DENVER, Feb. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) announced financial and operating results for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

“Despite a year with unique hurdles, we finished strong in 2024, producing full year adjusted operating income and adjusted EPS in the top half of our guidance range,” said Javier Rodriquez, CEO of DaVita Inc. “As we embark on 2025, when we will be celebrating the 25^th anniversary of DaVita, we look forward to continuing our efforts to improve clinical outcomes, enhance quality of life for our patients and teammates, and be a force for positive change in the healthcare system.”

Financial and operating highlights for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024:

• Consolidated revenues were $3.295 billion and $12.816 billion for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024, respectively.
• Operating income was $565 million and adjusted operating income was $491 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024. Operating income was $2,090 million and adjusted operating income was $1,981 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
• Diluted earnings per share was $3.09 and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.24 for the three months ended December 31, 2024. Diluted earnings per share was $10.73 and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $9.68 for the year ended December 31, 2024.
• Operating cash flow was $548 million and free cash flow was $281 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024. Operating cash flow was $2,022 million and free cash flow was $1,162 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
• Repurchased 2.3 million shares of the Company’s common stock at an average price paid of $156.46 per share in the three months ended December 31, 2024. Repurchased 9.8 million shares of the Company’s common stock at an average price paid of $140.06 per share in the year ended December 31, 2024.

 

 

U.S. dialysis metrics:

Volume: Total U.S. dialysis treatments for the fourth quarter of 2024 were 7,278,605, or an average of 91,786 treatments per day, representing a per day decrease of (1.4)% compared to the third quarter of 2024. Normalized non-acquired treatment growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 was (0.3)%.

 

Primary drivers of the changes in the table above were as follows:

Revenue: The quarter change was primarily due to seasonal impacts including flu vaccines and other normal fluctuations. The year to date change was primarily driven by the increase in average reimbursement rates from normal annual rate increases including from Medicare, as well as revenue cycle improvements, favorable changes in mix and an increase in hospital inpatient dialysis rates.

Patient care costs: The quarter change was primarily due to increased center closure costs, health benefit expense, other direct operating expenses associated with our dialysis centers, insurance costs, travel costs and pharmaceutical unit costs. These increases were partially offset by a gain on settlement received in the fourth quarter and decreased medical supply costs. The year to date change was primarily due to increases in compensation expenses, health benefit expense, medical supply expense, utilities expense and insurance costs. These increases were partially offset by decreased contributions to charitable organizations, other direct operating expenses associated with our dialysis centers, contract wages and a gain on settlement received, as described above.

General and administrative: The quarter change was primarily due to increased professional fees, IT-related costs, travel costs and center closure costs. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in compensation expenses. The year to date change was primarily due to increases in compensation expenses, IT-related costs and advocacy costs, including a refund received in 2023 related to 2022 advocacy costs. Other drivers of this change include increases in professional fees, center closure costs and health benefit expense. These increases were partially offset by decreased severance costs and contributions to our charitable foundation.

Certain items impacting the quarter:

Closure costs. In the third quarter of 2022, we began a strategic review of our outpatient clinic capacity requirements and utilization, which had been significantly impacted by declines in our patient census due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This review continued through 2023, with impact continuing into 2024, and has resulted in higher than normal charges for center capacity closures over the last several quarters. These capacity closure costs include net losses on assets retired, lease termination costs, asset impairments and accelerated depreciation and amortization.

During the three months ended and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, we incurred charges for U.S. dialysis center closures of approximately $24.2 million and $72.4 million, respectively. During the three months ended December 31, 2024 these center closures impacted our patient care costs by $17.6 million, our general and administrative expenses by $6.0 million and our depreciation and amortization expense by $0.6 million. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, these center closures impacted our patient care costs by $30.8 million, our general and administrative expenses by $25.6 million and our depreciation and amortization expense by $16.0 million.

As previously disclosed, we have updated the presentation of our non-GAAP measures to no longer exclude center closure costs for all periods presented. To facilitate comparisons, prior periods shown herein now conform to this revised presentation.

Share repurchases. During the three months ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased 2.3 million shares for $367 million, at an average price paid of $156.46 per share.

Subsequent to December 31, 2024 through February 13, 2025, the Company has repurchased 0.8 million shares of our common stock for $125 million at an average price paid of $158.48 per share.

Financial and operating metrics:

 

 

Center activity: As of December 31, 2024, we provided dialysis services to a total of approximately 281,100 patients at 3,166 outpatient dialysis centers, of which 2,657 centers were located in the United States and 509 centers were located in 13 countries outside of the United States. During the fourth quarter of 2024, we opened one and closed five dialysis centers in the United States, and acquired 55, opened one and closed 5 dialysis centers outside of the United States.

Integrated kidney care (IKC): As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately 70,400 patients in risk-based integrated care arrangements representing approximately $5.5 billion in annualized medical spend. We also had an additional 11,600 patients in other integrated care arrangements; we do not include the medical spend for these patients in this annualized medical spend estimate. For an additional description of these metrics, see footnote 7 in the “Supplemental Financial Data” table below.

Outlook:

The following forward-looking measures and the underlying assumptions involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including those described below, and actual results may vary materially from these forward-looking measures. We do not provide guidance for operating income or diluted net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. on a basis consistent with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) nor a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis because we are unable to predict certain items contained in the GAAP measures without unreasonable efforts. These current non-GAAP financial measures do not include certain items, including gains on changes in ownership interest, debt prepayment, extinguishment and modification costs, and foreign currency fluctuations, which may be significant. The guidance for our effective income tax rate on adjusted income attributable to DaVita Inc. also excludes the amount of third-party owners’ income and related taxes attributable to non-tax paying entities.

We will be holding a conference call to discuss our results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, on February 13, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To join the conference call, please dial (877) 918-6630 from the U.S. or (517) 308-9042 from outside the U.S., and provide the operator the password “Earnings.” This call is being webcast and can be accessed at the DaVita Investor Relations website investors.davita.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available at investors.davita.com for the following 30 days.

Forward looking statements

DaVita Inc. and its representatives may from time to time make written and oral forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), including statements in this release, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reports to stockholders and in meetings with investors and analysts. All statements in this release, during the related presentation or other meetings, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and as such are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by the PSLRA. These forward-looking statements could include, among other things, statements about our balance sheet and liquidity, our expenses, revenues, billings and collections, patient census, availability or cost of supplies, including without limitation the impact of any reduction in clinical and other supplies due to any disruptions experienced by third party vendors, including with respect to our ability to provide home dialysis services, treatment volumes, mix expectation, such as the percentage or number of patients under commercial insurance, the effects on us and our operations of any interruptions in key functions performed by our third party service providers or suppliers, current macroeconomic, marketplace and labor market conditions, and overall impact on our patients and teammates, as well as other statements regarding our future operations, financial condition and prospects, capital allocation plans, expenses, cost saving initiatives, other strategic initiatives, use of contract labor, government and commercial payment rates, expectations related to value-based care (VBC), integrated kidney care (IKC), Medicare Advantage (MA) plan enrollment and our international operations, expectations regarding increased competition and marketplace changes, including those related to new or potential entrants in the dialysis and pre-dialysis marketplace and the potential impact of innovative technologies, drugs, or other treatments on the dialysis industry, and expectations regarding our stock repurchase program. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, statements including the words “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “could,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “goals,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on DaVita’s current expectations and are based solely on information available as of the date of this release. DaVita undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of changed circumstances, new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Actual future events and results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things:

• external conditions, including those related to general economic, marketplace and global health conditions, including without limitation, the impact of global events and political or governmental volatility; the impact of the domestic political environment and related developments on the current healthcare marketplace, our patients and on our business; the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population and our patient population; supply chain challenges and disruptions, including without limitation with respect to certain key services, critical clinical supplies and equipment we obtain from third parties, and including any impacts on our supply chain as a result of natural disasters; the potential impact of new or potential entrants in the dialysis and pre-dialysis marketplace and potential impact of innovative technologies, drugs, or other treatments on our patients and industry; elevated teammate turnover or labor costs; the impact of continued increased competition from dialysis providers and others; and our ability to respond to challenging U.S. and global economic and marketplace conditions, including, among other things, our ability to successfully identify cost saving opportunities;
• the concentration of profits generated by higher-paying commercial payor plans for which there is continued downward pressure on average realized payment rates; a reduction in the number or percentage of our patients under commercial plans, including, without limitation, as a result of continuing legislative efforts to restrict or prohibit the use and/or availability of charitable premium assistance, or as a result of payors implementing restrictive plan designs;
• risks arising from potential changes in or new laws, regulations or requirements applicable to us, including, without limitation, those related to healthcare, privacy, antitrust matters, and acquisition, merger, joint venture or similar transactions and/or labor matters, and potential impacts of changes in interpretation or enforcement thereof or related litigation impacting, among other things, coverage or reimbursement rates for our services or the number of patients enrolled in or that select higher-paying commercial plans, and the risk that we make incorrect assumptions about how our patients will respond to any such developments;
• our ability to successfully implement our strategies with respect to IKC and VBC initiatives and home based dialysis in the desired time frame and in a complex, dynamic and highly regulated environment;
• a reduction in government payment rates under the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease program, state Medicaid or other government-based programs and the impact of the MA benchmark structure;
• our reliance on significant suppliers, service providers and other third party vendors to provide key support to our business operations and enable our provision of services to patients, including, among others, suppliers of certain pharmaceuticals, administrative or other services or critical clinical products; and risks resulting from a closure, reduction or other disruption in the services or products provided to us by such suppliers, service providers and third party vendors;
• noncompliance by us or our business associates with any privacy or security laws or any security breach by us or a third party, including, among other things, any such non-compliance or breach involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information;
• legal and compliance risks, such as compliance with complex, and at times, evolving government regulations and requirements, and with additional laws that may apply to our operations as we expand geographically or enter into new lines of business;
• our ability to attract, retain and motivate teammates, including key leadership personnel, and our ability to manage potential disruptions to our business and operations, including potential work stoppages, operating cost increases or productivity decreases whether due to union organizing activities, legislative or other changes, demand for labor, volatility and uncertainty in the labor market, the current challenging and highly competitive labor market conditions, including due to the ongoing nationwide shortage of skilled clinical personnel, or other reasons;
• changes in pharmaceutical practice patterns, reimbursement and payment policies and processes, or pharmaceutical pricing, including with respect to oral phosphate binders, among other things;
• our ability to develop and maintain relationships with physicians and hospitals, changing affiliation models for physicians, and the emergence of new models of care or other initiatives that, among other things, may erode our patient base and impact reimbursement rates;
• our ability to complete and successfully integrate and operate acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or other strategic transactions on terms favorable to us or at all; and our ability to continue to successfully expand our operations and services in markets outside the United States, or to businesses or products outside of dialysis services;
• the variability of our cash flows, including, without limitation, any extended billing or collections cycles including, without limitation, due to defects or operational issues in our billing systems or in the billing systems or services of third parties on which we rely; the risk that we may not be able to generate or access sufficient cash in the future to service our indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs;
• the effects on us or others of natural or other disasters, public health crises or severe adverse weather events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires or flooding;
• factors that may impact our ability to repurchase stock under our stock repurchase program and the timing of any such stock repurchases, as well as any use by us of a considerable amount of available funds to repurchase stock;
• our goals and disclosures related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, including, among other things, evolving regulatory requirements affecting ESG standards, measurements and reporting requirements; and
• the other risk factors, trends and uncertainties set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30, 2024, and the risks and uncertainties discussed in any subsequent reports that we file or furnish with the SEC from time to time.

The financial information presented in this release is unaudited and is subject to change as a result of subsequent events or adjustments, if any, arising prior to the filing of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.