HCA Healthcare 3Q Profit, Revenue Rise

By Dave Sebastian

HCA Healthcare Inc., one of the nation's largest hospital chains, said its third-quarter profit and sales rose as the company passed the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic and gained experience managing its operations during the crisis.

The Nashville-based company on Monday posted net income of $668 million, or $1.95 a share, for the September quarter compared with $612 million, or $1.76 a share, in the comparable period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $2.61 a share. The company earlier this month said it expected income before income taxes of about $950 million.

Revenue rose 4.9% to $13.11 billion from $12.69 billion, in line with the company's expectations. Analysts were looking for $12.9 billion.

The results include a reversal of $822 million, or $1.72 a share, in stimulus income from Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds.

The company earlier this month said it would pay back about $6 billion in federal pandemic relief, the latest indicator of the $1 trillion hospital sector's rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic's effects caused by suspended surgeries and widespread lockdowns. It said it would return the roughly $1.6 billion it received in direct relief from the government and repay its relief loans totaling $4.4 billion ahead of schedule.

For the quarter, HCA said same-facility admissions and equivalent admission fell 3.8% and 9%, respectively. Same-facility emergency-room visits fell 20%. Same-facility inpatient surgeries fell 6.8%, while same-facility outpatient surgeries declined 6.3%. Same-facility revenue per equivalent admission rose 15% due to increase in acuity of patients treated and the payer mix during the quarter, the company said.

Write to Dave Sebastian at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2020 08:07 ET (12:07 GMT)

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