By Sahil Pandey and Kamal Choudhury
Oct 27 (Reuters) – Hospital operator HCA Healthcare beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter results on Tuesday, as robust patient traffic and Medicaid payments helped cushion the impact of a rise in uninsured patients.
HCA said a payer mix shift driven by an increase in uninsured patients, primarily those who lost coverage on health insurance exchanges, reduced income before taxes by about $400 million during the third quarter.
However, brokerages noted that an unexpected boost from state-directed Medicaid supplemental payments, alongside disciplined cost controls, helped offset that drag.
Barclays estimated Medicaid supplemental programs provided roughly $250 million in “unexpected” benefit in the quarter.
Shares of the company were up over 1% in early trading.
While same-facility equivalent admissions rose 3.0% year over year and emergency room visits climbed 5.1%, same-facility inpatient surgeries fell 1.4% and outpatient surgery cases declined 3.7%.
Brokerage Bernstein highlighted that insurance coverage losses continue to selectively pressure elective surgical procedure volumes.
Cost trends improved in the third quarter, with salaries and benefits easing to 43.2% of revenue from 43.6% a year earlier.
The company’s adjusted profit was $7.22 per share in the quarter ended September 30, compared with analysts’ estimates of $6.66 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. Revenue rose 3.6% to $19.85 billion in the quarter, above estimates of $19.33 billion.
HCA now expects full-year financial results to track in the upper half of the forecast range of annual profit between $28.70 and $30.50 per share on revenue of $77.0 billion to $79.5 billion.
Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback noted that exchange-related headwinds are “just beginning,” adding that incoming regulations like Medicaid work requirements and lower state payments could mute profit growth through 2028.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
