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Addus HomeCare reported a year-over-year decline in its personal care census in the third quarter, mainly among clients needing fewer service hours. CEO Dirk Allison said the company is expanding its caregiver app and screening referrals more carefully as it tries to match staffing with caregivers’ preference for fuller workweeks.
Addus HomeCare reported a year-over-year decline in personal care census in the third quarter, with the decrease concentrated in cases requiring fewer hours, CEO Dirk Allison said on the company’s earnings call. Addus is expanding its caregiver scheduling app and being more selective about referrals as it tries to staff authorized care hours amid caregivers’ growing preference for 40-hour workweeks.
Allison said the company’s higher-hour cases increased year over year, while the decline was primarily in lower-hour cases. He said a continued improvement in Addus’ service percentage, alongside the shift toward higher-hour cases, contributed to an increase in same-store personal care hours. The company did not provide a specific census decline figure in the source report.
Addus is rolling out Addus Connect, an app that lets caregivers view schedules and patient information and adjust their work hours and availability. Allison said the app had performed well in Illinois. The company is now rolling it out in Texas, with New Mexico next. He said the technology could help Addus serve more of the hours authorized by states, though the report did not give a quantified impact from the app.
The other approach is to assess cases for whether they can be staffed effectively, with particular attention to those offering more hours. Allison said Addus still intends to serve lower-hour clients and is working to improve how it staffs them. The strategy reflects a tension between caregiver scheduling preferences and the needs of clients whose approved care may amount to relatively few hours.
Staffing Pressures Shape Client Intake
The census change shows how workforce availability can affect the number and mix of clients a home-care provider serves, even when care has been authorized. If caregivers seek fuller schedules, shorter assignments can be harder to cover, Allison said. Addus’ efforts to group, schedule or otherwise staff those cases could affect its ability to deliver authorized hours and maintain service for clients who need less frequent care.
The company’s response also matters to referral partners and families: Addus says it is weighing staffing fit when considering patients, while continuing to accept lower-hour cases. The earnings-call comments describe its approach, but do not establish how much the app or intake selectivity will change census, service levels or client access.
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Quarterly Results and AccentCare Deal
Addus, based in Frisco, Texas, provides personal care, home health and hospice services. It serves about 62,500 people across 263 locations in 24 states, according to the source report. In the third quarter of 2026, its personal care services segment generated $301 million in revenue, up 9% from a year earlier. Company-wide net revenue was $387.7 million, a 7% year-over-year increase, and adjusted EBITDA was $51.2 million, up 13.5%.
On Sept. 14, Addus agreed to buy personal care assets from AccentCare for about $275 million. The assets span 10 states and serve 13,700 clients in average daily census, according to the report. Addus expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2027; Allison estimated it would add about 19% to the company’s revenue base. The deal would give Addus a presence in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington. The source report did not say that the acquisition would resolve the staffing challenge described on the earnings call.
“The slight decline in our personal care census over the prior year has primarily been in our lower hour cases, as our higher hour cases have increased year over year.”
— Dirk Allison, Addus HomeCare CEO
Scale of Census Decline Unreported
The source report did not give the size of the personal care census decline, the number of lower-hour cases affected or a target for improving census or service percentage. It also did not quantify how much Addus Connect has changed caregiver retention, scheduling or hours served. Allison described the app’s performance in Illinois positively, but the report offered no independent outcome data.
It remains unclear how Addus will balance prioritizing cases that offer more hours with continued service to lower-hour clients, and whether staffing constraints have led to delays or unmet care needs. The report does not provide details on those client-level effects.
App Rollout and Acquisition Milestones
Addus plans to continue the caregiver-app rollout in Texas and then New Mexico, while refining its approach to staffing both higher- and lower-hour cases. Future company updates may show whether service percentage and same-store personal care hours continue to improve, but no timetable or performance target was provided in the source report.
The next major corporate milestone is the proposed AccentCare personal care asset acquisition, which Addus expects to close in the first quarter of 2027. The company has not detailed in the source material how the acquired operations will be integrated or how their staffing needs will affect its personal care strategy.
Key Questions
Why did Addus’ personal care census decline?
CEO Dirk Allison said the year-over-year decline was primarily in lower-hour cases. He attributed the staffing difficulty to caregivers’ increasing preference for a 40-hour workweek, which can make short assignments harder to cover.
What is Addus doing to address the staffing challenge?
The company is expanding Addus Connect, a caregiver scheduling and information app, and evaluating referrals for whether cases can be staffed effectively. Allison said Addus still plans to serve lower-hour clients.
Where is Addus Connect being rolled out?
Allison said the app had performed well in Illinois and is being rolled out in Texas, with New Mexico planned next. The report did not provide a rollout completion date.
How did Addus’ personal care segment perform financially?
Addus’ personal care services segment recorded $301 million in third-quarter 2026 revenue, a 9% increase from the same quarter a year earlier, according to the source report.
When is the AccentCare acquisition expected to close?
Addus expects its approximately $275 million purchase of AccentCare personal care assets to close in the first quarter of 2027. The assets serve 13,700 clients in average daily census and span 10 states, according to the report.
Source: homehealthcarenews.com
