About Linde Healthcare
Understaffed hospitals say "amen" for AMN Healthcare Services. Operating under such brands as American Mobile Healthcare, Medical Express, NurseChoice, NursesRx, Medfinders, Med Travelers, Staff Care, and O'Grady-Peyton International, the firm is one of the leading temporary health care staffing companies in the world. It places nurses, technicians, – more... and therapists for 13-week stints at hospitals, clinics, and schools nationwide. With professionals recruited from Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK, and the US, AMN provides travel reimbursement and housing for its nurse and health care workers on assignment. The majority of temporary assignments for its clients are at acute-care hospitals in the US.
An additional AMN brand includes Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, which provides permanent physician placement services throughout the US. The segment places physicians working in more than 70 specialties, including radiology, family practice, and internal medicine.
Over the last few years, AMN has suffered as a result of high unemployment rates, exorbitant impairment charges (recording more than $200 million of these charges in 2009 and 2010), and a substantial decrease in the average number of temporary health care workers on assignment throughout the country. Compared to fiscal year 2008, its revenue plunged 38% in 2009 as it suffered a net loss of $122 million for the year. Although its net loss shrunk to $52 million in 2010, the company's revenues still decreased 9% from about $760 million in 2009 to $689.2 million for 2010.
Despite its bleak balance sheet, the company's growth strategy consists of increasing its network of temporary health care workers and making strategic acquisitions that complement its core offerings. In mid-2010, the firm enhanced its presence in the home health care services market when it acquired smaller rival Nursefinders (which did business as Medfinders), a provider of clinical workforce services, for about $88 million in stock. Previously, AMN acquired staffing company Platinum Select, a Dallas-based provider of imaging professionals and travel nurses, in early 2008. Platinum Select, which boasts more than 800 clients, recorded about $53 million in revenue in 2007.
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