Apria readies to move on

INDIANAPOLIS – Apria is readying itself for a post-COVID world by embracing flexible working arrangements and leveraging telehealth to meet patients where they are, says CEO Dan Starck.

While most of its patient-facing staff and operations remained working onsite throughout the pandemic and others who had transitioned to the home are slowly moving back to the office, the company is committed to a hybrid model going forward, he says.

“The pandemic challenged all of us to rapidly change the ways in which things get done, as well as(opened)new opportunities to leverage technology to improve processes, provide greater access for patients and drive efficiency,” he said during a recent conference call to discuss the company’s first quarter financial results.

Apria reported net revenue of $275.3 million for the first quarter of 2021, a 2% increase compared to the same period last year, and projects net revenue of $1.12 billion to $1.14 billion for full year 2021.

Stark says the increased use of telehealth is the new normal for patient care.

“We are ready for the post-public health emergency environment from a technology perspective and expect that we will leverage telehealth far into the future to increase patient access to Apria, as well as increased efficiencies for our team members,” he said.

In the first quarter, the surge in COVID-19 cases due to the holidays was favorable for the company’s oxygen business, but it delayed growth in other product categories like sleep therapy.

“We've seen the return of pretty significant volumes from a new patient start standpoint and essentially exited March specific to new patient starts on CPAP right at where we were in Q1 of 2020,” he said. “So that was a pleasant surprise with how quickly it kind of snapped back after the virus prevalence started declining in mid-to late February.”