National Health Investors, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the National Health Investors First Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the one followed by the four on your telephone. Should you require operator assistance at any time, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. I would now like to turn the conference over to Dana Hambly. Please go ahead.

Thank you and welcome everyone to the National Health Investors Conference Call to review the company's results for the first quarter of 2020. On the call with me today are Eric Mendelsohn, President and CEO, Kevin Pascoe, Chief Investment Officer, and John Spaid, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The results as well as notice of the accessibility of this conference call on a listen-only basis over the internet were released yesterday after market close in a press release that's been covered by the financial media. As we start, let me remind you that any statements in this conference call which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. NHI cautions investors that any forward-looking statements may involve risks or uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. All forward-looking statements represent NHI's judgment as of the date of this conference call. Investors are urged to carefully review various disclosures made by NHI and its periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors and other information disclosed in NHI's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. Copies of these filings are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or on NHI's website at www.nhi.com. In addition, certain terms used in this call are non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations of which are provided in NHIS earnings release and related tables and schedules which have been filed on Form 8K with the SEC. Listeners are encouraged to review these reconciliations provided in the earnings release together with all other information provided in that release. I'll now turn the call over to Eric Mendelsohn.

Thank you, Dana. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. First and foremost, we are deeply grateful to all the frontline heroes that are tirelessly combating COVID-19 every day despite the great risk to themselves and their families. At NHI, we have long admired the senior housing and skilled nursing organizations and their staff that go to great lengths to keep our senior population safe and smiling. Never has this been truer than today. As a tribute, we have published some of our favorite caregiver and resident photos on the cover of our supplemental. I hope you'll take a look. Reputations are made during a crisis, and I see operators making good decisions and taking action based on the principles they value, selflessly caring for their residents, nurturing a company culture that appreciates employees, and providing leadership and comfort to the employees and families of their residents. I believe that when history reflects back on our industry and its practices during this time, there will be operators that are hailed as heroes. That said, the challenges posed to our operators and our business by this pandemic are very real, and it is difficult to say with any degree of accuracy when we will return to a more normal operating environment. Our operators have done an admirable job in limiting the spread of COVID-19. As of May 5th, we had 192 active resident cases in 37 buildings. To put that in some perspective, NHI has over 20,000 residents being cared for in all of our properties, so less than 1%. As our operators have implemented their protocols and taken appropriate actions to prevent or limit the spread of the virus, the result has been a significant downturn in inquiries, tours, and move-ins. This is having a negative impact on occupancy. Kevin will give details on that later. On the cost side of the equation, it should not surprise anyone that our operators are spending more particularly for labor and PPE supplies. This is obviously pressuring our operators' margins, and we are prepared to help them weather this storm where and when necessary. In April, NHI received 99.7% of its contractual rent, and so far in May, we have collected approximately 94% which is in line with our expectations as we typically see a portion of collections through the 15th of the month depending on underlying lease terms. As this pandemic unfolds, NHI is committed to transparency with the investment community. To that end, we have enhanced occupancy disclosure on Bickford, Holiday, and senior living communities which Kevin will touch on in more detail We were the first to detail the incident of COVID-19 in our communities, and we will continue to provide weekly updates to our website as long as it is material. But given that the scope and spread of COVID-19 is so uncertain, NHI has limited visibility to the financial impact it could cause. And as a result, we are withdrawing our previously issued 2020 guidance. Regarding the dividend, our board is committed to our dividend policy, and we will consider the August dividend in mid-June. With that, I'll turn the call over to John.