DENVER, May 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During the first quarter of 2020, DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) took significant steps to respond to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic while continuing to provide high-quality care for its patients whose lives depend on receiving dialysis treatment multiple times each week.

During this time of great challenge, our top priorities continue to be the health, safety and well-being of our patients, teammates and physician partners and helping to ensure that our patients have the ability to maintain continuity of care throughout this crisis, whether in the inpatient, in-center or home setting. Throughout this crisis, we are working to support our communities and help preserve precious hospital resources. We have been collaborating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and dialysis providers nationwide to help ensure that the dialysis community is able to support dialysis patients nationwide.

"I am proud and humbled by the amazing efforts of our 65,000 teammates around the world," said Javier Rodriguez, CEO of DaVita Inc., "I offer my deepest gratitude to them all, especially to our caregiving teammates and physician partners working heroically to provide life-sustaining therapy to approximately 238,000 dialysis patients globally."

In addition, the Company announced financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020

First quarter 2020 highlights:

• Consolidated revenues of $2.841 billion.
• Operating income of $465 million or 16.4% operating margin.
• Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.81 and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.83.
• Operating cash flow from continuing operations of $360 million and free cash flow from continuing operations of $184 million.
• Repurchased 4,052,298 shares of our common stock at an average cost of $74.81 per share.

U.S. dialysis metrics:

Volume: Total U.S. dialysis treatments for the first quarter of 2020 were 7,513,321, or an average of 96,821 treatments per day, representing a per day increase of 1.6% over the first quarter of 2019. Normalized non-acquired treatment growth in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to the first quarter of 2019 was 2.3%.

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

Revenue: The change was primarily due to a Medicare rate decline related to calcimimetics and a seasonal decrease from co-insurance and deductibles, partially offset by increases in base Medicare rates in 2020 and seasonally higher inpatient dialysis service revenue.

Patient care costs: The change was primarily due to decreases in other direct operating expenses associated with our dialysis centers and pharmaceutical unit costs, partially offset by increases in labor and benefits costs, payroll taxes and pharmaceutical intensity.

General and administrative: The change was primarily due to decreases in long-term incentive compensation expense and professional fees, partially offset by increases in payroll taxes and labor costs.

Certain items impacting the quarter:

Share repurchases: The following table summarizes repurchases of our common stock during the quarter ended March 31, 2020:

Subsequent to March 31, 2020 through May 4, 2020, we have not repurchased any shares of our common stock. As of May 4, 2020, we have a total of $1.400 billion available for additional share repurchases under our current repurchase authorization. Although this share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date, we remain subject to share repurchase limitations, including under the terms of our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our senior notes.

Non-GAAP adjustments to net income:

Debt refinancing charges: On February 13, 2020, we entered into an amendment to our credit agreement to refinance the senior secured Term Loan B with a senior secured Term Loan B-1 that bears interest at a rate equal to LIBOR plus an applicable margin of 1.75% and matures on August 12, 2026. No additional debt was incurred, nor any additional proceeds received, by us in connection with this refinancing. As a result of this transaction we recognized debt refinancing charges of $3 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2020. These charges primarily represent fees incurred on this transaction.

Financial and operating metrics:

Center activity: As of March 31, 2020, we provided dialysis services to a total of approximately 238,000 patients at 3,054 outpatient dialysis centers, of which 2,772 centers were located in the United States and 282 centers were located in ten countries outside of the United States. During the first quarter of 2020, we opened a total of 22 new dialysis centers, acquired two centers and closed five dialysis centers in the United States. We also opened three new dialysis centers, acquired 22 dialysis centers and closed two dialysis centers outside of the United States during the first quarter of 2020.

Outlook:

The following forward-looking measures and the underlying assumptions involve significant risks and uncertainties, including those described below, and actual results may vary materially from these forward-looking measures. In particular, the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to generate significant risk and uncertainty, and as a result, our future results could vary materially from the guidance provided below. We do not provide guidance for diluted net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc., effective income tax rate on income from continuing operations or free cash flow from continuing operations 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 non-GAAP financial measures do not include certain items, including refinancing charges and foreign currency fluctuations, which may be significant. The guidance for effective income tax rate on adjusted income from continuing operations 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 first quarter ended March 31, 2020, on May 5, 2020, 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'. A replay of the conference call will be available on our website at investors.davita.com for the following 30 days.

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 include, among other things, DaVita's response to and the expected future impacts of COVID-19, statements about our balance sheet and liquidity, our expenses, revenues, billings and collections and future results, potential need, ability or willingness to use any funds under the CARES Act or other government programs, availability of supplies, treatment volumes, number of percentage or patients under commercial insurance, and overall impact on our patients, as well as statements related to our guidance and expectations for future periods and the assumptions underlying any such projections. Without limiting the foregoing, statements including the words "expect," "intend," "will," "could," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," 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. 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:

• the impact of the dynamic and rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, including, without limitation, on our patients, teammates, physician partners, suppliers, business, operations, reputation, financial condition and results of operations, the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequences of an economic downturn resulting from the impacts of COVID-19, any of which may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks and uncertainties discussed below;
• our need, ability and willingness to utilize any funds received under the CARES Act or subsequent legislation, and the consequences of our decisions with respect thereto;
• the concentration of profits generated by higher-paying commercial payor plans for which there is continued downward pressure on average realized payment rates, and a reduction in the number or percentage of our patients under such plans, including without limitation as a result of restrictions or prohibitions on the use and/or availability of charitable premium assistance, which may result in the loss of revenues or patients, or our making incorrect assumptions about how our patients will respond to any change in financial assistance from charitable organizations;
• noncompliance by us or our business associates with any privacy or security laws or any security breach by us or a third party involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information;
• the extent to which the ongoing implementation of healthcare reform, or changes in or new legislation, regulations or guidance, enforcement thereof or related litigation result in a reduction in coverage or reimbursement rates for our services, a reduction in the number of patients enrolled in higher-paying commercial plans, or other material impacts to our business; or our making incorrect assumptions about how our patients will respond to any such developments;
• a reduction in government payment rates under the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease program or other government-based programs and the impact of the Medicare Advantage benchmark structure;
• risks arising from potential and proposed federal and/or state legislation, regulation, ballot, executive action or other initiatives, including such initiatives related to healthcare and/or labor matters;
• the impact of the political environment and related developments on the current healthcare marketplace and on our business, including with respect to the future of the Affordable Care Act, the exchanges and many other core aspects of the current healthcare marketplace;
• our ability to successfully implement our strategy with respect to home-based dialysis, including maintaining our existing business and further developing our capabilities in a complex and highly regulated environment;
• changes in pharmaceutical practice patterns, reimbursement and payment policies and processes, or pharmaceutical pricing, including with respect to calcimimetics;
• legal and compliance risks, such as our continued compliance with complex government regulations;
• continued increased competition from dialysis providers and others, and other potential marketplace changes;
• our ability to maintain contracts with physician medical directors, changing affiliation models for physicians, and the emergence of new models of care introduced by the government or private sector that may erode our patient base and reimbursement rates, such as accountable care organizations, independent practice associations and integrated delivery systems;
• our ability to complete acquisitions, mergers or dispositions that we might announce or be considering, on terms favorable to us or at all, or to integrate and successfully operate any business we may acquire or have acquired, or to successfully expand our operations and services in markets outside the United States, or to businesses outside of dialysis;
• uncertainties related to potential payments and/or adjustments under certain provisions of the equity purchase agreement for the sale of our DaVita Medical Group (DMG) business, such as post-closing adjustments and indemnification obligations;
• the variability of our cash flows, including without limitation any extended billing or collections cycles; 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; and the risk that we may not be able to refinance our indebtedness as it becomes due, on terms favorable to us or at all;
• 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 our use of a considerable amount of available funds to repurchase stock;
• risks arising from the use of accounting estimates, judgments and interpretations in our financial statements;
• impairment of our goodwill, investments or other assets; and
• uncertainties associated with the other risk factors set forth in DaVita Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and the risks and uncertainties discussed in any subsequent reports that DaVita has filed or furnished 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 Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

DAVITA INC.
SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL DATA-continued
(unaudited)
(dollars in thousands)

Note 1: Calculation of the Leverage Ratio

Under our new senior secured credit facilities (the New Credit Agreement) dated August 12, 2019 and our prior senior secured credit facilities (the Prior Credit Agreement), the leverage ratio is defined as all funded debt plus the face amount of all letters of credit issued, minus cash and cash equivalents, not to exceed certain limits under the New Credit Agreement, including short-term investments, divided by "Consolidated EBITDA". The leverage ratio determines the interest rate margin payable by the Company for its new Term Loan A and new revolving line of credit under the New Credit Agreement by establishing the margin over the base interest rate (LIBOR) that is applicable. The following leverage ratios were calculated using "Consolidated EBITDA" and "Consolidated net debt" as defined in the credit agreement that was in effect at the end of each period. The calculation below is based on the last twelve months of "Consolidated EBITDA", as of the end of the reported period and pro forma for routine acquisitions that occurred during the period. The Company's management believes the presentation of "Consolidated EBITDA" is useful to users to enhance their understanding of the Company's leverage ratio under its credit agreement in effect at that time. The leverage ratio calculated by the Company is a non-GAAP measure and should not be considered a substitute for debt to net income attributable to DaVita Inc., net income attributable to DaVita Inc. or total debt as determined in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The Company's calculation of its leverage ratio might not be calculated in the same manner as, and thus might not be comparable to, similarly titled measures by other companies.

DAVITA INC.
RECONCILIATIONS FOR NON-GAAP MEASURES
(unaudited)

Note on Non-GAAP Financial Measures

As used in this press release, the term "adjusted" refers to non-GAAP measures as follows, each as reconciled to its most comparable GAAP measure as presented in the non-GAAP reconciliations in the notes to this press release: (i) for income measures, the term "adjusted" refers to operating performance measures that exclude certain items such as impairment charges, (gain) loss on ownership changes, restructuring charges, debt prepayment charges and gains and charges associated with settlements; and (ii) the term "effective income tax rate on adjusted income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc." represents the Company's effective tax rate excluding applicable non-GAAP items and noncontrolling owners' income, which primarily relates to non-tax paying entities.

These non-GAAP or "adjusted" measures are presented because management believes these measures are useful adjuncts to GAAP results. However, these non-GAAP measures should not be considered alternatives to the corresponding measures determined under GAAP.

Specifically, management uses adjusted operating income, adjusted net income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc. and adjusted diluted net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. to compare and evaluate our performance period over period and relative to competitors, to analyze the underlying trends in our business, to establish operational budgets and forecasts and for incentive compensation purposes. We believe these non-GAAP measures also are useful to investors and analysts in evaluating our performance over time and relative to competitors, as well as in analyzing the underlying trends in our business. Furthermore, we believe these presentations enhance a user's understanding of our normal consolidated operating income by excluding certain items which we do not believe are indicative of our ordinary results of operations. As a result, adjusting for these amounts allows for comparison to our normalized prior period results.

In addition, the effective income tax rate on income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc. excludes noncontrolling owners' income, which primarily relates to non-tax paying entities.

The effective income tax rate on adjusted income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc. excludes noncontrolling owners' income and certain non-deductible and other charges which we do not believe are indicative of our ordinary results. Accordingly, we believe these adjusted effective income tax rates are useful to management, investors and analysts in evaluating our performance and establishing expectations for income taxes incurred on our ordinary results attributable to DaVita Inc.

Finally, under our new definition, free cash flow from continuing operations represents net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations less distributions to noncontrolling interests and all capital expenditures (including development capital expenditures, routine maintenance and information technology); plus contributions from noncontrolling interests and sale leaseback proceeds. Management uses this measure to assess our ability to fund acquisitions and meet our debt service obligations and we believe this measure is equally useful to investors and analysts as an adjunct to cash flows from operating activities from continuing operations and other measures under GAAP.

It is important to bear in mind that these non-GAAP "adjusted" measures are not measures of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation from, nor as substitutes for, their most comparable GAAP measures.

The following Notes 2 through 5 provide reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release to their most comparable GAAP measures.

DAVITA INC.
RECONCILIATIONS FOR NON-GAAP MEASURES - continued
(unaudited)
(dollars in thousands, except for per share data)

Note 2:   Adjusted net income from continuing operations and adjusted diluted net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc.

Note 3:   Adjusted operating income

DAVITA INC.
RECONCILIATIONS FOR NON-GAAP MEASURES - continued
(unaudited)
(dollars in thousands)

Note 4:   Effective income tax rates on income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc.

The effective income tax rate on adjusted income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc. is computed as follows:

DAVITA INC.
RECONCILIATIONS FOR NON-GAAP MEASURES - continued
(unaudited)
(dollars in thousands)

Note 5:   Free cash flow from continuing operations