Premier Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 7, 2024

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Premier's Fiscal 20 24 Third Quarter Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ben Krasinski, Senior Director, Investor Relations.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and welcome to Premier's fiscal 2024 Q3 conference call. Our speakers this morning are Mike Alkire, Premier's President and CEO and Craig McKasson, our Chief Administrative and Financial Officer. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that our earnings release and the supplemental presentation accompanying this call are available in the Investors section of our website at investors. Premierinc.com. Please be advised that management's remarks today contain certain forward looking statements, such as statements regarding our strategies, plans, prospects, expectations and future performance, and the actual results could differ materially from those discussed today.

Speaker 1

These forward looking statements speak as of today and we undertake no obligation to update them. Factors that might affect future results are discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10 ks and Form 10 Q for the quarter, which we expect to file soon. We encourage you to review the detailed forward looking statements and risk factor disclosures in these reports. Also, during this presentation, we will refer to adjusted and other non GAAP financial measures, including free cash flow to evaluate our business. Information on why we use these measures in addition to GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of these measures to our GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and in the appendix of the supplemental presentation accompanying this call.

Speaker 1

Information on our non GAAP financial measures will also be included in our Form 10 Q for the quarter and our earnings Form 8 ks, both of which we expect to furnish to the SEC soon. I will now turn the call over to Mike Alkire.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, we will share our fiscal 2024 Q3 operating results. We'll also provide some highlights on the progress we continue to make advancing our strategy to drive health care performance improvement through further technology enablement of our capabilities. Lastly, we'll provide an update on our outlook for fiscal 2024 as well as provide some initial perspectives on fiscal 2025. First, let me say that I am proud of how our team executed this quarter to deliver operating performance that exceeded our expectations for profitability and has us on track to meet our guidance, which we are reaffirming for the full year.

Speaker 2

For the Q3, total net revenue increased from the prior year period, driven by growth in both our Supply Chain Services and Performance Services segments. We also continued to return additional capital to stockholders as we implemented our $400,000,000 accelerated share repurchase transaction during the quarter. We continue to execute with discipline as we advance our 2 core strategies: technology enabling and streamlining all aspects of supply chain and leveraging our unique data, technology and AI capabilities to support provider performance improvement and growth in certain adjacent markets. Regarding our technology enabled supply chain strategy, we made progress driving adoption of our digital supply chain capabilities as we continue to roll out automated invoicing and payable capabilities to large integrated delivery networks and other providers. We believe these solutions are differentiated in the market and can be a key enabler for providers to better manage labor costs and increase working capital, allowing for better cash flow management and helping to support organizational growth initiatives.

Speaker 2

We've also renewed, expanded and signed new partnership agreements with providers and key suppliers. And we continue to deliver significant value in the to realize over $75,000,000 in savings during the last 5 years, all while maintaining high quality care and outcomes for their patients. Polida utilizes our robust data and analytics as well as our supply chain co management capabilities and together, we align clinical and supply chain teams with industry leading data and insights to enable smarter purchasing decisions. With respect to our AI driven provider performance improvement strategy, we're excited to announce the recent release of the 100 top hospitals in partnership with Fortune Magazine. This transparent ratings program provides vital insights for providers seeking market differentiation and performance enhancement.

Speaker 2

Importantly, the success of this program and our roadmap have helped us open doors and expand partnerships, including a signed deal with 1 of the nation's largest health systems. We also continue to expand relationships and establish new partnerships with hospitals and health systems to drive margin improvement. These engagements underscore the essential role our technology enabled solutions play in supporting and enhancing healthcare delivery. For example, a large regional system recently expanded our multi decade partnership. As part of this agreement, they will deploy our advanced analytics and AI enabled technology across their entire system.

Speaker 2

This included clinical decision support capabilities, specifically our AI enabled clinical documentation solution that Craig will speak further about later in the call. Before I conclude, I wanted to commend our team for their dedication and commitment as they continue to innovate to enable better, smarter health care for member health system providers and the communities they serve. I will now turn the call over to Craig for a more comprehensive discussion on our financial results and outlook.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Mike. Let me share our fiscal year 2024 Q3 results. Total net revenue increased from the prior year period in both of our segments. In our Supply Chain Services segment, higher net administrative fees were driven primarily by continued growth in member purchasing in both the acute and continuum of care programs, as well as one time payments from certain members due to early termination of their agreements, partially offset by an expected increase in the aggregate blended member fee share to the mid-fifty percent level. In our direct sourcing business, products revenue was relatively flat as further expansion and growth of the business was offset by lower pricing for certain products compared to the prior year period.

Speaker 3

We also experienced growth in software license, other services and support revenue in the supply chain services segment, driven by growth in our supply chain co management business, where members continue to engage Premier's expertise to help manage their end to end supply chain operations. We recently announced Beebe Healthcare's selection of Premier as its supply chain operations partner, which comes on the heels of our announcement last quarter with Tufts Medicine. In our Performance Services segment, the revenue increase was driven by an increase in contributions from enterprise license agreements compared to the prior year period, partially offset by a decrease in our Applied Sciences business. We continue to make progress in our adjacent markets businesses, which have delivered over 20% revenue growth during the 1st 9 months of fiscal 2024. For example, we continue to see interest in our AI enabled clinical documentation capabilities and recently highlighted how Community Health Network in Indiana leveraged our solution to improve the accuracy of clinical documentation, while also Turning to profitability, GAAP net loss was $49,200,000 for the quarter and was primarily the result of a 100 and $40,000,000 impairment charge to goodwill and long lived assets related to our Contigo Health business.

Speaker 3

The expansion of our network capabilities into the self insured healthcare provider market was a key driver of our future financial expectations for this business and adoption has been meaningfully slower than originally contemplated. As we announced last quarter, we believe an outside partner will allow for continued advancement of this business through a broader capability set and increased scale. We will provide more information on this process as well as our search for a partner for S2S Global, our direct sourcing business, once we have something definitive to report. Total adjusted EBITDA was impacted by the following factors. Performance Services adjusted EBITDA increased mainly due to revenue growth, partially offset by an increase in expenses, primarily related to higher performance related compensation in the current year period, as well as investments to support continued growth in our adjacent markets businesses.

Speaker 3

Supply Chain Services adjusted EBITDA declined primarily due to an increase in expenses, primarily related to the ongoing enablement of generative AI capabilities in our purchase services GPO program and for expansion of our supply chain co management business and a lower profit margin in our direct sourcing business due to higher logistics costs compared to the prior year period, partially offset by revenue growth. Adjusted net income decreased primarily as a result of the same factors that impacted adjusted EBITDA, but was partially offset by a decrease in interest expense. Adjusted earnings per share increased primarily due to the reduction in weighted average share count as a result of the retirement of approximately 15,000,000 Class A common shares in conjunction with our $400,000,000 accelerated share repurchase implemented in early February. The final number of shares to be repurchased and retired through the accelerated share repurchase transaction will be determined upon completion, which is expected in the Q1 of fiscal 2025. From a cash perspective, excluding the impact of the $148,600,000 in tax payments related to the sale of our non healthcare GPO operations earlier this fiscal year, we continue to expect fiscal 2024 free cash flow to approximate 45% to 55% of adjusted EBITDA for the full year.

Speaker 3

For the 1st 9 months of fiscal 2024, cash flow from operations of $190,300,000 decreased from $331,200,000 in the prior year period. The change was primarily due to the tax payments associated with the sale of our non healthcare GPO operations. Free cash flow of $48,100,000 also declined from the prior year period as it too was impacted by the tax payments as well as an increase in capitalized software development related to the advancements of our supply chain technology automation. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $61,900,000 as of March 31, 2024, compared with 89.8 $1,000,000 as of June 30, 2023. The decrease was driven by the use of cash for the accelerated share repurchase as well as the repayment of the outstanding balance on our 5 year $1,000,000,000 revolving credit facility, which continued to have no balance as of the end of the quarter.

Speaker 3

These decreases were partially offset by the proceeds received from the sale of our non healthcare GPO operations, net of the previously mentioned tax payments. With respect to the sale of non healthcare GPO operations, we have received a total of $629,800,000 in total proceeds as of March 31, 2024 and expect the final purchase price to be up to $738,000,000 as we continue to finalize member consents and the true up period that has been extended into the Q4. With respect to capital deployment, we remain disciplined and focused on taking a balanced approach long term with return to stockholders a current priority. As we mentioned last quarter, to accelerate returns to stockholders, our Board approved a $1,000,000,000 share repurchase authorization through June 30, 2025, and as part of that, we executed a $400,000,000 accelerated share repurchase transaction. This augmented our quarterly cash dividend, which totaled $73,100,000 during the 1st 9 months of fiscal 2024.

Speaker 3

In addition, our Board recently declared a dividend of $0.21 per share payable on June 15, 2024 to stockholders of record as of June 1. We also continue to evaluate opportunities for investment to support organic growth as well as potential acquisitions to strengthen, enhance or complement our existing capabilities and further differentiate our offerings in the marketplace. Turning to our full year fiscal 2024 guidance. Based on our performance for the 9 months year to date and outlook for the remainder of this year, we are reaffirming the guidance that we introduced on our fiscal 2024 Q2 earnings call in February. Looking ahead, while we are not planning to provide our formal fiscal 2025 guidance until our Q4 and full year earnings report in August, we did want to share a few high level perspectives in anticipation of next fiscal year.

Speaker 3

Consistent with recent commentary, we expect fiscal 2025 revenue will decline in Supply Chain Services, excluding S2S Global, primarily due to a further increase in aggregate blended member fee share from the current mid-fifty percent level to the low 60% range as we continue to renew and extend GPO agreements with our members. While we expect continued growth in member purchasing and gross administrative fees revenue in both our acute and continuum of care GPO programs, we anticipate this will be more than offset by the increase in member fee share. Given the high margin nature of the GPO business, this will have a meaningful impact on profitability. In our Performance Services segment, excluding Contigo Health, we expect revenue to grow in the mid single digit range, comprised of double digit growth in our adjacent markets businesses and low single digit growth in the healthcare provider business. In closing, I would also like to thank our employees for their continued dedication to our mission and for their hard work advancing our strategy and enabling our members and other customers to deliver higher quality, lower cost healthcare to the communities they serve.

Speaker 3

They are our greatest asset and a key component of our foundation, which we believe is also differentiated by our unique combination of capabilities, including our AI enabled technology solutions powered by our vast data sets and deeply embedded member relationships where we are helping to drive healthcare improvement from the inside. We also continue to maintain a flexible balance sheet, generate substantial cash flow and remain committed to returning value to stockholders. We appreciate your time today and we'll now open the call for questions.

Operator

Yes. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. And the first question comes from Eric Percher with Nephron Research.

Speaker 4

Thank you. A question for both Mike and Craig. I'm trying to understand the underlying was that an item that was expected in guidance?

Speaker 5

Sure. Eric, this is Craig. I'll be happy address that. So the early termination payment was in the range of $5,000,000 in the quarter. We did know about this terminated member and had factored that into our expectations when we established guidance.

Speaker 4

Okay. And as we look at that and the guidance for next year on the low 60% range, at this point, how much of the book will have repriced at that level? And the fact that it's offsetting revenue, does that suggest that we've seen more of the book reprice at that level or that the full book is repricing at that level?

Speaker 5

Yes, it's a good question, Eric. So what I'd say is that where we sit here today about a third of our book has already been renewed and extended into the future with revised pricing and the fee share levels that we anticipate. We obviously will plan to fiscal 20 25, we would have about 3 fourths of the book renewed and extended at that point in time.

Speaker 4

And the rest of the book longer term contracts or the rest of the book already there?

Speaker 5

So about a third is already renewed, longer term contracts ranging 3 up to, in some cases, 10 years. As we go through 2025, we'll renew up an additional amount to get to about 70 about 3 fourths of the book. And then there will be about a quarter of the restructure related members that will continue to be renewed post June 30, 2025.

Speaker 4

Got you. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Michael Cherny with Leerink Partners.

Speaker 6

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe if I can stay on that topic relative to the renewal process and especially into next year, Is there any way to think about what the ceiling is long term for admin fee share and where this can go. I appreciate the color that you're giving relative to the change you've seen on this book of business. Is this one of those things that as you get through the renewals, there'll be another cut?

Speaker 6

Do we think low 60s is kind of the ceiling for where this would go? Curious how to see the evolution of this on a longer term basis beyond this round of renegotiations?

Speaker 5

Yes. Michael, this is Craig. Thanks for the question. Obviously, it's an important question that the investor community wants to understand. It is difficult until we actually get into and through all the renewals to be able to accurately predict.

Speaker 5

I mean, there are dynamic market conditions as we've talked about. Our current perspective is with the contracts that have been renewed, contracts that we anticipate renewing as we go through next fiscal year, that's what is the reason that we're providing the perspective on the low 60s. Our current perspective is that we likely will remain in the 60% range, albeit it could definitely ratchet up from the low 60s longer term, but we believe it ultimately will reside in the 60s.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then maybe thinking about, call it, expansion ancillary services on the GPO side, obviously these renegotiations give you a chance to go back to your customers and talk more about what you can do. Can you talk maybe just specifically within the supply chain component, aside from Performance Services, are there other service lines that you're able to work through? Is there a trade off in terms of greater contract compliance beyond Ascend and Surpass? But anything else you can talk about relative to strategic nature of these renegotiations and what it means from a multiyear revenue growth perspective would be great as well.

Speaker 6

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. This is Mike. So a couple of things. So first of all, let me just stick with the contracting side first. It gives us an opportunity to really work with them for them to leverage our services and purchase services as well as the non acute area.

Speaker 2

Obviously, we've been making a lot of investment in that technology to support those areas. So, obviously, we want to see higher levels of contract penetration for both the non acute as well as purchase services. It also gives us the opportunity to drive higher levels of utilization of our committed portfolio, which drives significantly more value back to the healthcare system. So think of our SURPASS and Ascend programs, Ascend Drive programs. We want to see that continue to ratchet up because it not only drives more obviously revenue to the business, but it also drives significant savings to our healthcare system.

Speaker 2

And then the final area that it allows us to really focus on is, as you think about what's happening from an invoicing standpoint with the healthcare systems, a lot of that effort today is manual. It allows for us really to get much more embedded from a technology standpoint to help them manage their invoicing and payables process, which we believe, again, will deliver significantly more value, as it brings a degree of transparency to what's happening in the buying transaction as well as drive higher levels of penetration.

Speaker 5

Yes. And Michael, this is Craig. 2 additional builds to Mike's points. 1, not in all cases, but in bring our supply chain co management capabilities. I talked in the prepared remarks about BB this quarter, and we talked about Tufts last quarter.

Speaker 5

Both of those were new relationships where we have a supply chain partner, where now we are actually taking over some of their supply chain operations to actually run the supply chain for them. The reason that's important where that does occur is that actually puts us more in the driver's seat with power of the pen to actually help drive the higher contract penetration that Mike is talking about. And then I will I do just need to add why you said you didn't ask about this. We also are taking advantage of this renewal process to have much more of a one premier approach to the member and the customer to actually pull through additional technology and wraparound service capabilities through performance services.

Speaker 6

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Ann Samuel with JPMorgan.

Speaker 7

Hi, guys. Congrats on the quarter and thanks for the question. Given that we've seen some improving margins within the hospitals and things seem to be kind of stabilizing a little bit there. I was hoping maybe you could speak to what the appetite looks like maybe for some of your performance services solutions and maybe where are things starting to loosen up on the edges and where are some things still considered discretionary where hospitals are holding off on spending?

Speaker 2

Yes. So this is Mike. So a few things. I think our healthcare systems are not I think. Our healthcare systems are very much still struggling with the cost of labor.

Speaker 2

So that's not something that's going away. So they're having to figure out ways to reengineer the way they're providing care. So obviously, leveraging technology and driving high quality of care. So I think as we continue to explore capabilities to support the health systems, we've got to continue to make the investments in technology to be labor extenders for those healthcare systems. So that's number 1.

Speaker 2

Number 2, I will tell you this whole idea of proliferation of technology, we're hearing so much about AI within the healthcare ecosystem and bringing meaningfulness to that. Where are the areas that we should really apply the different kinds of AI to the health care systems. And again, our focus for the most part is on that predictive area of AI. So where can we actually work within the electronic medical record to identify patients for drug trials to actually look at ways to help our healthcare systems document procedures appropriately for reimbursement, as well as think of things like prior authorization, which by the way requires a great deal of labor, but also takes in some cases a significant amount of time. So we want to continue to build out technologies and capabilities to streamline all of those areas.

Speaker 2

And I think that's where we're going to continue to see investments on behalf of the healthcare systems.

Speaker 7

That's really helpful. Thanks. And maybe just a follow-up on that. I was hoping maybe you could just talk about the receptivity within your customer base for some of those AI enabled capabilities you discussed, things like documentation and things like that. How comfortable are they with using that kind of technology?

Speaker 7

And then you talk about having access to 45% of discharges annually within Tink dotai. Can you just talk about the data set that you're using to inform those models?

Speaker 2

Yes. And I'll ask Lee to jump in a little bit here on maybe the data set with a couple of sentences. But I will tell you, it's like any other sort of business maturity curve. I would suggest that 10% to 20% of our health systems are actually the innovators and leading the utilization of machine learning and AI. And obviously, those are organizations that have implemented and standardized around one EMR, because it makes it a lot easier as they think about adding advanced capabilities if you have that one electronic medical record.

Speaker 2

So I think you have those market that are the followers and they want to see the tried and true implementation capabilities of what's actually working. And then they'll join on. I think we're kind of beginning to enter into that area, given we've got some incredible proof cases on what we've been able to do with HCC scores and some of the other areas. And there's a lot of interest on behalf of our health systems to participate in trials where they have not obviously been able to in the past. And then you always have some of the followers and for a variety of reasons, they'll be slower to the uptake.

Speaker 2

But that'll be the opportunity that as Craig said earlier, that as we come in and we're looking for opportunities for improvement, does it make more sense for us to come in and help basically co manage some of those opportunities and bring that technology to really support their journey towards leveraging that advanced technology. Lee, do you want to just touch really quickly on the data assets?

Speaker 8

Yes. I think if we start with 100 top, that's probably the best view into that data set. It's augmented with a large set of clinical and margin intelligence information that are derived from either the EHR or the ERP. So we can start at a really high level, and we can keep that data extraordinarily timely. It's an advisory led offering that walks in and ties one of our solution sets, either clinical transformation, human capital management or, as Mike was talking about, managed services, to that solution set.

Speaker 8

And then we augment that data with effectively assets into the ERP or assets into the EHR to get down to the patient level and we can look at cohort information at the physician level, do risk adjustment and help our hospitals be able to blend that supply chain data and that clinical data together so that we can help them with whatever strategic imperative, whether it be labor, whether it be clinical quality, transformational information, and then we alert through the clinical decision support solution.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Julie.

Speaker 7

Very helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Stephanie Davis with Barclays.

Speaker 9

Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my question. I was first hoping to pull on that one premier thread that you guys had talked about a little bit earlier. As you go through some of these client renewals, are there any IT solutions within Performance Services that are resonating the most with your client base? Or is there anything that you're seeing get prioritized a little bit higher than before, just given some of the moving dynamics in the IT landscape?

Speaker 2

Yes. I would tell you there's I would probably break it down into 2 areas. So we have roughly half of our health systems that primarily really lean on us for supply chain. So those organizations that lean on us for supply chain are really looking at the pull through of co management. They're looking at pulling through all of our advanced technology where we're obviously technology enabling the supply chain, the e invoicing, the e payables, all the work we're doing there.

Speaker 2

So that's sort of one pocket and you're pulling through all those capabilities. The other pocket uses us for both supply chain and obviously performance services and other areas. And I would characterize those as looking at, as Lee and Craig both have said, total margin improvement. So they're looking at not only ways to drive enhanced our enhanced reduction of supply chain, but they are also looking at ways to standardize the way that they are providing clinical capabilities to the healthcare systems as well. So, and then that's bringing in all obviously all the technology that Lee just talked about with all the alerting capabilities.

Speaker 2

So, I'd say it's characterized in 2 different ways in terms of how we're going out and having those discussions.

Speaker 5

Yes. And Stephanie, this is Craig. The only build I would have is you know, obviously it depends on the healthcare institution you're working with. But specific to performance services, we have definitely seen interest in our enterprise analytics. And So bringing and we talk about the enterprise license component of that, but that would be the area that we've seen increased interest in wanting to leverage those technologies to help them with margin improvement as Mike articulated.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Craig.

Speaker 9

So with that in mind and given the term fees this quarter and from the client win announcements by your large competitor, are there any fees beyond pricing like clients that are maybe less interested in these IT investments that you're starting to see in some of the client attrition? Or is it purely still a pricing kind of model?

Speaker 2

It's sort of it's really Craig and I have been talking about this basically for quarters, but you have some health systems that really do want to look at total value that's being created. And they want to bring all of the assets that Premier brings because they've got huge imperatives. They've got huge labor some have huge labor issues or labor cost issues. Some are trying to transform to new payment models and those kinds of things. So I will tell you, you do have organizations that are willing to look at total value as opposed to one aspect of value that we create.

Speaker 2

And so obviously, our job is to as much as possible demonstrate what that total value proposition looks like to relieve some of the pressure on just the admin fee share back.

Speaker 10

Thank you.

Operator

And the next question comes from Kevin Caliendo with UBS.

Speaker 10

Hi, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question.

Speaker 2

Good morning.

Speaker 10

On the Performance Services, you've talked a lot about the business, but just thinking about this sort of mid single digit growth outlook, how much of that is sort of in your control based on customer wins and just the overall? And how much of it like what are the assumptions around the Yes, I could take the highest level. Look,

Speaker 2

Yes, I could take the highest level. Look, I think that as we continue to build out services and capabilities as again to support the healthcare systems as they're struggling with increased labor costs, in some cases struggling with inflation and those kinds of things. And obviously, reimbursement is not necessarily staying up with those extra costs. They're asking us to come in and really focus in on how can we help them do more with less and basically be incredibly diligent around cost structures, but at the same time ensuring they're delivering the highest quality care that they can potentially deliver. So at the highest level, that's really what's driving quite a bit of

Speaker 5

the market. And the only thing I would add to that, Kevin, is I think as we think about and again we'll more formalize our 'twenty five guidance in August with the underlying assumptions. But at a broad level, the early perspective that we're trying to provide, we typically go into a fiscal year in our Performance Services business with sort of 70%, 75% visibility to the revenue, given that the majority of that business is still SaaS based on the technology side. So we have good visibility, to a large amount of that business. We've talked previously about enterprise license agreements.

Speaker 5

And so we have that, that we'll have to we have a pipeline of them to process, but have to work through, which leaves some of the judgmental nature of that. But the combination of those gets us to with the wraparound services component from our advisory services part of our business gets us to the low single digit anticipated growth in the provider market. And then as we look at the adjacent markets business, we anticipate double digit growth in the 15% to 20% type of range that we have seen that as it's growing ex Contigo becoming and that is going to continue to be in the Applied Sciences business, which we have very sound ongoing relationships with the largest pharma companies in the country and continue to facilitate enable work with them. Our clinical decision support business has really driven off growth in the coding and documentation capabilities that were asked about earlier. And then our remitra business in the electronic invoice and processing, those don't have as high a visibility typically given the nascent nature of those businesses, but continue to feel very comfortable given the pipelines, the appreciation for those capabilities to drive the type of double digit growth that we anticipate from that side of the Performance Services segment, which in combination gets us to the mid single digit growth overall.

Speaker 10

That's super helpful and a lot more detail than I was even hoping for. So thank you. One quick follow-up, just on PPE stuff, I didn't think we'd be still asking about this. But we have heard that sort of PPE demand in destocking has somewhat normalized. I'm wondering if that had any context in your outlook at all?

Speaker 10

Was that better than expected or is it trending as expected? Is that what got you to sort of the higher end of fiscal 'twenty four?

Speaker 5

Yes, it's really trending as expected. I mean, we've talked about this again in the past couple of quarters as well that we really thought we had hit sort of the bottom in terms of seeing ordering patterns return. I think the thing that we've still been managing through is price reductions. I mean, we continue to see, in particular, glove pricing, which is the largest component of our PPE portfolio to continue to have very low pricing, although we believe that's stabilizing now as well. So from a perspective of where we anticipate performance, we talked last quarter and reaffirmed today that we expect sort of direct sourcing to come in where we thought.

Speaker 5

We expect sort of flat to nominal growth quarter to quarter, but would anticipate that that will step up moving forward.

Speaker 10

Thanks so much guys.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Jessica Tassen with Piper Sandler.

Speaker 11

Hi, guys. Thank you for taking the question. I was hoping that maybe on Contigo and S2S Global, you could describe maybe the type of outside partner you're looking to engage and kind of how you envision the structure of any future partnership?

Speaker 5

Sure, Jessica. This is Craig. Happy to take it. Mike can add any color. With respect to Contigo, I think as we talked about when we announced looking for partners to help augment the vision and the value of that business that we do still believe in long term.

Speaker 5

It is looking for organizations that have an interest in the DPA, COE type of business, may have existing infrastructure there. That could be strategic partners. That could also be, strategics that are powered or enabled by financial backers. And so we think that it is really a platform play where the idea of taking the capabilities that we have in that business for TPA, COE and the network business as well and actually put it on to what they're trying to develop and build would allow it to be a more comprehensive scalable solution in the future with additional resource capability than we've been able to bring to bear. That's what I would say on the Contigo side.

Speaker 5

On the S2S side, I think that really from a similar standpoint, we believe there is an opportunity with an organization that has more product breadth and capacity and ability to deliver more scale, while maintaining a strategic focus and view on supply chain resiliency, which we think is really critical and important moving forward for U. S. Healthcare would be the ideal partner. And so we are looking at organizations that would have that type of shared vision as we continue to move forward and think about the ongoing kind of benefit that the S2S business can have on a go forward basis for our members and other customers around the country.

Speaker 2

And thanks, Craig. And then a couple of builds that I'd like to share on top of Craig's. As you think about the whole pay viter market space, health systems are continually struggling with slow reimbursement in some cases from payers and prior authorization issues and those kinds of things. And I will say that the pay vitam market space is going to be something that a number of healthcare systems are going to continue to look at long term. And so that's why it's so important that we believe we find the right partner that can obviously add some additional capability to help really beef that capability up to support those health systems.

Speaker 2

Thank you for the question.

Speaker 11

Got it. That makes sense. Can I just follow-up with 2 kind of clarifying questions? I wanted to confirm on the FY 'twenty five consolidated fee share, is the consolidated rate expected to be low 60s percent or the renewals are going to be in the low 60s percent? And then just hoping you guys could comment on the pace of the remaining buybacks?

Speaker 11

Thanks so much.

Speaker 5

Yes. Thanks Mark. To answer the first question Jessica, our overall blended fee share for the entire business in fiscal 2025, we anticipate to be in the low 60s. So that's a combination of renewed agreements, ongoing agreements in the acute business and our continuum of care GPO. So overall blended rate.

Speaker 5

Relative to the share repurchase, we continue to progress through the accelerated share repurchase transaction. Our current expectations have not changed in terms of when that will complete, somewhere between mid July and mid August. So when we have our next earnings call, we believe we will be evaluating with our Board of Directors at its Board meeting in August, the plans and the expectations for the remaining $600,000,000 on the $1,000,000,000 share repurchase authorization that was approved in February.

Operator

Thank you. And this concludes our question and answer

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Key Takeaways

  • Premier delivered Q3 net revenue growth in both its Supply Chain Services and Performance Services segments and reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2024 guidance.
  • The company implemented a $400 million accelerated share repurchase as part of a broader $1 billion buyback authorization and paid $73.1 million in dividends during the first nine months.
  • It advanced its technology-enabled supply chain strategy by rolling out automated invoicing/payable solutions, expanding co-management partnerships and realizing over $75 million in savings for providers in the last five years.
  • Premier launched AI-driven initiatives including its 100 Top Hospitals program in partnership with Fortune, signed deals with major health systems and expanded deployment of advanced analytics and clinical documentation solutions.
  • Q3 GAAP net loss of $49.2 million included a $140 million impairment related to Contigo Health, and Premier expects fiscal 2025 supply chain revenue to decline (fee share rising into the low 60% range) while Performance Services grows mid-single digits.
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Earnings Conference Call
Premier Q3 2024
00:00 / 00:00