, and that’s with an existing customer that you continue to provide some level of services to, then you’re expected to record that adjustment as a reduction to revenue rather than bad debt expense. So, to the extent an incident like that or an action like that happens in the future, we would account for it in accordance with the guidance. But otherwise, we wouldn’t expect it to be a recurring theme moving forward.

Andy Wittmann: Okay. That makes sense. And then maybe, Ted, just one other — one here, just on the increased cash flow guidance here. Was there, I mean, we heard your answer before to the prior question about the visibility and the confidence since May, and that all makes sense. Was there an item here collecting on a past maybe bad debt that happened in the quarter or that’s expected to happen in the balance of the year that gives you some of this confidence for this increase?

Ted Wahl: No. It’s really the inter-quarter collections and billings that gives us the confidence. And with that said, we continue to work on with our customers on plans, whether they’re in hand and promissory notes. We’ve talked about before as an important tactic in our overall collection strategy, which can add a degree of tailwind to it, but there was nothing specific to this quarter or notable that would have been unusual. It was largely inter-quarter collecting what we bill. And again, a function of our strategy working, the increased payment frequency, the proactive use of promissory notes, and then discipline in our decision-making, coupled with, and perhaps even more importantly, Andy, the recovering environment. Every quarter that goes by, census occupancy continues to recover, and the state-based reimbursement benefits are starting to take hold.

October is the first month that the 4% CMS increase would be realized. So you have a confluence of events that I think environmentally make for a stronger, a strengthening industry.

Andy Wittmann: Okay. That’s all really helpful perspective. Thank you, Ted. Have a good day.

Ted Wahl: Thanks, Andy.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Daniels from William Blair. Your line is open.

Jack Senft: Yes. Hey guys, this is Jack Senft on for Ryan Daniels. Thanks for taking my question. In terms of margins, it looks like both the housekeeping and laundry and then dining, and nutrition segments decreased from last quarter on an adjusted basis. Is there anything to call out here that caused this decrease? Was it anything to do with restricting? Or, possible just even attributed to seasonality, just curious if you can kind of double click on that? Thanks.