Estia was one of the hardest-hit providers during Victoria’s second wave with outbreaks at five of its homes including Ardeer – which was linked to 165 confirmed cases – and Heidelberg – linked to 122 cases – now the listed provider has revealed the real cost of those outbreaks.
Providing a market update ahead of its AGM, the company revealed it stopped charging residents at a number of its Victorian homes that had outbreaks during its second wave – with additional service charges also halted for all of its Victorian homes for three months.
While all homes have now returned to billing as normal, Estia warned investors that its latest financial results can’t be seen as a sign of the operator’s future performance due to the degree of uncertainty around the pandemic and the final recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission.
Occupancy down – but still higher than industry average
Like the other listed providers Japara and Regis, Estia also saw its occupancy take a tumble, with spot occupancy in Victoria as of 31 October sitting at 83.2% compared to a total group occupancy of 91.3% (still higher than the industry average) and spot occupancy of 89.7% as of 31 October which impacted on its profits.
In total, its revenue for the quarter was $158.9 million including $800,000 in Government funding from the additional care subsidy paid between 1 March and 31 August plus $6.1 million in additional funding received on 7 October from the Government’s additional COVID-19 stimulus measures.
However, $6 million was spent on additional staffing costs including quarantine and pandemic leave and “surge” workforce costs on top of $6.2 million on PPE, cleaning and waste disposal.
These costs continue to grow, the company added, with additional Resident Liaison Officers and Infection Prevention Control supervision and training at all homes.
Government has only reimbursed $25K of $7M in COVID costs
Estia reports that it has also so far only been reimbursed $25,000 for a single infection at its Tuncurry home in April – seven months ago – and is still in the process of submitting applications for an estimated $7 million in other COVID-incurred costs to be repaid by the Government under its grant programs for operators affected by outbreaks.
The update notes however that there are no grants available for lost revenue from reduced occupancy due to COVID outbreaks.
“At this stage, the Group does not anticipate recovering any revenue losses under the terms of its business interruption insurance policies,” it states.
Estia has 69 homes and over 6,000 beds across NSW, QLD, Victoria and SA including 27 homes and 2,000 beds in Victoria.
