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Addus HomeCare said its personal care census declined year over year in the third quarter, mainly among clients needing fewer service hours. CEO Dirk Allison said the company is expanding its caregiver app and choosing cases it can staff effectively, while still seeking ways to serve lower-hour clients.
Addus HomeCare reported a year-over-year decline in its personal care census in the third quarter of 2026, with CEO Dirk Allison saying the drop was concentrated among clients who need fewer care hours as caregivers increasingly seek 40-hour work weeks. The company is expanding its caregiver scheduling app and becoming more selective about cases it accepts, while aiming to make lower-hour cases easier to staff.
Allison said on the company’s Q3 earnings call that higher-hour personal care cases increased year over year, even as the overall census edged down. He said the shift, together with improvement in Addus’ service percentage, helped lift same-store personal care hours compared with the prior year. The service percentage refers to the share of authorized hours the company is able to provide.
Addus is rolling out Addus Connect, its caregiver app, in more states. The app lets employees see schedules and patient information and update work hours and availability. Allison said it had performed well in Illinois; rollout was underway in Texas, with New Mexico planned next. He said the company expects the technology to help it serve more state-authorized hours.
The company’s other response is to assess whether it can staff a case effectively before accepting it, with attention to cases offering more hours. Allison said Addus is also working on ways to staff lower-hour patients in line with caregiver availability and emphasized that it would continue serving them. The strategy, he said, has been a focus for several quarters.
Addus’ personal care services segment generated $301 million in Q3 revenue, up 9% year over year. Across the company, quarterly net revenue was $387.7 million, up 7%, and adjusted EBITDA was $51.2 million, up 13.5%, according to the report.
Staffing Shapes Personal Care Growth
The census shift highlights a staffing challenge for home care providers: a client who needs only a small number of weekly visits may be harder to match with a caregiver seeking full-time hours. If providers cannot cover authorized care consistently, they may have difficulty converting referrals into active cases and delivering all approved hours.
For Addus, the issue bears on how it grows its largest service line and manages capacity. The company’s strategy pairs improved scheduling tools with case selection, rather than simply pursuing a higher census. That approach could support hours served and operational fit, but the report does not quantify the app’s effect on staffing, retention or census.
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Expansion Alongside Census Pressure
Addus, based in Frisco, Texas, provides personal care, home health and hospice services. The company serves about 62,500 people across 263 locations in 24 states, according to the report. The third-quarter update comes shortly after Addus agreed on Sept. 14 to buy personal care assets from AccentCare.
The proposed acquisition covers operations in 10 states and an average daily census of about 13,700 clients. Addus agreed to pay approximately $275 million; the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Allison estimated it would increase the company’s revenue base by about 19%. The transaction is intended to add scale and provide entry into Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington, but it has not yet closed.
The report also noted improvement in Addus’ smaller home health segment. It generated $17.7 million in Q3 revenue, up 0.36% year over year; same-store revenue rose 2.5% and same-store admissions increased 13.8%, Allison said. He described Q3 2026 as the segment’s first positive year-over-year revenue quarter in years. These results are separate from the personal care census trend.
“The slight decline in our personal care census over the prior year has primarily been in our lower hour cases, as our higher hour cases have increased year over year.”
— Dirk Allison, Addus HomeCare CEO, on the Q3 earnings call
App Impact and Deal Timing
The report does not give the size of the personal care census decline, the number of lower-hour cases affected or a specific service-percentage figure. It also does not quantify how much the app has improved caregiver availability in Illinois or how quickly results may emerge in Texas and New Mexico. Allison’s outlook on further improvements is a company expectation, not a reported outcome.
It remains unclear how much the AccentCare acquisition will change Addus’ overall census, staffing needs or financial performance once completed. The transaction is still pending, and the stated Q1 2027 closing timetable is an expectation. The report does not provide further deal conditions or detail on integration plans.
Texas Rollout and Acquisition Close
Addus plans to continue rolling out Addus Connect in Texas and then New Mexico, while refining how it evaluates and staffs cases. Future company updates can show whether the technology improves the share of authorized hours delivered and whether same-store personal care hours continue to rise despite the census decline.
Investors and clients will also be watching for the proposed AccentCare deal to close in Q1 2027. Addus has said it will use acquisition opportunities to grow its home health business where appropriate; the timing and scale of any further transactions have not been specified.
Key Questions
Why did Addus’ personal care census decline?
CEO Dirk Allison said the decline was mainly in cases requiring fewer hours. He attributed the staffing difficulty to caregivers’ increasing preference for 40-hour work weeks.
How is Addus responding to the staffing challenge?
Addus is expanding its Addus Connect caregiver app and evaluating cases to determine whether it can staff them effectively. Allison said the company is also working on ways to serve lower-hour clients and will continue doing so.
Did personal care hours fall along with census?
Not according to Allison’s account. He said higher-hour cases increased year over year and that same-store personal care hours rose, aided by improvement in the service percentage. The report did not provide the exact figures for those measures.
What is the status of Addus’ AccentCare acquisition?
Addus agreed to buy AccentCare personal care assets for about $275 million. The deal covers operations in 10 states and an average daily census of about 13,700 clients and is expected to close in Q1 2027.
Source: homehealthcarenews.com
