09:18 AM EDT, 04/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Addus HomeCare ( ADUS ) said Tuesday it was "disappointed" that the Department of Health and Human Services kept a high compensation requirement in its final rule for Medicaid services. Addus shares were down 7.4% in recent premarket activity.

A provision from the initial version of the rule mandates that 80% of Medicaid payments for personal care and similar services be spent on compensation for the direct care workforce, rather than on administrative overhead or profit. On Monday, HHS announced a final rule that kept the requirement.

"We are disappointed that HHS elected to keep the 80% payment threshold in place, despite over 2,000 comment letters to HHS from our industry and trade groups over the past year, which pointed out the significant challenges implementing such a provision would create," Addus' Chief Executive Dirk Allison said.

However, the company said the HHS's extension of the compliance period to six years from four years will give "states and providers a substantial amount of time to address the complexities of the rule."