Astrana Health - Q1 2024
May 7, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Astrana Health first quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session, and instructions will be provided at that time. Today's speakers will be Brandon Sim, President and Chief Executive Officer of Astrana Health, and Chan Basho, Chief Operating and Financial Officer. The press release announcing Astrana Health Inc's results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2024, is available at the Investors section of the company's website at www.astranahealth.com. The company will discuss certain non-GAAP measures during this call. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure are included in the press release. To provide some additional background on its results, the company has made a supplemental deck available on its website.
A replay of this broadcast will also be made available at Astrana Health's website after the conclusion of this call. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call and any accompanying information discussed herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as anticipate, believe, expect, future, plan, outlook, and will, and include, among other things, statements regarding the company's guidance for the year ending December 31st, 2024, continued growth, acquisition strategy, ability to deliver sustainable long-term value, ability to respond to the changing environment, operational focus, strategic growth plans, and merger integration efforts.
Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable as of today, those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ dramatically from those projected. There can be no assurance that those expectations will prove to be correct. Information about the risks associated with investing in Astrana Health is included in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we encourage you to review before making an investment decision. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, changes in market conditions, or otherwise, except as required by law. Regarding the disclaimer language, I would also like to refer you to slide two of the conference call presentation for further information.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Astrana Health's President and Chief Executive Officer, Brandon Sim. Please go ahead, Brandon.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thank you, operator. Good evening, and thank you all for joining us today. We began 2024 with a strong first quarter here at Astrana Health as we expand our innovative care model and technology platform to empower entrepreneurial providers and improve healthcare in local communities throughout the country. We continue to deliver against our strategic roadmap and are proud to announce compelling financial, operational, and clinical results to start the year. I'll start by highlighting our financial performance for the first quarter of 2024. Total revenue at Astrana reached $404 million, a 20% increase compared to the prior year period, and adjusted EBITDA rose to $42.2 million, up 42% compared to the prior year period. This resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.4%.
Both growth and profitability metrics were driven by robust membership growth across all our lines of business, coupled with ongoing success in managing the total cost of care for these members in value-based risk-bearing arrangements. We also continued investing in our teams, our technology platform, and our new market entry operations. We believe these investments are critical towards our ongoing commitment to building a sustainable business, even as we continue to expand rapidly. As a reminder, we have consistently talked about the four pillars of our business, which we feel our platform is uniquely positioned to execute on. One, expanding our membership base across existing and new geographies. Two, increasing the level of accountability and risk we are responsible for in our value-based care contracts. Three, empowering our providers to achieve superior patient outcomes. And four, executing strategic acquisitions to further accelerate our growth trajectory.
On the first pillar, we experienced robust growth and membership in both core and new regions. We now manage approximately 1 million lives, driven by robust organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Our membership grew organically by around 10% year to date, a number that is net of Medicaid redetermination and does not include any strategic acquisitions. On the second pillar, we continue to take on greater responsibility for the total cost of care of our members, as we promised we would do. As of April 1st, our full risk business makes up approximately 60% of total capitation revenue, and we anticipate continuing to grow that percentage while consistently delivering high-quality care as the year progresses. In addition, we also began taking on full risk delegation in the state of Nevada.
We believe that we are uniquely positioned to capture the embedded growth that this pillar represents because of the high level of visibility and consistency that our proprietary technology and clinical infrastructure affords us. I'd like to continue emphasizing a key aspect of our business that distinguishes Astrana Health from other providers and peers... We have always committed to serving all segments of our communities in value-based care arrangements, covering all payer types from Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid to commercial. We continue to forge ahead in our transition to risk and being truly accountable for our members' whole health across those diverse business segments, even as others have shied away.
The infrastructure, technology, and team that we have built allows us to do this well, and results in our ability to serve a wider patient population, make our providers' lives simpler and more efficient, diversify our business and better manage risk, and support our payer partners across their entire business. With regards to the third pillar of our business, Astrana is focused on providing high-quality care and access to all members. We've noticed continued outperformance compared to historical years in terms of HEDIS, HCC, and other quality-related outcomes. We also continue to focus on making sure members receive the right care in the right setting, leading to our continued strong performance on clinical utilization metrics. Our bed days per thousand and admits per thousand improved in the first quarter when compared to previous periods.
This improvement is consistent across all business segments, with Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial authorizations for inpatient and outpatient services mirroring this trend. Moving on to the fourth pillar of the business, strategic acquisitions, we successfully closed the second and final part of our Community Family Care acquisition this quarter, as we had previously guided. This acquisition marks the largest in Astrana's history and serves as a successful example of a Care Enablement client deepening its relationship with Astrana Health and moving into the Care Partners segment.
The integration of CFC was seamless, as we were already powering the CFC business with our Care Enablement platform prior to the acquisition, showcasing the value and synergy of leveraging our Care Enablement tech-enabled services business. The completion of this transaction allows us to take on greater responsibility for the outcomes of the patients we serve with CFC's full risk Medicaid restricted Knox-Keene license.
It also further strengthens our commitment to managing medical costs and providing quality care in our communities. Looking ahead, we expect to transition the majority of our Medicaid members to full risk arrangements in the next 6-12 months. This quarter, we also completed the acquisition of Prime Community Care of Central Valley, or PCCCV, a risk-bearing provider organization with over 150 primary care and multi-specialty care providers, which serve around 26,000, primarily Medicaid members in the Central Valley of California. Prior to this, our organic growth and partnership efforts in the Central Valley have been robust, and PCCCV joining our Care Partners business will be a further accelerant for our efforts to deliver high quality, high value care to communities in the Central Valley, and also represents our entry into San Joaquin County.
Over the next 12 months, we anticipate continuing our strategy in the region with PCCCV in the fold, taking greater accountability for total cost of care for these members, and further integrating with our Care Enablement platform in order to advance patient outcomes and empower community providers in the region. Outside of California, we continue to see a rich pipeline of both organic and inorganic opportunities in both Texas, Nevada and beyond. We believe that the strong growth and consistent execution of our strategic roadmap demonstrate the uniqueness of our platform, our care model, and technology capabilities. Our well-established, value-based infrastructure and long track record of managing total cost of care and patient outcomes in value-based arrangements across all payer types, with confidence in the ongoing growth and profitability of our platform.
To conclude my prepared remarks, I want to express my gratitude to our teammates, providers, and partners for their belief in our vision to transform healthcare in local communities nationwide. The rapid growth and positive outcomes of the business would not be possible without your passion, dedication, and support. With that, I'll hand it over to Chan to review our financial results.
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Thank you, Brandon. Moving into this quarter's performance, we began 2024 with total revenue of $404 million, a 20% increase from $337 million in the prior year quarter. This was primarily driven by increased capitation revenue resulting from organic membership growth in our core IPAs, as well as the addition of CFC IPA on January 31st, 2024. Care Partners revenue increased 26% to $397 million during the period. Along with the organic and strategic growth, Partners revenue increased due to the conversion and addition of full risk membership. As of April 1st, 2024, we expect our full risk business to account for approximately 60% of capitated revenues, relative to 49% as of January 1st, 2024.
Adjusted EBITDA was $42.2 million, up 42% from $29.8 million in the prior year period. In the first quarter of 2024, adjusted EBITDA excluded certain one-time items, including a $4.7 million dollar expense related to a financial guarantee via a letter of credit that we provided two years ago in support of two independently operated local provider-led ACOs. Despite the removal of these ACOs from the CMS program, the shared losses for that year were recorded, and we're working with those two providers to recoup the funds that were spent. As I mentioned, this is not a recurring item, nor do we believe it reflects the operations of our ACO business. Net income attributable to Astrana Health was $14.8 million, an increase of 13% from $13.1 million in the prior year quarter.
Earnings per share on a diluted basis were $0.31, up 11% from $0.28 in the prior year. Now turning to the balance sheet. Our financial position remains well capitalized, with $335 million in cash and cash equivalents, and total debt of $393 million as of Q1 2024. This compares to $294 million in cash and cash equivalents, and total debt of $282 million at the end of 2023. We are steadfast in our ability to execute our growth strategy by expanding our membership through both organic means and strategic acquisitions, as well as transitioning our contracts to full risk. Further, we remain confident that full-year projections align with expectations, given our diverse payer mix and ability to manage cost of care.
As a result, we are reaffirming our full year guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and earnings per share. Looking ahead to the coming quarters, the successful completion of the second part of the CFC acquisition is projected to contribute a single digit uplift in Q2 revenue relative to Q1. This will be reflected in the full quarter's impact of CFC on our financials. Historically, Q3 has been our strongest quarter in terms of profitability due to sweeps and ACO-related payments. Our sustained participation in the ACO program has enhanced our capabilities around real-time data gathering and forecasting. Due to the enhanced clarity, we are comfortable this year booking ACO earnings based on the quarter of their contribution. As a result, Q3 will be slightly lower in terms of EBITDA contribution percentage versus historical years.
In closing, we're extremely pleased with our performance in the first quarter, which has set a positive tone for the remainder of the year. Our strong organic membership growth, strategic acquisitions of CFC and PCCCV, ongoing transition to full risk arrangements, and the stability and improvements of our utilization metrics represent strong momentum for our business. We have confidence in our ability to continue our long track record of successful execution. We will continue in our commitment to deliver the utmost quality of care, to focus on industry-leading patient outcomes, and to serve more communities across the country. Thank you for your time today. With that, operator, we'll turn to questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you do have a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad at this time, and we'll take one question and one follow-up per analyst. Once again, that's star one if you do have a question or comment. And we'll take our first question from Ryan Daniels, from William Blair. Please go ahead.
Ryan Daniels (Partner and Equity Research)
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I'm curious if you could speak a little bit more to your pipeline, either for new partnerships or M&A, especially as we contrast your strong performance versus what some other peers are seeing in the market. Meaning, is that opening up some opportunities? Is there pressure with provider groups to get new partnerships, et cetera? Just any color there would be great.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Ryan. Thank you so much for the question, and for tuning in. I think we're seeing a very strong partnership and corporate development pipeline, as we speak. As you mentioned, there is a huge desire, especially given cost pressures, margin pressures, utilization trends that some of our peers are seeing, to find a partner that is gonna be stable, and present a long-term opportunity to provide value back to providers and ultimately back to the patients. And so, I think we're absolutely seeing a strong pipeline.
I think there was an acquisition that we announced joining our Care Partners segment this quarter, and the close of the CFC transaction, and I believe we are still planning to fulfill our guidance of at least 1-2 new markets per year as the year progresses here.
Ryan Daniels (Partner and Equity Research)
Okay, that's helpful color. And then, as my follow-up, good new data on the, total cap revenue being at 60%, up from 49% in January. I guess my question is, now that you have both the Medicare and Medicaid RKK, how might we see that trend kind of towards year-end? So where might you end the year in 2024, and then what would your goals be for 2025 and 2026, as I know that's a nice kind of revenue and really a care management accelerator as well. Thanks, and congrats on the strong performance.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks, Ryan. In terms of our year-end target, as we've discussed before, we still expect to be at about two-thirds by year-end in our transition to full risk. As we work through 2025, we see us continuing to move our membership into a full risk arrangement, and we do believe we will be able to get the majority of our contracts into full risk by the end of 2025.
Ryan Daniels (Partner and Equity Research)
Great. Thank you so much. I'll hop back in the queue.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks, Ryan.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We'll take our next question from David Larsen from BTIG. Please go ahead, David.
David Larsen (Managing Director)
Hi, congratulations on the quarter. I was positively surprised at the EBITDA. Can you maybe just talk about claims trend, how that's tracking for your book of business? Some of your peers were hearing, you know, sustained high MA utilization, fairly high single-digit claims cost trend. I mean, what are you seeing? How did your cost trend come in relative to your own expectations? And I guess, what is your secret sauce? Why is your trend perhaps better than others?
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Hey, David, great to hear from you. Thanks so much for the question. In terms of how we're looking at utilization, first, in terms of flu, we saw an equivalent to maybe a higher amount of flu cases, but a lower level of acuity. In terms of overall claims trend, as you know, because we do have full visibility around our utilization management and care management capabilities, which leads to us having visibility around authorizations, we are able to have a clearer sense of, around, MCR. And we see across the board positive trends there, as Brandon mentioned during the call. We see some areas where, for example, due to regulatory reasons, genetic testing is now included in certain Medicaid-related cases, so we see an increase there. No, no real,
But beyond that, we continue to see MCRs that are consistent or favorable relative to historical periods.
David Larsen (Managing Director)
Okay. And then can you put a percent number on your per member, per month trend line? Is it below 5%? Is it between 5% and 10%, below 3%? Any number you can put on that?
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Dave, thanks for the question. This is Brandon. I don't think we've disclosed the exact, trend line, especially because it differs by line of business. I would say that across all lines of business, Medicare, commercial, and MA, I would say it's coming in a few percent lower than we had anticipated at the beginning of the year or prior, you know, prior to this year, prior to this quarter. It is still early in the year, I would say. So, you know, we're here in May, and we, out of conservatism, you know, we firm guidance, but I, I do think early results starting off the year here are, are promising.
David Larsen (Managing Director)
Okay. And then can you maybe talk a little bit about your approach to managing inpatient services? I mean, it's, it's my understanding that you actually have a strata of hospitalists that, you know, manage care to an extent within inpatient facilities. So should we be, should we be worried about a spike in claims costs for hospitals once you start sort of bearing more full risk?
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
There definitely will be higher claims costs, obviously offset by higher claims, higher capitation revenue as we continue to move into full risk. And we're starting to see that already, as we get to around 60% of our capitated revenue in full-risk arrangements.
However, we don't—while that may be a temporary pressure to overall EBITDA margin, as we've formally discussed, from a raw EBITDA number perspective, it's still accretive, certainly, and we think we're well prepared to take on the full risk and maintain medical margins where we would like them to be because of the ability we have in terms of our hospitals, working at the hospitals, in terms of our post-discharge care teams, taking care of folks after an inpatient visit, in terms of our deep specialist and primary care provider integration for patients across the care continuum spectrum.
Even as we grow into new markets, we're seeing, we're able to contract effectively with hospitals and replicate some of the elements that we used in California to successfully manage cost of care in both outpatient and inpatient settings. So that's something we continue to keep in mind, for example, as we enter forward delegated contracts here in Nevada or in Texas or beyond.
David Larsen (Managing Director)
Okay, that's great. Very helpful. Thanks very much. And then just last one, like CFC integration, how is that progressing? Just any thoughts or color there will be very helpful.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Sure thing. Yeah, the CFC integration, as I mentioned in the prepared comments, is going very well. We've all the providers are now already on our Care Enablement platform, obviously, given that it powered CFC even prior to acquisition. From a regulatory standpoint, things have been settled, leading to the successful close on March 31st, the second part of the CFC transaction. And throughout the remainder of the year, most of the CFC members are already in forward contracts dating back to the middle of 2023. And there are additional synergies with our existing business that we look to capitalize on for the remainder of the year.
David Larsen (Managing Director)
Okay, congratulations on a great quarter. I'll hop back in the queue.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks so much, Dave.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We'll take our next question from Adam Ron from Bank of America. Please go ahead, Adam.
Adam Ron (Equity Research Associate)
Hey, super quick one. So the 60% number that you're talking about for capitation that you're using, I want to make sure I understand it. So you're saying for 60% of what you're reporting as capitation revenue, that number that you're reporting is, you know, some capitation rate, let's call it 85% of whatever the benchmark that you're managing is. And if that's true, that I'm understanding that correctly, on the remaining 40%, what is roughly the capitation rate that you're doing today, and can that go to 85%? Because that should give us, like, a sense of, like, what the dollar opportunity and revenue is from here. Thanks.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Adam, thank you for the question. Thanks for tuning in. You're absolutely correct in your understanding. 60% of the capitated revenue that we report in the Care Partners segment comes from an arrangement in which, call it, yeah, approximately 85% of the premium dollar is being given to us in a capitated value-based arrangement. Of the other 40% of the dollars, I would say that those are mostly coming from arrangements in which we have outpatient risk only, which would be, you know, illustratively, call it around 35%-40% of the premium dollar. So there is additional opportunity we anticipate capturing, some of it over the remainder of this year, some of it into 2025, in terms of converting some of those contracts into full risk, you know, approximately 85% of premium contracts.
Adam Ron (Equity Research Associate)
Okay, now that's perfect. And then in terms of the MLR, seems pretty significant to your point, you said trend was a couple percentage lower than what you thought it was, which, you know, on a 10% margin business is pretty substantial. So, yeah, just curious, one, why you didn't raise the guidance, and two, what are the big factors versus expectations that are coming in different? And then three, somewhat unrelated, but, you know, in the 2025 rate notice, one of the surprising aspects was in Los Angeles, the rate for growth rate of trend was 5%, while the rest of the industry got, like, 2.4 or something. So curious if, like, CMS's view of what's happening in L.A. County is different from yours, where potentially they're saying trend is accelerating.
And then, on the other hand, you know, into 2025, is that a tailwind for you, or is it entirely offset by, you know, what the payers are doing with benefits? Thanks. Appreciate the answer to the multifaceted question in advance.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Yeah, of course. Sure thing. I'll try to take them one at a time, Adam. Well, I just want to clarify in my prior response that the 60% of capitated revenue, that's full risk, is as of April 1st, just the day after the end of the quarter year-
Adam Ron (Equity Research Associate)
Right. Right.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
After the close of CFC. Just making that clear. In terms of kind of the utilization trends that we're seeing, as Chan mentioned, and I talked about, I'll give a little more color. You know, we are encouraged, cautiously optimistic about the trends we're seeing in terms of utilization. We are seeing kind of broad-based support for the increase or the decreases rather, in utilization trend across different lines of business, different pockets of the business. There are a couple of pockets that Chan mentioned earlier, for example, that are maybe higher than expected, but overall, the trend is very, you know, positive. I would say that the reason for not increasing guidance at this point in time, you know, it's thoroughly in the year.
Adam, you know, I think we, again, cautiously optimistic, but I think we probably still fall within the range. There's a bit of increased investment in the teams, in new market entry. And, you know, we think we're on track, and we'll provide more updates as the year progresses. In terms of the question on Los Angeles MA benchmarks, you know, overall, I would say we were fairly disappointed, as others were, with the MA rate notice, the final notice. You know, I think the, as you mentioned, the LA benchmark came in, you know, a little higher than maybe we had thought or compared to other regions. So we think that could be a tailwind for sure. But that's again, it's still early in the year.
We're still negotiating and talking to payers, working with our partners around, you know, some of the benefits that will take place in 2025, how the plan will be designed. So all of this will holistically probably be, will, will go into the final kind of, economics that we anticipate for 2025. So we'll have further guidance on that to you in the coming months.
Adam Ron (Equity Research Associate)
Great. Thank you.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks, Adam.
Operator (participant)
Thanks. Thank you. As a reminder, please limit your questions to one with a follow-up. We will take our next question from Jack Slevin, from Jefferies. Please go ahead, Jack.
Jack Slevin (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, thanks for taking the question, and congrats on the quarter. I wanna do a bit of a double click on the Nevada contract. Can you give a little more color on maybe what payer class that risk contract represents? And you know, sort of what you're seeing that made you wanna flip that on immediately in Nevada, if sort of the infrastructure and the market entry costs you've been building up over the last year are there and ready to hit the ground running on it?
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Jack, thanks for the question. Yeah, so, in Nevada, we, we've been in some shared risk arrangements, or partial risk arrangements for about a year, maybe a little more than a year at this point. The full risk contract that we turned on was a Medicare Advantage contract, and it's one in which we actually have delegated, payer, responsibilities. So we have prior, you know, utilization management, care management, claims, credentialing, contracting, et cetera, which very much looks similar to the infrastructure we built in California. We felt comfortable turning it on, after looking at some of the results, while participating under a shared risk, arrangement, as well as the confidence in the infrastructure we've now built in Nevada over the last, call it, 12-18 months.
That's something that, while still fairly small book of business, relatively speaking, you know, we're excited to continue to prove that the model scales outside of some of our core regions.
Jack Slevin (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Thanks for the color there. And then just on the forest transition, you know, a lot of moving pieces that we're hearing from MA plans in particular, but sort of on cost trend broadly. Just thinking about, and I know you guys have a lot of visibility into, you know, the opportunity there, given the role that you play currently. But as you think about adding inpatient risk throughout a lot of, you know, probably what is the California base, you know, how are you measuring up sort of moving pieces with cost trend, you know, that are underlying and moves that plans might be making on how they bid into next year, when factoring in, you know, how you do transition those lives?
Is it sort of still just, just push on as quickly as you can, or, or do you have to be a little more selective given the environment?
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Yeah, no, Jack-
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Yeah.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Oh, sorry, Chan, go ahead.
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
No, no. So Jack, in terms of our contracts, I don't want you to think we're moving contracts over if actuarially post-analyses, it doesn't make sense for us to do so. So we are looking at our claims trend. We are looking at overall medical trend. We are looking at the unique capabilities we can bring to that market in terms of our medical management capabilities, our care management capabilities, and the technology that we can offer in that local marketplace. And as that, as that links together, and in many markets, we have a amount of risk already, we then move forward in a very prudent fashion.
Jack Slevin (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Appreciate the color, and congrats again on a really strong quarter.
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Thanks, Jack.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. And next, we will go to Jailendra Singh from Truist. Please go ahead.
Jailendra Singh (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you, and thanks for taking my questions. First question on the care delivery business, saw around $8 million sequential decline. I understand last quarter in Q4, you had some true up, so that probably was expected, but anything you can highlight there in terms of trends you saw in the business? And is Q1 the good run rate for rest of the year for that business? Just trying to understand if there was any impact from Change Healthcare disruption on that business.
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Hey, Jailendra. Thanks so much for your question. In terms of the change from Q4 to Q1, Q4 and Q2 is usually when there's annual quality bonuses, as well as any one-time true ups that happen on the delivery side of the business, so that's the change that you see. In terms of change and the impact, we have very minimal Change-related business in terms of our delivery assets, so that there's not an impact there.
Jailendra Singh (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, so use Q1 as a good run rate for rest of the year, right, from revenue point of view? And my follow-
Chan Basho (COO and CFO)
Yeah, you will see some enhanced profitability in Q2 and Q4 from those bonuses as they come in.
Jailendra Singh (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Right. Then my follow-up, a managed care company, an IPA last week called out, pressure in their ACO business, driven by some data they received from CMS, impacting their 2023 results and also their 2024 assumptions. With you guys entering MSSP this year, and I believe you are accruing towards breakeven margins, just curious what you have seen in your data. I understand it's clearly limited, but just curious if for anything to flag from your experience point of view. And similarly, outside of the $4.7 million adjustment you called out in ACO REACH, can you talk about your experience in that program in general?
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Jailendra, thank you for the question. I think your question, first question, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is around MSSP and our experience so far.
Jailendra Singh (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
It is early on, and we had underwritten to approximately breakeven given the first year of our participation. And MSSP, we are still underwriting this quarter to a breakeven, given the lack of you know, large experience in that program. I would probably guess that MSSP profitability, especially because it's coming in you know, on a 15- to 18-month cycle, would probably show up most likely in 2025 financials and not in this year, and we haven't contemplated any profitability from MSSP, MSSP ACO in this year's financial projections. On the ACO REACH business, which we do have more experience in, a couple clarifying points. The first is that the $4 million-$5 million adjustment that Chan mentioned, that was, that was fully taken in terms of the charge this quarter.
It's a one-time thing. It also isn't related to our ACO REACH, but rather, separate ACO REACH businesses, as Chan had explained earlier. In terms of our ACO REACH's performance, we're actually seeing pretty promising results. We are booking a bit of profitability this quarter, as Chan mentioned, because of the increased visibility and the confidence we have that, the medical cost trends are fairly positive, even in the ACO REACH program.
Jailendra Singh (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks, guys.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks, Jailendra.
Operator (participant)
Once again, once again, star one, if you do have a question. And next, we'll go to Christian Borgmeyer from TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Christian Borgmeyer (Equity Research Associate)
Hi, everybody. This is Christian Borgmeyer. I'm filling in for Gary Taylor. Thanks for the question. So as we think about the Medicaid redetermination period winding down, what are you seeing lately in terms of re-enrollment through exchange and commercial products? Are you noting any disruptions in care for patients as they navigated through any re-enrollment? And if there's been a lapse in care, what tools does Astrana deploy to reengage the members that may have not been seeing their PCPs lately? Thanks.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Hey, Christian, thank you for the question. As I mentioned earlier, we still saw growth in Medicaid around 7% year to date, even net of redetermination. And the commercial class exchange business rose by even more than that. It was well over 16%, I believe, in the commercial segment, based on some of the recapture, as I mentioned, of redetermining the Medicaid members into the exchange. I would say that the efforts have largely gone successfully. Medicaid as a business has still grown, you know, despite redetermination, and we're not seeing any higher acuity levels in the remaining Medicaid members as compared to prior to redetermination. As you mentioned, the redetermination period is ending in a short while.
So, I think for the most part, headwinds around that redetermination program are generally mitigated from our point of view. In terms of member engagement, continuity of care, we think that's a really strong point of differentiation for our model. Patients who redetermine or are on a different type of insurance plan or even a different payer, I know it's not your question, but even for Medicare Advantage, still have access to the exact same care team, social workers, plus discharge planning, technology platform, and primary and specialty care providers, and now increasingly, 60% of it for their institutional network as well.
And so there's really a strong ability for us to continue care in the exact same way the patient has experienced it, leading to, you know, more longitudinal relationship with the patient and ultimately allowing us to invest more in the patient's health over time. So we think that's a big part of the model I discussed earlier, is that we are so diverse in terms of how we serve the patient, and we think that's paying off, as we've gone through this Medicaid redetermination process.
Christian Borgmeyer (Equity Research Associate)
Okay, got it. That's helpful. Thank you.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thanks, Christian.
Operator (participant)
As a reminder, star one, if you do have a question or comment. There appear to be no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back to Brandon Sim for closing remarks.
Brandon Sim (President and CEO)
Thank you, everyone, for tuning in this evening, to our first quarter of 2024 earnings results. As always, we are around in our offices in both Alhambra, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. If you're in the area, please don't hesitate to email us, if you'd like to meet. We look forward to discussing our results next quarter and seeing you again. Thank you, and have a good evening.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a great day.