Viemed Healthcare Targets Low-20% Growth as Home Ventilation Opportunity Expands

Key Points

• Viemed sees a sizable untapped home-ventilation market: Only about 60,000 beneficiaries currently receive its ventilation therapy, versus an estimated 1.25 million Medicare-eligible potential patients. The company serves more than 198,000 patients nationwide and focuses on complex respiratory conditions such as severe COPD.
• Management expects low-20% revenue growth in 2026, projecting approximately $317 million in revenue and $66 million in EBITDA. Growth is supported by expanding sleep-resupply and maternal-health businesses, although these lower-margin segments may pressure EBITDA margins.
• Viemed is prioritizing organic growth, strategic acquisitions and share repurchases while maintaining a debt-free balance sheet. The company has completed three acquisitions in three years and says leverage would remain below roughly two times EBITDA for any major deal.

Viemed Healthcare NASDAQ: VMD outlined its growth strategy, product diversification and capital allocation priorities at the Midwest IDEAS Conference, emphasizing its focus on providing in-home care for patients with complex respiratory conditions.

Chief Executive Officer Casey Hoyt said complex respiratory services account for roughly half of the company’s business. Viemed deploys respiratory therapists to care for patients at home, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ALS and neuromuscular conditions that can cause respiratory failure. The company also provides sleep apnea products, oxygen therapy, airway-clearance devices, healthcare staffing and maternal health products.

Hoyt said Viemed serves patients in all 50 states and has more than 198,000 patients. He characterized the company’s primary opportunity as the underpenetrated market for home ventilation among patients with severe COPD. Of an estimated 25 million Americans with COPD, he said about 10% are in the most severe stage of the disease and roughly half of those may have chronic respiratory failure, making them potential candidates for ventilation therapy.

Home respiratory opportunity and technology

According to Hoyt, approximately 60,000 beneficiaries currently receive the company’s type of ventilation therapy, compared with an estimated 1.25 million Medicare-eligible patients who could qualify. He said Medicare penetration is about 5%, with overall penetration potentially near 10% after accounting for commercial payers.

For its ventilator business, Viemed receives about $1,050 per month on average for a machine on rent, Hoyt said. The rentals are uncapped, meaning the company can bill while the patient remains alive, and the average patient length of stay is about 17 months. Once equipment is returned, it can be cleaned, serviced and deployed to another patient.

The company has developed technology that connects respiratory equipment with a tablet used by respiratory therapists in patients’ homes. Hoyt said the system supports telehealth visits, captures therapy data, helps identify when a field visit may be needed and provides reporting for physicians and payers. He said the platform has also helped Viemed document patient compliance under a recently implemented National Coverage Determination governing qualification for ventilation therapy.

Hoyt cited three peer-reviewed studies funded by Viemed in 2021 and 2022. He said the studies found that the company’s care model reduced relative mortality by 43% and that early therapy utilization could save $5,400 per patient annually by reducing hospital and clinic visits.

Diversification and acquisitions

While ventilation represented 47% of revenue in the company’s presentation, Viemed has been expanding other product categories. Hoyt said sleep therapy grew 44% in the prior year, while sleep resupply products—including masks, tubing and filters—grew 47% and account for 22% of overall revenue. Other cited revenue components included maternal health at 8%, oxygen at 8%, airway clearance at 7% and healthcare staffing at 7%.

The company has completed three acquisitions during the past three years. In June 2023, it acquired Home Medical Products, a Tennessee, northern Alabama and Mississippi provider that was primarily focused on sleep therapy. The transaction involved approximately $31 million of revenue, according to Hoyt.

Viemed also acquired a joint venture with East Alabama Medical Center in April 2024 in a transaction valued at $4.5 million. Hoyt said the operation is profitable and that the hospital has been pleased with its performance, though future joint ventures would need to be larger to justify the integration effort.

Its most recent acquisition, Lehan’s, added respiratory and maternal health capabilities. Hoyt described it as a roughly $28 million to $30 million transaction involving 100 employees. Lehan’s operated in Illinois before the acquisition, and Viemed has since expanded maternal health offerings into Texas and said Ohio is expected to come online, in addition to existing operations in Wisconsin, Illinois and parts of Indiana.

Financial outlook and capital deployment

Chief Operating Officer Todd Zehnder said Viemed expects revenue to grow in the low-20% range in 2026. Using the midpoint of full-year guidance, he cited projected revenue of $317 million and EBITDA of $66 million. The company reported trailing-12-month free cash flow of $34 million in its presentation and said net capital expenditures had declined to 8% of revenue, with full-year capital expenditure guidance of 9% to 10.5%.

Zehnder said the faster growth of sleep resupply and maternal health businesses is reducing capital intensity and supporting free cash flow, though those business lines also create some EBITDA-margin pressure because they have lower margins and do not generate depreciation and amortization associated with equipment purchases.

Management said Viemed has no net debt and has completed four share repurchase programs, including a current program under which it had repurchased just under 700,000 shares as of the second quarter. Zehnder said the company’s first capital-allocation priority remains organic growth, followed by acquisitions that fit its strategy. The company would use debt for a sufficiently large acquisition if warranted, he said, but does not expect leverage to exceed roughly two times EBITDA.

Addressing questions about sleep therapy, Zehnder said Viemed has not seen evidence that GLP-1 drugs or other treatments are reducing demand for CPAP products. Instead, he said the company has seen sleep business growth accelerate, potentially as more patients engage with physicians and receive sleep testing.

About Viemed Healthcare (NASDAQ:VMD)

Viemed Healthcare, Inc NASDAQ: VMD is a provider of home-based respiratory therapy services, specializing in the management of patients requiring long-term mechanical ventilation and pulmonary support. The company’s offerings encompass invasive and noninvasive ventilation, airway clearance therapies, cough assist devices, and supplemental oxygen. Viemed combines durable medical equipment with clinical care, delivering tailored respiratory treatment plans that are overseen by licensed respiratory therapists and registered nurses.

Founded in the early 2010s and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Viemed has grown its footprint to serve patients across multiple states in the United States.

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