BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Baton Rouge-based home health care company Amedisys says it fired CEO Christopher Gerard and replaced him with former CEO Paul Kusserow.
No reason was given for Gerard’s dismissal Thursday in Amedisys’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Advocate reported.
Gerard had served as CEO since Kusserow officially stepped down from the role in April. Kusserow remained as chairman.
The SEC filing said Amedisys has retained a search firm to “conduct a comprehensive search process to discover a successor Chief Executive Officer,” indicating that Kusserow’s return as CEO could possibly be temporary.
“We’re confident that under Paul’s leadership, Amedisys will proceed to have a way forward for profitable growth, innovation, high-quality and consistent performance,” Julie D. Klapstein, an Amedisys board member, said in a press release. “Paul’s growth and progressive mindset is a critical and stabilizing force to the Company. His experience, along together with his passion, make us confident that this may serve Amedisys well during this time.”
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Shares of Amedisys have trended steadily downward for the reason that stock was trading at greater than $260 a share in July 2021. For the reason that start of 2022, the stock’s value has dropped by nearly 50%, closing Thursday at $84.72 a share.
Gerard became CEO after serving as chief operating officer from 2016 to April, when Kusserow resigned. By then, Kusserow had already handed the title of president to Gerard as a part of a succession plan that began in early 2021.
Gerard has twenty years of experience in the house health and hospice industry, in response to his Amedisys bio. He was a co-founder of IntegraCare Home Health, which he sold to Kindred Healthcare in 2012. Gerard then worked as an executive for Kindred at Home, Kindred Healthcare’s home care division, for 4 years before joining Amedisys.
Kusserow was first hired as CEO in December 2014 after founder William Borne left the role. He was also the corporate’s president from that very same date until February 2021.
Kusserow will earn a base salary of $900,000 as CEO, the identical amount he earned previously in that job, SEC filings show.
Amedisys has 21,000 employees across 38 states, including Louisiana.
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