The nation's largest health systems made nearly $1 billion in profit in the second quarter as inpatient admissions largely grew across some of the top health systems.
The top-grossing health system was HCA Healthcare. With more than 518,000 admissions last quarter, up more than 4% from its about 495,000 acute admissions the same quarter last year, the health system earned $783 million on $25.6 billion in revenue.
HCA reported same-facility admissions and same-facility emergency room visits increased while surgical admissions took a dip in the second quarter.
Tenet's big news of the quarter came just days before releasing its earnings: The company announced it plans to spin off the $1.5 billion revenue cycle subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions as a separate, publicly traded company.
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Days later, the health giant beat Wall Street expectations as it reported a rise in revenue for the quarter to $4.6 billion, up from $4.5 billion in revenue in the same quarter of 2018.
Tenet reported net operating revenues in hospital operations and other segments reached $3.8 billion in the second quarter of 2019, up 2.5% from the second quarter of 2018. The increase in revenue was attributed primarily to revenue growth on a same-hospital basis, partially offset by hospital divestitures. Admissions increased 3.3% on a same-hospital basis, adjusted admissions increased 2.2% and revenue per adjusted admission increased 3.4%.
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And while admissions either grew or remained steady across the board in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter last year, Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems continued to struggle with low admissions throughout 2019. In the first quarter of the year, the health system had a 13.4% decrease in total admissions and a 12.8% decrease in total adjusted admissions compared with the first quarter of 2018.
The hospital chain announced a net loss of $167 million in the second quarter of 2019 as they continue to sell off hospitals to stem losses.
Charts contributed by Data Editor Eli Richman.