P3 Health Partners Inc. (NASDAQ:PIII) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Amir Bacchus : Yes. Josh, it’s Amir again. So a couple of things. First of all, when you look at our MLR and things like that, part of the MLR increase, what we’ve seen year-over-year came a lot from the ACO REACH as well. So our ACO REACH population has a much higher med expense overall than what we’ve seen in MA, which has driven up the overall cost. Even though our funding actually has been able to offset that from what we’ve seen from what we’re getting an ACO versus MA. So it’s still, for us, still very good business for us to continue to take on even with the higher cost that we see in that cohort or in that population. But in addition to that, as we look forward to the things that we’re doing collectively and working with our plans and the communication with our plans is to do those very things that we’ve talked about before and getting in front of that med expense, particularly in the things we have visibility to from whether it’s people are asking are 30% or delegated lives for ex procedures, the Part B cost, expenditures, et cetera.

And as you heard me say, the Part B expenditures have been significantly higher, I think, throughout all the markets, not necessarily just P3, but everybody. So these things will require more control and management and we look forward to working with our plans to do that very thing besides just where we’re delegated.

Bill Bettermann: Josh, this is Bill Bettermann, I just want to add to what Dr. Bacchus had shared. One of the things from an operational perspective is this year we’ve really doubled down and focused on some things around Med ex reduction that we — not that we weren’t looking at last year, but we’ve got some new cohorts of patients of how we’re looking at in addressing early in the year, not that — again, not that we weren’t looking at these folks last year, but we have new programs that are available to our patients that weren’t available beginning of 2023. So we’re excited about some of our opportunities that we didn’t have in front of us to reduce that cost that we saw last year.

Josh Raskin: Got you. And how much — I’m trying to figure out how much was December. So what was the MLR, I guess, in October and November versus what December was?

Atul Kavthekar: October, November, I’m going to go and give you some general guidance. I don’t have the numbers exactly in front of me, but they were generally consistent with what we saw in the third quarter. And then the balance obviously was in December and that blended out for the entire quarter.

Josh Raskin: And when you said med claims expense was down 26% in January versus December, is that including all the extra — the $40 million of items in December? Or is that sort of a more normalized number?

Atul Kavthekar: That was straightforward medical expense that we saw in — from December to the drop that we saw in January since we were able to get completion or more completion on the January numbers, and obviously, February and March are still — we’re still waiting for all the numbers to come back in. But definitely, from December, it was at 26% drop that we saw in utilization into January.

Josh Raskin: And the December include the write-down, the $10 million write-down of reserves?

Atul Kavthekar: No, it did not.

Josh Raskin: Okay. So just expense. And then just last one. I heard the $55 million of expected cash at the end of the quarter. Do you have an expectation of cash on the balance sheet end of year?

Atul Kavthekar: We don’t. And we talked about it in the past, it’s rather difficult to get the timing right when you’re forecasting cash to that level of precision. So we haven’t really put out any specific guidance at end of your cash for that reason. But as I said earlier, I think the addition of the cash from this note offering, it provides us with a nice cushion. It gives us some protection from unforeseen and unexpected things that are happening in the year. But all in all, we feel pretty good about where we are.

Operator: And our next question today comes from David Larsen with BTIG.

David Larsen : Can you talk about the medical trend like when we last spoke, I think you mentioned medical trend was actually minus 1% for members that have been on the platform for a year or more. Do you have — did you highlight what the medical trend was in the quarter? Or what it’s trending at?

Amir Bacchus : Dave, this is Amir. I do not have the medical trend right in front of me right now because of the December blip, but we can get that to you. So we can have a call offline and we can show you what that was.

David Larsen : Okay. And then I’m sorry, how much revenue pushed, I think, from 4Q into 2024.

Atul Kavthekar: It’s not really pushed. Dave, are you asking about how much did we accrue in the fourth quarter for our suite revenue?

David Larsen : Yes.

Atul Kavthekar: The $20 million Yes. So the amount we booked in the fourth quarter relatively consistent with the numbers that we’ve been talking about.

David Larsen : So you got the $20 million?

Atul Kavthekar: Roughly that number in that ZIP code. In the fourth quarter, we recognized that revenue.

David Larsen : Okay. And then can you talk about the nature of the claims, what was it? Were they hips? Were they knees? Was it Medicare Advantage? Was it cough/cold flu because, I mean, we had a call with an expert this afternoon, and he specializes in this space and he’s saying that these medical expenses are going to trend higher for the next year. Just any color on what were the costs?