ATI Physical Therapy Reports Q2, Revises 2021 Forecast

 ATI Physical Therapy – ("ATI" or the "Company") (NYSE: ATIP), the largest independent outpatient physical therapy provider in the United States, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021.

Labeed Diab, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are seeing growing demand for ATI's services, and visit volume increased during the second quarter. However, the acceleration of attrition among our therapists in the second quarter and continuing into the third quarter, combined with the intensifying competition for clinicians in the labor market, prevented us from being able to meet the demand we have and increased our expectations for labor costs. We are implementing a range of actions related to compensation, staffing levels and other items to retain and attract therapists across our platform to meet our currently underserved patient demand. We expect therapist headcount to be below previously anticipated levels for 2021 which, combined with elevated costs for therapists and an unfavorable revenue mix, has caused us to reduce our forecast for 2021. We continue to have confidence in the underlying fundamentals driving our business and our ability to leverage our strong position in the market to drive growth and value over time."

For full year 2021, ATI is now projecting revenue to be in the range of $640 million to $670 million and Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $60 million to $70 million, down from $731 million and $119 million, respectively. ATI does not intend to provide revenue guidance as a future guidance metric. The revised expectations reflect the impact of the following developments which are partially offset by continued strong demand for ATI's services:

• The acceleration of attrition in the second quarter and continuing into the third quarter caused, in part, by changes made during the COVID-19 pandemic related to compensation, staffing levels and support for clinicians. ATI has taken swift actions to offset those changes, but the company expects the impact of attrition in the second and third quarters will impact overall profitability for the year.

• Labor market dynamics that increased competition for the available physical therapy providers in the workforce, creating wage inflation and elevated employee attrition at ATI, negatively affecting our ability to capitalize on continued customer demand.

• Decrease in rate per visit primarily driven by continuing less favorable payor and state mix when compared to pre-pandemic profile, with general shift from workers compensation and auto personal injury to commercial and government, and further impacted by mix-shift out of higher reimbursement states.

Largely in response to the accelerated attrition, ATI is lowering its estimate for new clinic openings, (i.e., de novo and acqui-novo clinics), to be in the range of 55 to 65 clinics from 90 clinics. Our ability to achieve our revised forecast for the remainder of 2021 depends upon a number of factors, including the success of a number of steps being taken to significantly reduce attrition of physical therapists and significant hiring of physical therapists.

The Company has determined that the revision to its 2021 forecast constitutes an interim triggering event that requires further analysis with respect to potential impairment to goodwill and trade name intangible assets. Accordingly, the Company is currently performing interim quantitative impairment testing during the third quarter of 2021. If it is determined that the fair value amounts are below the respective carrying amounts, the Company will record an impairment charge which could be material.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ati-physical-therapy-reports-second-110000451.html