BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), a leading provider of quality home health, hospice, personal care and high-acuity care, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program, under which the Company may repurchase up to $100 million of its outstanding common stock through December 31, 2023.

Scott Ginn, Acting Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Given our strong cashflow and low leverage, we feel it is prudent to have authorization to buy-back shares throughout the course of the year. This will become a recurring part of our capital deployment strategy; however, our priorities will continue to be accretive acquisitions in both Home Health and Hospice and building our High-Acuity Care joint ventures.”

Under the stock repurchase program, the Company may repurchase its common stock from time to time, in amounts, at prices, and at such times as the Company deems appropriate, subject to market conditions and other considerations and in accordance with applicable federal securities laws and other legal requirements. The Company's repurchases may be executed using open market purchases, unsolicited or solicited privately negotiated transactions, an accelerated stock repurchase program, and/or a 10b5-1 trading plan.

About Amedisys:

Amedisys, Inc. is a leading healthcare at home Company delivering personalized home health, hospice, personal care and high-acuity care services. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based personal care; inpatient hospital, palliative, and skilled nursing facility (“SNF”) care in their homes; recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury; care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease; or hospice care at the end of life. More than 3,000 hospitals and 102,000 physicians nationwide have chosen Amedisys as a partner in post-acute care. Founded in 1982, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA with an executive office in Nashville, TN, Amedisys is a publicly held company. With approximately 20,000 employees, in 532 care centers in 37 states and the District of Columbia, Amedisys is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care to the doorsteps of more than 465,000 patients in need every year, performing more than 11.2 million visits annually. For more information about the Company, please visit: www.amedisys.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

When included in this press release, words like “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “strategy,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” “may,” “might,” “could,” “would,” “should” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described therein. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following: staffing shortages driven by the competitive labor market; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; changes in Medicare and other medical payment levels; changes in payments and covered services by federal and state governments; future cost containment initiatives undertaken by third-party payors; changes in the episodic versus non-episodic mix of our payors or payment methodologies; changes in the case mix of our patients; competition in the healthcare industry; our ability to maintain or establish new patient referral sources; changes in or our failure to comply with existing federal and state laws or regulations or the inability to comply with new government regulations on a timely basis; the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic ("COVID-19"), including the measures that have been and may be taken by governmental authorities to mitigate it, on our business, financial condition and results of operations; changes in estimates and judgments associated with critical accounting policies; our ability to consistently provide high-quality care; our ability to keep our patients and employees safe; our access to financing; our ability to meet debt service requirements and comply with covenants in debt agreements; business disruptions due to natural or man-made disasters, climate change or acts of terrorism, widespread protests or civil unrest; our ability to open care centers, acquire additional care centers and integrate and operate these care centers effectively; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions, investments and joint ventures; our ability to integrate, manage and keep our information systems secure; the impact of inflation; and changes in laws or developments with respect to any litigation relating to the Company, including various other matters, many of which are beyond our control.

Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on any forward-looking statement as a prediction of future events. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking and we do not intend to release publicly any updates or changes in our expectations concerning the forward-looking statements or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any forward-looking statement may be based, except as required by law.