Even after a buying spree that includes the $1.5 billion acquisition of Mission Health, HCA Healthcare officials told analysts they have more than $3.5 million of capital spending in the pipeline they expect to bring online within the next two years.
Speaking during a fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Sam Hazen, the newly minted CEO of the Nashville, Tennessee-based health system, said the planned investments will further build inpatient and outpatient capacity within its local healthcare systems.
"These strategic investments in our business to expand our networks and improve our clinical capabilities are making it easier for patients to get high quality, convenient patient care in an HCA facility," Hazen said during a fourth-quarter call with analysts.
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Already, HCA was coming off the 19th straight quarter of same facility inpatient admissions, reporting earnings of about $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, or about $3.01 per diluted share, more than double the $474 million, or $1.30 per diluted share, in earnings it reported in the fourth quarter of 2017. The company announced its revenues in the fourth quarter reached $12.3 billion, up more than 6% compared to $11.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
HCA reported its cash flows from operating activities were $2.175 billion, compared to $1.734 billion in the prior year’s fourth quarter. Its same facility equivalent admissions and same facility admissions increased 1.9% and its same facility revenue per equivalent admission increased 4.4%.
During the call, officials announced a cash dividend of 40 cents per share to their shareholders.
HCA reported $3.8 billion in earnings on $46.7 billion in revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 2018, compared to $2.2 billion in earnings on $43.6 billion in revenue for the same period in 2017. Results for the year include gains on sales of facilities of $428 million, or $0.91 per diluted share.