The LARGEST Home Care Agencies Are Signaling This…

What Q3 Earnings Are Telling Us About Home Care — And What It Means for Local Businesses

There’s no real data on local businesses in home care.

No earnings calls.
No quarterly breakdowns.
No transparency.

But there is data.

You just have to look upstream.

Because what the largest public home care companies are reporting every quarter…
is the closest thing we have to a real-time blueprint for your business.

And Q3 made something very clear:

This industry is growing — but not evenly.

Start With the Data (Q3 Reality Check)

Let’s look at what actually came out of Q3 earnings:

• Addus reported $362.3M in revenue, up 25% YoY (Addus Q3 earnings release)

• Aveanna reported ~$620M in revenue, up ~21% YoY (Aveanna investor release)

• Industry roundup shows multiple operators in the 20–25% growth range (Mertz Taggart Q3 roundup)

At a high level, Q3 was strong.

But when you actually read the earnings calls and break down segments…

You start to see the real story.

The Headline: Growth Is Being Driven — Not Given

Public companies didn’t just “benefit” from market conditions.

They engineered growth.

1. Personal Care Is Driving Everything

• At Addus, ~75%+ of revenue is tied to personal care services (Addus Q3 release)

Why?

Because:

• It’s scalable

• It’s Medicaid-driven

• It benefits directly from rate increases

2. Hospice Is Surging

• Hospice segments across public operators grew ~15–20% YoY (Mertz Taggart Q3 data)

Driven by:

• Higher admissions

• Strong census growth

• Better utilization

3. Home Health Is Flat — Or Declining

• Home health segments showed low single-digit growth or slight declines in Q3 (Mertz Taggart Q3 data)

That’s important.

Because:

Not all “home care” is performing the same.

So Why Are Revenues Going Up? (Macro + Micro)

What’s Pushing the Industry

1. Rate Increases (Direct Impact)

• States like Texas implemented ~9–10% Medicaid rate increases impacting providers (Addus earnings commentary)

That flows directly to:

• revenue

• margin

• valuation

2. Demand Is Still Strong

• Aging population + home-based care preference driving utilization (industry overview)

This is why:

• top-line growth continues

3. Consolidation Is Accelerating

• Public companies continue aggressive acquisition strategies (Mertz Taggart Q3 report)

Which means:

Growth isn’t just organic anymore — it’s strategic.

Micro: What’s Actually Moving the Numbers

This is where local businesses need to pay attention.

1. Hiring = Revenue

• Addus specifically cited improved hiring and caregiver availability as a growth driver (Addus Q3 release)

No staff → no hours → no revenue.

2. Utilization Is Increasing

• Operators reported higher billable hours per patient and improved utilization (industry roundup)

Better scheduling = more revenue per case.

3. Volume Still Matters

• Aveanna’s growth tied to both volume increases and rate improvements (Aveanna investor release)

Not just pricing.

Actual demand.

Now Let’s Talk About Labor (This Is the Constraint)

Here’s the part that ties everything together.

The entire industry is:

• Growing revenue

• Expanding demand

While still being:

• Labor-constrained

• Operationally dependent on staffing

Industry benchmarking shows:

• ~14% revenue growth with ongoing labor pressure (Activated Insights benchmarking)

• Caregiver turnover still ~70%+ range (McKnight’s Home Care)

Let that sink in.

The industry is growing…

While constantly replacing its workforce.

What This Means for Local Businesses

This is where the disconnect happens.

Local businesses see:

• industry growth

• rising demand

And assume:

“We should be growing too.”

But that’s not how this is playing out.

Why Some Local Businesses Are Growing — And Others Aren’t

Winners

• Can hire consistently

• Maintain caregiver stability

• Optimize scheduling

• Capture rate increases

Struggling Operators

• Can’t staff cases

• High turnover

• Inefficient scheduling

• Limited pricing leverage

The Key Insight Most People Miss

Revenue growth in Q3 wasn’t just demand-driven.

It was:

Execution-driven.

Same market.
Same reimbursement environment.

Completely different outcomes.

What Buyers Are Actually Seeing Right Now

Buyers aren’t just underwriting:

• revenue

• EBITDA

They’re underwriting:

• staffing stability

• utilization consistency

• payer mix quality

• operational discipline

Because they’re benchmarking against public data.

The Bigger Shift Happening

Public companies are becoming:

• More efficient

• More data-driven

• More selective

And that raises the bar.

Final Thought

Local businesses are no longer just competing with each other.

They’re being compared — directly or indirectly — to institutional operators.

And the blueprint for what “good” looks like…

Is already out there.

In Q3 earnings.
In public filings.
In how the largest companies are actually growing.

If you’re trying to understand how your business stacks up — or how buyers are going to look at it in today’s market — that’s where the real work is.

That’s what Jake at Acquire Care focuses on.

Not just what your numbers are…

But how they compare to what the best operators in the industry are actually doing — and what that means when it’s time to transact.