Viemed Healthcare, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the ViMed Healthcare Year End 2024 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow a formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to our host, Trey Fitzgerald, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. Please note, before we begin, that these remarks in this conference call may include forward-looking statements under the U.S. federal securities laws or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation, which we collectively refer to as forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views and intentions with respect to future results or events that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or events to vary from those indicated in forward-looking statements. Examples of such risks and uncertainties are disclosed in our disclosure documents filed with the SEC or the security regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada. Because of these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this conference call are made, as of today, and the company undertakes no obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law. The fourth quarter financial news release, including the related financial statements, are available on the SEC's website. I will now turn it over to our CEO, Casey Hoyt.

Casey Hoyt Okay, thank you, Trey, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. Before sharing some terrific performance results, I want to recognize and thank our dedicated ViMed family for their relentless efforts as we finish strong in 2024, delivering another record quarter. Our nearly 1,200 employees' focus and desire to do what's best for our patients, providers, and partners is what sets us apart as more individuals choose ViMed as their in-home clinical care provider of post-acute respiratory equipment services. Thank you team for all that you do. Based on the year we just completed and now another strong one we're outlining for you for 2025, I think it's worth spending a moment on the demand we're seeing within our business and why we're so confident in this outlook. To provide some context on what we often refer to as a blue ocean of opportunity for business growth. There is a massively underserved patient population that needs to be treated for complex respiratory care. For COPD alone, there are an estimated 25 million patients struggling in the U.S. with this disease. Nearly 2.5 million people are already at the last stage of the disease, and 1.25 million have already reached chronic respiratory failure, requiring the life-changing ventilation therapy we provide. The industry's market penetration is only in the high single digits at this point. with only a handful of national players like us working hard to address these complex respiratory needs. In our sleep sector, an estimated 80 million individuals are suffering from sleep apnea and remain undiagnosed. With increased awareness and engagement happening due to the widening adoption of GLP-1 drugs, the industry is seeing a more positive correlation to patients beginning pap therapy. Downstream, this of course leads to higher resupply rates and a longer term treatment period for these patients. I don't think I have to push too hard to convince anyone on this call of the growing behavioral health crisis we're facing in this country. Rates of clinical anxiety and depression are at an all-time high. In our business, over half of the patients who are in complex respiratory care struggle with symptoms of anxiety and depression. In many cases, they are being readmitted to the hospitals for respiratory issues, but due to behavioral health challenges. In response, we've set up a behavioral health offering providing licensed clinical social workers that go out into the field or can get on a telehealth visit to work in tandem with our respiratory therapists, controlling costs and improving outcomes. We are also seeing the behavioral health opportunity blossom inside of our staffing division, as we have sourced a significant amount of personnel to fulfill mental health needs by state agencies around the country. In addition to these multiple sustainable demand drivers, I would layer on to every increasing trend of providing more clinical care in the home. With our high-touch, technology-enabled clinical approach, our respiratory therapists have earned a trusted place in the home. patients want to be treated in the comfort and safety of their home or place of residence, hospitals and health systems want to better manage their length of stay, and payers recognize the overall total cost of care is lower in the home versus an institutional setting. We have become such a vital link between patients, providers, and payers in this setting for increasing patient satisfaction, improving compliance, and reducing hospitalizations We are considered more of an in-home clinical provider than an HME provider. That's a significant purposeful change we have been seeking, reflecting our commitment to delivering comprehensive patient-centered care. We think we are helping steer the industry to meet evolving needs and remain a leader in complete patient care. Pressure we're all seeing placed on Medicaid and Medicare programs highlights where we are where we can continue to win. We can better manage length of stay for the hospitals through helping them create efficiencies, improve outcomes, and increase patient satisfaction. Hospitals are under financial strain and increasing demands to optimize due to rate and financial performance pressures. We are here to help them succeed by offering our resources and services to help patients appropriately transition to the home. We don't yet know the impact the new administration will have in 2025, but there are a few things to keep in mind. When there's pressure to create efficiencies in healthcare, that plays into our capabilities. When there is transparency, overhauls, and more rules to reduce waste, that is also very good for us. Also, when more care is being delivered in the home, that continues to position us for success. With that backdrop of demand and our capabilities, I think you can now understand why we are seeing the growth in each business segment during 2024. It also underlines the confident and positive outlook we have for 2025. I'll come back to that in a moment. Let me first turn to some brief updates on the business. Our vent business has been a strong performer all year, and it didn't disappoint in Q4. Vent revenue was up 4.4% sequentially on a larger base. while the number of VIM patients increased by over 400 for three quarters in a row in 2024. We had 1500 net VIM ads in 2024, which is close to an all-time high and nearly 50% more than we added in 2023. We're seeing greater penetration of that massively underserved market as a direct result of the operational overhaul we completed earlier in the year. The sales restructuring and recruiting strategies and processes we put in place have seen a 14% increase in average monthly setups per sales rep in Q4. We monitor this metric very closely internally, and the upward trend since implementation has given us the confidence to double down on staying the course by aggressively increasing the sales force in 2025. In our sleep business, we saw a nearly 10% sequential increase in sleep therapy patients leading to a 43% increase in 2024 compared to 2023. We're seeing that sequential growth in CPAP units, resupply orders, and home sleep tests as well. As strong as our organic growth engine is, we're looking at additional opportunities that will expand our products, services, and our reach to diversified patient types. We built up a number of contracts over the years and believe that we can leverage that payer infrastructure with some diversification. The trust we've earned in the home of existing patients is also something we can leverage throughout the country. We've hit on all cylinders this year and delivered on our strategic goals. I'm proud of the team with the record revenue, performance, and growth in operational metrics. We're not satisfied though. There are more patients we can serve and more hospitals and health systems that need us. For 2025, we are leaning into what worked well through 2024 with a laser focus on organic growth and a complementary focus on potential inorganic growth. We are actively ramping up the sales force at a more aggressive pace and expecting continued growth in vents, sleep, and in staffing as we capitalize on its unique positioning in behavioral health. For more on our operational and financial results for the quarter, I'll turn it over to Todd Zender, our Chief Operating Officer.