earnings news from FierceHealthcare

Uh oh--this can't be good. A multitude of insurers have have posted rather disappointing financial results, including UnitedHealth Group, Humana, Health Net and WellPoint--and now another big Read more...

It's been a good first quarter for hospital company Universal Health Services, which saw a substantial jump in net earnings over the same quarter last year. UHS's net income climbed 24.6 percent for Read more...

It seems that LifePoint Hospitals took a beating in fiscal 2007. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based chain said that despite raised revenues, profits fell 20 percent, undermined by volume losses of 15 percent Read more...

National dialysis chain DaVita is doing very well, thank you very much, with 2006 sales of $4.9 billion and earnings of $290 million. That's up dramatically from 1999, when it had revenue of $1.4 Read more...

Managed care companies should enjoy a whopping 15 to 20 percent growth in earnings next year, but hospitals aren't so fortunate, says John Boettiger, healthcare valuation leader at Deloitte & Touche USA. In an interview, Boettiger offers some predictions as to how providers will cope with continuing budget squeezes--and suggestions as to what they can do about it. Article

CMS has released the 74 performance measures it plans to begin using in its Medicare pay-for-performance program this July. Under the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, physicians who choose to report on quality measures can get bonuses of up to 1.5 percent of their earnings. The bonuses will apply to services provided between July 1st and December 31st of this year. The measures are drawn from discussions with varied physician trade groups and professional organizations such as the …

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HealthSouth, which is still in the process of recovering form a 2.7 billion accounting scandal, announced that it many sell its surgery centers and outpatient rehabilitation unit. The company would to center its efforts on its more lucrative inpatient rehab hospitals, which account for over half of company's revenue and 86 percent of operating earnings. HealthSouth hopes that the sale of the unit will help the company pay off $1 billion of debt in five years. In 2003 the company was the …

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In the latest twist in the stock-option backdating story, UnitedHealth Group said that it may have to restate earnings for the past three years. That could cost the company as much as $286 million. Meanwhile, the health services giant admits in a regulatory filing that it is the object of an "informal" SEC probe into its stock option granting processes. UnitedHealth shares fell $1.70 to $44.47 in morning trading.

- read this The Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.)

The New York Times wonders if 2006 might turn out to be a long overdue bad year for insurers in the wake of the recent problems at UnitedHealth Group. Shares of health insurers are down 8.6 percent since January first according to Standard & Poors. On the other hand, that's led some on Wall Street to wonder if companies like United and WellPoint are actually bargains at the moment. Some observers are wondering if the investor uncertainty may have a lot to do with the chaotic …

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After years of excellent numbers, some critics are starting to wonder if things are about to take a turn for the worse at UnitedHealth. Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch reiterated his underperform rating for the company this weekend. Borsch says problems at recently acquired PacifiCare, "market noise on deteriorating customer service" and questions about corporate governance are "red flags" that should not be taken lightly. Borsch notes that PacifiCare earnings in California have …

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