Operator
Operator
Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Healthcare Services Group Incorporated 2013 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to read the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements. The discussion to be held in any schedules incorporated by reference into it will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Exchange Act, as amended, which are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and industry, our beliefs and assumptions. Words such as believes, anticipates, plans, expects, will, goal and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by us that any of our plans will be achieved. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements is also subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks arising from our providing services exclusively to the health care industry, preliminary providers of long-term care; credit and collection risks associated with this industry from having several significant clients who each individually contribute at least 3% with highest 5% of our total consolidated revenues for the 12 months ended December 31, 2013; risks associated with our acquisition of Platinum Health Services, LLC; our claims experience related to workers compensation and goal liability insurance; the effect of changes in our interpretations of laws and regulations governing the industry, our workforce and services provided, including state and local regulations pertaining to the taxability of our services; and the risk factors described in our Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the year ended December 31, 2012, in Part 1 thereof under Government Regulation of Clients, Competition and Service Agreements/Collections, and under Item IA Risk Factors. Many of our clients' revenues are highly contingent on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement funding rates, which Congress and related agencies have affected through the enactment of a number of major laws and regulations during the past decade, including the March 2010 enactment of the Patient Protection Act and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. On July 29, 2011, the United States Center for Medicare Services issued final rulings which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to nursing centers by 11.1% and changed the reimbursement for the provision of group rehabilitation therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. In January 2013, the U.S. Congress enacted the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 which delayed automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion, including reduced Medicare payments to plans and providers of up to 2%. These discretionary spending caps were originally enacted under provisions in the Budget Control Act of 2011, an initiative to reduce the federal deficit through the year 2021, also known as sequestration. The sequestration went into effect starting March 2013. In December 2013 the U.S. Congress enacted a Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 which reduced the impact of the sequestration over the next two years beginning in fiscal year 2014 by Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extended the reduction in Medicare payments through plans and providers for two years through the year of 2023. Currently the U.S. Congress is considering further changes revising legislation relating to health care in the United States which, among other initiatives, may impose cost containment measures impacting our clients. These laws and proposed laws and forthcoming regulations have significantly altered, or threaten to significantly alter, overall government reimbursement funding rates and mechanisms. The overall effect of these laws and trends in the long-term care industry has affected and could adversely affect the liquidity of our clients, resulting in the ability to make payments to us on agreed-upon payment terms. These factors, in addition to delays in payments for clients have resulted in and could continue to result in significant additional bad debts in the near future. Additionally, our operating results would be adversely affected if unexpected increases in costs and labor and labor-related costs, material, supplies and equipment used in performing services could not be passed on to our clients. In addition, we believe that to improve our financial performance we must continue to obtain service agreements with new clients, provide new services to existing clients, achieve modest price increases on current services agreements with existing clients and maintain internal cost-reduction strategies at our various operational levels. Furthermore, we believe that our ability to sustain the internal development of managerial personnel is an important factor and impacting future operating results and successfully executing projected growth strategies. I would now like to introduce your host for this conference Mr. Daniel McCartney, CEO and Chairman. You may begin.