ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that may cause our actual operating results or financial performance to be materially different from our expectations and make an investment in our securities risky. If one or more of the events discussed in this report were to occur, actual outcomes could differ materially from those expressed in or implied by any forward‐looking statements we make in this report or our other filings with the SEC, and our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity could be materially adversely affected; furthermore, the trading price of our common stock could decline and our shareholders could lose all or part of their investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known, or currently deemed immaterial, may also constrain our business and operations.
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Risks Related to Our Overall Operations
If we are unable to enter into, maintain and renew managed care contractual arrangements on competitive terms, if we experience material reductions in the contracted rates we receive from managed care payers or if we have difficulty collecting from managed care payers, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our ability to enter into, maintain and renew favorable contracts with HMOs, insurers offering preferred provider arrangements and other managed care plans, as well as add new facilities to our existing agreements at contracted rates, significantly affects our revenues and operating results. For the year ended December 31, 2024, approximately 70%, or $9.809 billion, of our net patient service revenues for the hospitals and related outpatient facilities in our Hospital Operations segment was attributable to managed care payers, including Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs. Moreover, in 2024, our commercial managed care net inpatient revenue per admission from the hospitals in our Hospital Operations segment was approximately 67% higher than our aggregate yield on a per‐admission basis from government payers, including Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs.
The ongoing trend toward consolidation among non‐government payers tends to increase their bargaining power over contract terms. Generally, we compete for these contracts on the basis of price, market reputation, geographic location, quality and range of services, caliber of the medical staff and convenience. Our contracts with managed care payers require us to comply with a number of terms related to the provision of and billing for services. If we are unable to negotiate increased reimbursement rates, maintain existing rates or other favorable contract terms, effectively respond to managed care payer cost controls and reimbursement policies, or comply with the terms of our contracts, the payments we receive for our services may be reduced. Also, we are increasingly experiencing payment denials from and other administrative challenges with managed care payers, both prospectively and retroactively.
We currently have thousands of managed care contracts with various HMOs and PPOs; however, our top 10 managed care payers generated 71% of our managed care net patient service revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024. Because of this concentration, we may experience a short‐ or long‐term adverse effect on our net operating revenues if we cannot renew, replace or otherwise mitigate the impact of expired contracts with significant payers. Furthermore, material payment delays and disputes between us and significant managed care payers could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. At December 31, 2024, 68% of our Hospital Operations segment’s net accounts receivable was due from managed care payers.
In addition, managed care payers continue to seek to control healthcare costs by encouraging patients to use certain facilities in exchange for discounts from the facilities’ established charges, and through increased utilization reviews and greater enrollment in HMOs and PPOs. Any negotiated discount programs we agree to generally limit our ability to increase reimbursement rates to offset increasing costs. In addition, enrollment of individuals in high-deductible health plans has increased over the last decade. In comparison to traditional health plans, these plans have higher co-pays and deductibles due from patients, which subjects us to increased collection risk.
Our relationships with payers, and reimbursement for the care we provide, may be further impacted by clinical and price transparency initiatives and out‐of‐network billing restrictions, including those in the No Surprises Act. In general, any material reductions in the contracted or out-of-network rates we receive for our services or any significant difficulties in collecting receivables from managed care payers could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Changes in healthcare laws, regulations and policies could have an adverse effect on our business.
Over the past several years, various laws and regulations lengthened the enrollment period, expanded income eligibility, and reduced premium caps for subsidies for individuals purchasing Affordable Care Act coverage through state and federal marketplaces. Certain of these provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025; if they are not extended, it could result in significant increases in premiums, potentially leading to decreased enrollment and a corresponding rise in the uninsured or a shift of individuals from commercial coverage to government program coverage beginning in 2026. In such a case, we could experience decreased patient volumes, reduced revenues and an increase in uncompensated care, which would adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. We cannot predict whether or how the new Congress may extend or modify provisions of or relating to the Affordable Care Act or other laws affecting the healthcare industry generally, nor can we predict how the new administration will influence, promulgate or implement rules, regulations or executive orders that affect the healthcare industry directly or indirectly. We may also experience potential impacts on our business, in ways we cannot anticipate, from healthcare-related policy changes at the state level. Some federal and state changes, initiatives and requirements could, among other things, negatively impact our patient volumes, case mix and revenue mix, increase our operating costs, adversely affect the reimbursement we receive for our services, impact our competitive position or require us to expend resources to modify
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certain aspects of our operations, any of which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Furthermore, we cannot predict the impact healthcare policy risks and uncertainties may have on the trading price of our common stock.
Changes to the Medicare and Medicaid programs or other government healthcare programs, including reductions in scale and scope, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are unable to predict the effect of future government healthcare funding policy changes on our business. If the rates paid by governmental payers are reduced, if the scope of services covered by governmental payers is limited, if eligibility or enrollment is further restricted, if there are changes to align payment rates for certain procedures across various care settings, or if we or one or more of our hospitals are excluded from participation in the Medicare or Medicaid program or any other government healthcare program, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, approximately 15% and 10% of our net patient service revenues for the hospitals and related outpatient facilities in our Hospital Operations segment were from the Medicare program and various state Medicaid programs, respectively, in each case excluding Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are subject to:
•statutory and regulatory changes, administrative and judicial rulings, executive orders, interpretations and determinations concerning eligibility requirements, funding levels and the method of calculating reimbursements, among other things;
•requirements for utilization review; and
•federal and state funding restrictions.
Any of these factors could materially increase or decrease payments from these government programs in the future, as well as affect the cost of providing services to our patients and the timing of payments to our facilities, which could in turn adversely affect our overall business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Several states in which we operate continue to face budgetary challenges that have resulted in reduced Medicaid funding levels to hospitals and other providers. Because most states must operate with balanced budgets, and the Medicaid program is generally a significant portion of a state’s budget, states can be expected to adopt or consider adopting future legislation designed to reduce or not increase their Medicaid expenditures. In addition, some states delay issuing Medicaid payments to providers to manage state expenditures. As an alternative means of funding provider payments, many of the states where we operate have adopted supplemental payment programs authorized under the Social Security Act. Continuing pressure on state budgets and other factors, including legislative and regulatory changes, could result in future reductions to Medicaid payments, payment delays or changes to Medicaid supplemental payment programs that could negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Federal government denials or delayed approvals of waiver applications or extension requests by the states where we operate could also materially impact our Medicaid funding levels.
Because we cannot predict what actions the federal government or the states may take under existing or future legislation and/or regulatory changes to address budget gaps, deficits, Medicaid expansion, Medicaid eligibility redeterminations, provider fee programs, state‐directed payment programs or Medicaid Section 1115 waivers, we are unable to assess the effect that any such legislation or regulatory action might have on our business; however, the overall adverse impact on our future financial position, results of operations or cash flows could be material.
It is essential to our ongoing business that we attract an appropriate number of quality physicians in the specialties required to support our services and that we maintain good relations with those physicians.
The success of our business and clinical program development depends in large part on the number, quality, specialties, and admitting and scheduling practices of the licensed physicians who are members of the medical staffs of our hospitals and other facilities, as well as physicians who affiliate with us and use our facilities as an extension of their practices. Physicians are often not employees of the hospitals or surgery centers at which they practice. Members of the medical staffs of our facilities also often serve on the medical staffs of facilities we do not operate, and they are free to terminate their association with our facilities or admit their patients to competing facilities at any time. In addition, although physicians who own interests in our facilities are generally subject to agreements restricting them from owning an interest in competing facilities, we may not learn of, or may be unsuccessful in preventing, our physician partners from acquiring interests in such facilities.
We compete with system‐affiliated hospitals and healthcare companies, as well as health insurers and private equity companies, in recruiting physicians, acquiring physician practices and, where permitted by law, employing physicians. In 2024,
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we continued to experience challenges in recruiting and retaining physicians. In some of the regions where we operate, physician recruitment and retention are affected by a shortage of qualified physicians in certain higher-demand clinical service lines and specialties. Furthermore, our ability to recruit and employ physicians is closely regulated. For example, the types, amount and duration of compensation and assistance we can provide to recruited physicians are limited by the federal Anti‐kickback Statute and Stark law, as well as other applicable antifraud and abuse laws and regulations. All arrangements with physicians must also be fair market value and commercially reasonable. If we are unable to attract and retain sufficient numbers of quality physicians by providing adequate support personnel, technologically advanced equipment, and facilities that meet the needs of those physicians and their patients, physicians may choose not to refer patients to our facilities, admissions and outpatient visits may decrease, and our operating performance may decline.
Our labor costs have been, and may continue to be, adversely affected by competition for staffing, the shortage of experienced nurses and other healthcare professionals, and labor union activity.
Our operations are dependent on the availability, efforts, abilities and experience of management and medical support personnel, including nurses, therapists, pharmacists and lab technicians, among others. We compete with other healthcare providers in recruiting and retaining qualified personnel responsible for the operation of our facilities. There is limited availability of experienced medical support personnel nationwide, which drives up the wages and benefits required to recruit and retain employees. In particular, like others in the healthcare industry, we continue to experience shortages of advanced practice providers and critical‐care nurses in certain disciplines and geographic areas. At times, we have to pay premiums above standard compensation for essential workers and rely on higher-cost contract labor, which we compete with other healthcare providers to secure.
We also depend on the general labor pool of available workers in the areas where we operate. In some of our communities, employers across various industries have increased their minimum wage, which has created more competition and, in some cases, higher labor costs for this sector of employees. Furthermore, state-mandated minimum wage increases in California became effective for healthcare workers in October 2024, with further annual increases anticipated through 2028. The current and expected future increases will result in higher compensation costs for certain of our employees and vendors.
As a result of the aforementioned challenges, we have been, and we may continue to be, required to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain experienced employees, pay premiums above standard compensation for essential workers, make greater investments in education and training for newly licensed medical support personnel, or hire more expensive temporary or contract employees, which we also compete with other healthcare providers to secure. In addition, inflationary pressures, which we are unable to predict or control, may continue to impact our salaries, wages, benefits and other costs.
Increased labor union activity is another factor that can adversely affect our labor costs. At December 31, 2024, approximately 21% of the employees in our Hospital Operations segment were represented by labor unions. Unionized employees – primarily registered nurses and service, technical and maintenance workers – are located at 27 of our hospitals, the majority of which are in California, Florida and Michigan. Organizing activities by labor unions could increase our level of union representation in future periods. When we are negotiating collective bargaining agreements with unions (whether such agreements are renewals or first contracts), work stoppages and strikes may be threatened or occur. Extended strikes have had, and could in the future have, an adverse effect on our patient volumes, net operating revenues and labor costs at individual hospitals or in local markets.
For the reasons stated above, our failure to successfully recruit qualified employees, manage attrition, avoid labor disruptions, control costs and plan for future labor needs could have a material adverse effect on our ability to treat patients and our overall business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Our hospitals, outpatient centers and other healthcare businesses operate in competitive environments, and this competition can adversely affect their performance.
We believe our hospitals and outpatient facilities compete within local areas and regions on the basis of many factors, including: quality of care; location and ease of access; the scope and breadth of services offered; reputation; and the caliber of the facilities, equipment and employees. Furthermore, healthcare consumers are able to access performance data on quality measures and patient satisfaction, as well as pricing information for services, to compare competing providers. In addition, the No Surprises Act requires providers to send to health plans of insured patients and to uninsured patients good faith estimates of the expected charges and diagnostic codes prior to the scheduled dates of services. If any of our facilities achieve poor results (or results that are lower than our competitors) on quality measures or patient satisfaction surveys, or if our pricing is or is perceived to be higher than our competitors, we may attract fewer patients. In addition, the competitive positions of hospitals and outpatient facilities depend in part on the number, quality, specialties, and admitting and scheduling practices of the licensed physicians who are members of the medical staffs of those facilities, as well as physicians who affiliate with and use
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outpatient centers as an extension of their practices. We compete with system‐affiliated hospitals and healthcare companies, as well as health insurers and private equity companies, in recruiting physicians, acquiring physician practices and, where permitted by law, employing physicians.
Some competing healthcare facilities are owned by tax‐supported government agencies, and many others are owned by not‐for‐profit organizations that may have financial advantages not available to our facilities, including (1) support through endowments, charitable contributions and tax revenues, (2) access to tax‐exempt financing, (3) exemptions from sales, property and income taxes, (4) discounted prescription drug pricing. In addition, in certain areas where we operate, large teaching hospitals provide highly specialized facilities, equipment and services that may not be available at most of our hospitals. The existence or absence of state laws that require findings of need for construction and expansion of healthcare facilities or services may also impact competition. In recent years, the number of freestanding specialty hospitals, surgery centers, EDs, imaging centers and UCCs in the geographic areas where we operate has increased significantly. Some of these facilities are physician‐owned.
Another factor in the competitive position of a hospital or outpatient facility is the scope and terms of its relationships with managed care plans given that HMOs, PPOs, third‐party administrators and other third‐party payers use managed care contracts to encourage patients to use certain facilities in exchange for discounts from the facilities’ established charges. Generally, we compete for managed care contracts on the basis of price, market reputation, geographic location, quality and range of services, caliber of the medical staff and convenience. Other healthcare providers may affect our ability to enter into acceptable managed care contractual arrangements or negotiate commercial rate increases. For example, some of our competitors may negotiate exclusivity provisions with managed care plans or otherwise restrict the ability of managed care companies to contract with us through the formation of narrow networks or other similar structures. Vertical integration efforts involving third‐party payers and healthcare providers, among other factors, may increase competitive challenges.
If our healthcare competitors are better able to attract patients, recruit physicians, expand services or obtain favorable managed care contracts at their facilities than we are, we may experience an overall decline in patient volumes, which could have an adverse impact on our net operating revenues.
The market for our revenue cycle management services is also competitive. To be successful, we must respond more quickly and effectively than our competitors to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, regulations and client requirements. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in generating new client relationships or maintaining existing relationships on favorable terms.
We cannot predict the potential emergence and effects of a future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease, on our operations, financial condition and liquidity.
New variants or future surges of COVID-19 or the emergence or outbreak of another infectious disease could adversely impact our patient volumes, service mix, revenue mix, operating expenses and net operating revenues in some markets or broadly across our enterprise, depending on how widespread the illness becomes. As with the COVID-19 pandemic, we could experience spikes in admissions at our hospitals, which may put a strain on our resources and personnel, and increased case cancellations in our Ambulatory Care segment. We have been required, and we may in the future be required, to temporarily reduce overall operating capacity or suspend certain services at individual facilities due to staffing constraints and other infectious disease-related factors.
Further, future pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks could exacerbate existing workforce shortages, result in significant price increases in medical supplies, particularly for personal protective equipment, and worsen supply shortages and delays, all of which may impact our ability to see, admit and treat patients.
In general, the future course and impacts of COVID-19 or the potential emergence and effects of a future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease on our operational and financial performance is uncertain and will depend on many factors outside of our control, including, among others: the duration, severity and trajectory of the illness, including the possible spread of potentially more contagious and/or virulent forms of the infection; future economic conditions, as well as the impact of government actions and administrative regulations on the hospital industry and broader economy, including through stimulus efforts; the development, availability and widespread use of effective medical treatments and vaccines; the imposition of public safety measures; the volume of canceled or rescheduled procedures at our facilities; and the volume of affected patients across our care network.
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Our business could be significantly and negatively impacted by security threats, catastrophic events and other disruptions affecting our information technology and related information systems and confidential business data.
Our information technology systems are critical to the day‐to‐day operation of our business. We rely on our information technology to process, transmit and store clinical, financial and operational data that includes PHI, PII, and proprietary and confidential business data. We utilize electronic health records (“EHRs”) and other information technology in connection with all of our operations, including our billing and other financial systems, supply chain and labor management tools. Our systems, in turn, interface with and rely on third‐party systems that store and transmit information integral to patient care and that we do not control, including medical devices and other processes supporting the interoperability of healthcare infrastructures. We rely on these third‐party providers to have appropriate controls to protect our systems, confidential information and other sensitive or regulated data. While we seek to obtain assurances that third parties will protect our information and business operations, there is a risk the security of data held by such third parties could be breached or that systems are rendered unavailable, causing direct impacts to our business operations.
The information technology and infrastructure we use, the third‐party systems we interact with and the suppliers we use, have been, and continue to be, subject to cyber-attacks, computer viruses or breaches due to malfeasance or employee error. In April 2022, we experienced a cybersecurity incident that disrupted a subset of our hospital operations and involved the exfiltration of certain confidential company and patient information. Threat actors continue to proliferate, adapt and devote significant effort to attacking the information systems and electronically transmitted and stored data of healthcare providers and related entities. The risk of cyber-attack (including ransomware attack), breach or other disruption to healthcare systems, including ours, remains elevated in the current environment.
Attacks on, or breaches or other disruptions to, our information technology assets or those of third parties that we rely upon could impact the integrity, security or availability of data we process, transmit or store and could impact our operations, as well as PHI and PII, and result in potential harm to our patients and clients. The preventive actions we take to reduce the risk of such incidents and protect our information technology and data may not be sufficient. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, we may not be able to anticipate certain attack methods in order to implement effective protective measures. We continue to be required to expend significant additional resources to modify and strengthen our security measures, investigate and respond to cybersecurity incidents, remediate any vulnerabilities in our information systems and infrastructure, and invest in new technology designed to mitigate security risks. Our insurance against cybersecurity risks and cyber-attacks may not provide the coverage we anticipate or offset the financial impact of a material loss event. In addition, the occurrence of cybersecurity incidents and the continued and elevated risk of attacks (including ransomware), system and data breaches, and other disruptions to information technology systems in the current environment has caused increases in our cyber insurance premiums and lower coverage limits.
Third parties to whom we outsource certain of our functions, with whom we share data for interoperability purposes or from whom we obtain or to whom we provide products and related services, including those that are part of our revenue cycle processes or supply chain, or other third parties with whom our systems interface (such as clients and their vendors, among others), in some instances, store our sensitive and confidential data; these third parties are also subject to the risks outlined above and may not have or use controls effective to protect such information. An attack, breach or other system disruption affecting any of these third parties could similarly harm our business, impact payment of claims, and potentially harm our patients and clients. Further, successful cyber-attacks at other healthcare services companies, whether or not we are impacted, could lead to a general loss of consumer confidence in our industry that could negatively affect us, including harming the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures or of the healthcare industry in general, which could result in reduced use of our services.
Our networks and technology systems have also experienced disruption due to planned events, such as system implementations, upgrades, and other maintenance and improvements, and they are subject to disruption in the future for similar events, as well as catastrophic events, including a major earthquake, fire, hurricane, telecommunications failure, terrorist attack or the like.
Any ransomware attack, breach, system interruption or unavailability of our information systems or of third-party systems with access to our data could result in: the unauthorized disclosure, misuse, loss or corruption of such data; interruptions and delays in our normal business operations (including the collection of revenues); patient or client harm; potential liability under privacy, security, consumer protection or other applicable laws; regulatory penalties; ransomware payments; and negative publicity and damage to our reputation. Any of these could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
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We are subject to operational cybersecurity risks that could materially impact our business.
Because we operate an expansive, nationwide healthcare delivery network, changes to our information systems often take months or years to implement, are costly and, in some circumstances, are not compatible with other applications and devices in use. In addition, when we acquire facilities, physician practices and other operations, it takes time and resources to assess the security in place, and then implement and integrate our security practices at the acquired businesses. As a result, we operate these businesses for a period of time with their existing security programs, which may include deficiencies or vulnerabilities. We must prioritize changes and improvements to be made, and we may not be successful identifying gaps or developing alternative methods to secure our systems and data. If we are not successful, we may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents that could impact patient and client information, result in patient harm or have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, not all standard cybersecurity tools and solutions we use are employed at all locations, as expansion of tool and solution use is based on numerous factors. There is no guarantee that we will employ the right tools and solutions at each location or that the expansion of certain tools and solutions will be successful.
There are risks associated with our current and potential future use of artificial intelligence.
Recent advancements in technology and applications in healthcare, including Generative AI, are enabling our operations to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (“AI”) enabled tools in areas such as clinical care coordination, medical documentation, revenue cycle management and administrative services. When used responsibility, we believe AI has the potential to enhance our business processes and support efficient delivery of high-quality care. However, AI may not always operate as intended, and datasets may be insufficient or contain illegal, biased, harmful or offensive information, which could lead to inaccurate diagnoses and treatments. Moreover, Generative AI systems, which require the collection and processing of sensitive patient data, present potential security and privacy risks. If our current or future technologies or applications fail to operate as anticipated or do not perform as specified, including due to potential design defects and defects in the development of algorithms or other technologies, human error or otherwise, we may be subject to liability and reputational harm. Moreover, we could be subject to private claims and enforcement actions, even if AI systems we utilize operate as intended, relating to false advertising, unfair competition, privacy, anti-discrimination, intellectual property infringement or prohibitions on the corporate practice of medicine, among others. Conversely, if we are unable to successfully maintain, enhance or operate our information systems, including through the implementation of AI technologies or applications in our operations, we may be, among other things, unable to efficiently adapt to evolving laws and requirements, unable to remain competitive with others who successfully implement and advance this technology, and our patients’ safety may be adversely impacted, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our overall business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Alternative payment models and value-based purchasing initiatives may negatively impact our revenues.
Alternative payment models and value‐based purchasing initiatives of both governmental and private payers tying financial incentives to quality and efficiency of care can affect the results of operations of our hospitals and other healthcare facilities, and may negatively impact our revenues if we are unable to meet expected quality standards. Medicare requires providers to report certain quality measures in order to receive full reimbursement increases that were previously awarded automatically for inpatient and outpatient procedures; each year, CMS updates these measures through refinement or removal of existing measures and the addition of new measures. Hospitals that meet or exceed certain quality performance standards will receive increased reimbursement payments, and hospitals that have “excess readmissions” for specified conditions will receive reduced reimbursement. Furthermore, Medicare no longer pays hospitals additional amounts for the treatment of certain hospital‐acquired conditions (“HACs”), unless the conditions were present at admission. Hospitals that rank in the worst 25% of all hospitals nationally for HACs in the previous year receive reduced Medicare reimbursements. In addition, the Affordable Care Act prohibits the use of federal funds under the Medicaid program to reimburse providers for treating certain provider‐preventable conditions.
The Affordable Care Act also created the CMS Innovation Center to develop and test alternative payment models, including bundled payment models, designed to reduce certain government program expenditures while maintaining or improving quality of care. Bundled payment models hold hospitals financially accountable for the quality and cost of an entire episode of care for a specific diagnosis or procedure, from the date of the hospital admission or inpatient procedure through 90 days post‐discharge, and include services not provided by the hospital, such as physician services, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing and home health care. Participation in certain bundled payment models is voluntary; however, other bundled payment models are mandatory for providers in randomly selected geographic areas. Under the mandatory models, hospitals are eligible to receive incentive payments or will be subject to payment reductions within certain corridors based on their performance against quality and spending criteria. It is difficult to predict what impact, if any, these demonstration programs will have on our inpatient volumes, net revenues or cash flows.
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Over the years, private payers have also sought to move toward value‐based purchasing and alternative payment models for healthcare services. Some large commercial payers expect hospitals to report quality data, and several of these payers will not reimburse hospitals for certain preventable adverse events. Value‐based purchasing programs, including programs that condition reimbursement on patient outcome measures, may become more common and may involve a higher percentage of reimbursement amounts.
We are unable at this time to predict how future alternative payment models and value-based purchasing initiatives will affect our results of operations, but they could negatively impact our revenues, particularly if we are unable to meet the quality and cost standards established by both governmental and private payers.
Violations of existing regulations or failure to comply with new or changed regulations could harm our business and financial results.
Our hospitals, outpatient centers and related healthcare businesses are subject to an extensive and complex framework of government regulation at the federal, state and local levels. These legal and regulatory standards relate to, among other topics: ownership and operation of facilities and physician practices; licensure, certification and enrollment in government programs; the necessity and adequacy of medical care; quality of medical equipment and services; relationships with and qualifications of physicians and employees; operating conduct, policies and procedures; screening, stabilization and transfer of individuals who have emergency medical conditions; rate‐setting, billing and coding for services; the preparation and filing of cost reports; the handling of overpayments; contractual arrangements; relationships with referral sources and referral recipients; privacy and security; maintenance of adequate records; construction, acquisition, expansion and closure of healthcare facilities or services; environmental protection; compliance with fire prevention and building codes; debt collection; and communications with patients and consumers. In addition, various permits are required to dispense narcotics, operate pharmacies, handle radioactive materials and operate certain equipment. Our facilities are also subject to periodic inspection by governmental and other authorities to determine their compliance with applicable regulations, as well as the standards necessary for licensing and accreditation.
The policies and procedures we have in place to facilitate compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations cannot ensure compliance in every case. Moreover, government regulations often change, and we may have to make adjustments to our facilities, equipment, personnel and services to remain in compliance. The potential consequences for failing to comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations include (1) required refunds of previously received government program payments, (2) the assessment of civil monetary penalties, including treble damages, (3) fines, which could be significant, (4) exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs and (5) criminal sanctions, including sanctions against current or former employees. Our Medicare and Medicaid payments may be suspended pending even an investigation of what the government determines to be a credible allegation of fraud. Any of the aforementioned consequences could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Furthermore, even a public announcement that we are being investigated for possible violations of law could have a material adverse effect on the value of our common stock and our business reputation could suffer.
As noted, the healthcare industry continues to attract legislative interest and public attention. We are unable to predict the future course of federal, state and local healthcare legislation, regulation or enforcement efforts. Further changes in the regulatory framework negatively affecting healthcare providers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Violations of existing consumer protection regulations or failure to comply with new or changed regulations could harm our revenue cycle management services business.
Conifer is subject to numerous federal, state and local consumer protection and other laws governing such topics as privacy, financial services, and billing and collections activities. Regulations related to such laws are subject to changing interpretations that may be inconsistent among different jurisdictions. In addition, a regulatory determination made by, or a settlement or consent decree entered into with, one regulatory agency may not be binding upon, or preclude, investigations or regulatory actions by other agencies. Conifer’s failure to comply with applicable consumer protection and other laws could result in, among other things, the issuance of cease and desist orders (which can include orders for restitution or rescission of contracts, as well as other kinds of affirmative relief), the imposition of fines or refunds, and other civil and criminal penalties, some of which could be significant in the case of knowing or reckless violations. In addition, Conifer’s failure to comply with the statutes and regulations applicable to it could result in a reduced demand for services, invalidate all or portions of some services agreements with clients, give clients the right to terminate services agreements or give rise to contractual liabilities, among other things, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Furthermore, if Conifer becomes subject to fines or other penalties, it could harm Conifer’s reputation, thereby making it more difficult to retain existing clients or attract new clients.
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We could be subject to substantial uninsured liabilities or increased insurance costs as a result of significant legal actions.
We operate in a highly regulated and litigious industry; as such, we are regularly named in various legal actions in the ordinary course of our business. We have been and expect to continue to be subject to regulatory proceedings and private litigation (including class action lawsuits) related to, among other things, the care and treatment provided at our hospitals and outpatient facilities; the application of various federal and state labor and privacy laws, rules and regulations; antitrust claims; tax audits; contract disputes (including disagreements with joint venture partners); and other matters. Some of these actions involve large demands, as well as substantial defense costs. Even in states that have imposed caps on damages, litigants are seeking recoveries under theories of liability that might not be subject to such caps. Our commercial insurance does not cover all claims against us and may not offset the financial impact of a material loss event. Moreover, the healthcare industry has seen significant increases in the cost of professional and general liability insurance and required amounts of self-insured retention due to high numbers of claims and lawsuits and large verdicts in certain jurisdictions. As such, commercial insurance may not continue to be available at a reasonable cost for us to maintain at adequate levels. We cannot predict the outcome of current or future legal actions against us or the effect that judgments or settlements in such matters may have on us or on our insurance costs. Additionally, professional and general liability insurance we purchase is subject to per-claim and policy period aggregate limits. If the policy period aggregate limit of any of these policies is exhausted, in whole or in part, it could deplete or reduce the limits available to pay other material claims applicable to that policy period. Any losses not covered by or in excess of the amounts maintained under insurance policies will be funded from our working capital or other sources of liquidity. Furthermore, one or more of our insurance carriers could become insolvent and unable to fulfill its or their obligations to defend, pay or reimburse us when those obligations become due. In that case or if payments of claims exceed our estimates or are not covered by insurance, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Economic conditions and other factors have had, and may in the future have, an adverse impact on our business.
Our business has been impacted by inflation and its effects on salaries, wages and benefits, as well as other costs. Additional economic factors, including unemployment rates and consumer spending, affect our patient volumes, service mix and revenue mix. Business closings and layoffs in the areas where we operate may lead to increases in the uninsured and underinsured populations and adversely affect demand for our services, as well as the ability of patients to pay for services. Any significant deterioration in the collectability of patient accounts receivable could adversely affect our cash flows, results of operations and liquidity.
Medical supply prices remain high due to current economic conditions and other factors. In addition, our Ambulatory Care segment continues to be impacted by shipment delays in specialty building systems with respect to its de novo facility development efforts, which are a key part of our portfolio expansion strategy. In fall 2024, a hurricane significantly damaged the North Carolina factory of the largest producer of sterile intravenous fluids in the country, resulting in a national shortage; similar supply shortages in the future could impact our ability to see and treat patients. In general, supply chain operational challenges and cost pressures across our various expense categories may continue or worsen in the future, whether due to geopolitical conflicts, trade tensions, export control rules, tariffs, macro-economic conditions, climate change, weather events or other issues yet to emerge.
Any future cost-reduction initiatives may not deliver the benefits we expect, and actions taken may adversely affect our business.
Our future financial performance and level of profitability may depend, in part, on various cost‐reduction initiatives, including the outsourcing of certain functions unrelated to direct patient care. We may encounter challenges in executing cost‐reduction initiatives and not achieve the intended cost savings. In addition, we may face wrongful termination, discrimination or other legal claims from employees affected by any workforce reductions, and we may incur substantial costs defending against such claims, regardless of their merits. The threat of such claims may also significantly increase our severance costs. Workforce reductions, whether as a result of internal restructuring or in connection with outsourcing efforts, may result in the loss of numerous long‐term employees, the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise, the reallocation of certain job responsibilities and the disruption of business continuity, all of which could negatively affect operational efficiencies and increase our operating expenses in the short term. Moreover, outsourcing and offshoring expose us to additional risks, such as reduced control over operational quality and timing, foreign political and economic instability, compliance and regulatory challenges, and natural disasters not typically experienced in the United States, such as volcanic activity and tsunamis.
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Adverse financial trends affecting our actual or anticipated results may require us to record impairment and restructuring charges that may negatively impact our results of operations.
As a result of factors that have negatively affected our industry generally and our business specifically, we have been, and in the future expect to be, required to record various charges in our results of operations. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recorded $7 million of impairment charges and $56 million of restructuring charges. Our impairment tests presume stable, improving or, in some cases, declining operating results in our facilities, which are based on programs and initiatives being implemented that are designed to achieve each facility’s most recent projections. If these projections are not met, or negative trends occur that impact our future outlook, future impairments of long‐lived assets and goodwill may occur, and we may incur additional restructuring charges, which could be material. We believe significant factors that contribute to adverse financial trends include reductions in volumes of insured patients, shifts in payer mix from commercial to governmental payers combined with reductions in reimbursement rates from governmental payers, and high levels of uninsured patients. Future restructuring of our operating structure that changes our goodwill reporting units could also result in future impairments of our goodwill. Any such charges could negatively impact our results of operations.
Risks Related to Acquisitions, Divestitures and Joint Ventures
When we acquire new assets or businesses, we become subject to various risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We have completed a number of acquisitions in recent years, and we expect to pursue additional transactions in the future. A key business strategy for USPI, in particular, is the acquisition and development of facilities, primarily through the formation of joint ventures with physicians and/or health system partners. With respect to future transactions, we cannot provide any assurances that we will be able to identify suitable candidates, consummate transactions on terms that are favorable to us, or achieve synergies or other benefits in a timely manner or at all. Furthermore, companies or operations we acquire may not be profitable or may not achieve the profitability that justifies the investments made. Businesses we acquire may also have pre‐existing unknown or contingent liabilities, including liabilities for failure to comply with applicable healthcare regulations. These liabilities could be significant, and, if we are unable to exclude them from the acquisition transaction or successfully obtain and pursue indemnification from a third party or insurance proceeds, they could harm our business and financial condition. In addition, we may be unable to timely and effectively integrate ASCs, physician practices and other businesses that we acquire with our ongoing operations, or we may experience delays implementing operating procedures, personnel and systems, which could impact the financial performance of the acquired business. Significant acquisitions have required, and may in the future require, a substantial investment of time and resources across our enterprise; these efforts may affect management focus and impact our ability to properly prioritize and successfully execute on our other strategic initiatives. Moreover, future acquisitions could result in the incurrence of additional debt and contingent liabilities, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, and increased operating expenses, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We cannot provide any assurances that we will be successful in divesting assets we wish to sell.
From time to time, we pursue opportunities to refine our portfolio of hospitals and other healthcare facilities when we believe such refinements will help us improve profitability, allocate capital more effectively in areas where we have a stronger presence, deploy proceeds toward higher-return investments across our business, enhance cash flow generation or reduce our debt, among other things. We also periodically exit service lines and businesses that are no longer a core part of our long‐term growth and synergy strategies. In addition, in certain transactions, we may acquire underperforming facilities located in areas where we do not operate, which may cause us to seek to close or sell such facilities – potentially at a price lower than what we effectively paid to acquire them. We cannot provide any assurances that we will be successful in divesting assets we wish to sell or that divestitures or other strategic transactions will achieve their business goals or the benefits we expect.
We have in the past, and may in the future, fail to obtain applicable regulatory approvals, including state approvals or FTC clearances, with respect to potential divestitures of assets or businesses. Even in cases where such approvals are obtained, the process of obtaining them could delay the anticipated closing timeline and result in significant out‐of‐pocket expenses. Moreover, we may encounter difficulties in finding acquirers or alternative exit strategies on terms that are favorable to us, which could delay the receipt of anticipated proceeds necessary for us to complete our planned strategic objectives. In addition, our divestiture activities have required, and may in the future require, us to retain significant pre‐closing liabilities, recognize impairment charges (as discussed above) or agree to contractual restrictions that limit our ability to reenter a particular market, which may be material. Many of our hospital divestitures also necessitate us entering into a transition services agreement with the buyer for information technology and other related services. As a consequence, we may be exposed to the financial status of the buyer for any payments under such transition services agreements or for transferred contractual liabilities, which could be significant. Our divestitures also include the assignment of contracts, such as leases, to the buyers; in many cases, we continue to be exposed to liabilities under such arrangements if the buyers do not timely pay the obligations.
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Furthermore, our divestiture and other corporate development activities may present financial and operational risks, including (1) the diversion of management attention from existing core businesses, (2) adverse effects (including a deterioration in the related asset or business) from the announcement of the planned or potential transaction, and (3) the challenges associated with separating personnel and financial and other systems.
USPI and our hospital-based joint ventures depend on existing relationships with key health system partners. If we are unable to maintain synergistic relationships with these systems, or enter into new relationships, we may be unable to implement our business strategies successfully.
USPI and our hospital‐based joint ventures depend in part on the efforts, reputations and success of health system partners and the strength of our relationships with those systems. Our joint ventures could be adversely affected by any damage to those health systems’ reputations or to our relationships with them. In addition, damage to our business reputation could negatively impact the willingness of health systems to enter into relationships with us or USPI. If we are unable to maintain existing arrangements on favorable terms or enter into relationships with additional health system partners, we may be unable to implement our business strategies for our joint ventures successfully.
Our joint venture arrangements are subject to a number of operational risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We have invested in a number of joint ventures with other entities when circumstances warranted the use of these structures, and we may form additional joint ventures in the future. These joint ventures may not be profitable or may not achieve the profitability that justifies the investments made. Furthermore, the nature of a joint venture requires us to consult with and share certain decision‐making powers with unaffiliated third parties, some of which may be not‐for‐profit health systems. If our joint venture partners do not fulfill their obligations, the affected joint venture may not be able to operate according to its business or strategic plans. In that case, our results of operations could be adversely affected, or we may be required to increase our level of financial commitment to the joint venture. Moreover, differences in economic or business interests or goals among joint venture participants could result in delayed decisions, failures to agree on major issues and even litigation, including claims for breach and attempts to terminate underlying contracts. If these differences cause the joint ventures to deviate from their business or strategic plans, or if our joint venture partners take actions contrary to our policies, objectives or the best interests of the joint venture, our results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, our relationships with not‐for‐profit health systems and the joint venture agreements that govern these relationships are intended to be structured to comply with current revenue rulings published by the Internal Revenue Service, as well as case law relevant to joint ventures between for‐profit and not‐for‐profit healthcare entities. Material changes in these authorities could adversely affect our relationships with not‐for‐profit health systems and related joint venture arrangements.
Our participation in joint ventures is also subject to the risks that:
•We could experience an impasse on certain decisions because we do not have sole decision‐making authority, which could require us to expend additional resources on resolving such impasses or potential disputes.
•We may not be able to maintain good relationships with our joint venture partners (including health systems), which could limit our future growth potential and could have an adverse effect on our business strategies.
•Our joint venture partners could have investment or operational goals that are not consistent with our corporate‐wide objectives (including the timing, terms and strategies for investments or future growth opportunities) or their relevant contractual obligations.
•Our joint venture partners might become bankrupt, fail to fund their share of required capital contributions or fail to fulfill their other obligations as joint venture partners, which may require us to infuse our own capital into any such venture on behalf of the related joint venture partner or partners despite other competing uses for such capital.
•The requirements in some of our existing joint ventures that one of our wholly owned subsidiaries provide a working capital line of credit to the joint venture could necessitate the allocation of substantial financial resources to the joint venture, potentially impacting our ability to fund our other short‐term obligations.
•Provisions in some of our existing joint venture arrangements requiring mandatory capital expenditures for the benefit of the applicable joint venture could limit our ability to expend funds on other corporate opportunities.
•Our joint venture partners may have competing interests in our markets that could create conflict of interest issues, which could impact the sustainability of our relationships.
•Any sale or other disposition of our interest in a joint venture or underlying assets of the joint venture may require consents from our joint venture partners, which we may not be able to obtain.
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•Certain corporate‐wide or strategic transactions may also trigger other contractual rights held by a joint venture partner (including termination or liquidation rights) depending on how the transaction is structured, which could impact our ability to complete such transactions.
•Put/call arrangements and other joint venture exit rights could require us to utilize our cash flow or incur additional indebtedness to satisfy the payment obligations in respect of such arrangements.
•Our joint venture arrangements that involve financial and ownership relationships with physicians and others who either refer or influence the referral of patients to our hospitals or other healthcare facilities are subject to greater regulatory scrutiny from government enforcement agencies. While we endeavor to comply with the applicable safe harbors under the Anti‐kickback Statute, certain of our current arrangements, including joint venture arrangements, do not qualify for safe harbor protection.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness
Our level of indebtedness could, among other things, adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and prevent us from meeting our obligations under the agreements relating to our indebtedness.
At December 31, 2024, we had approximately $13.173 billion of total long‐term debt, as well as $106 million in standby letters of credit outstanding in the aggregate under our senior secured revolving credit facility (as amended, “Credit Agreement”) and our letter of credit facility agreement (as amended, “LC Facility”). During 2024, our interest expense was $826 million and represented 14% of our $5.956 billion of operating income. Our Credit Agreement is collateralized by eligible inventory and patient accounts receivable, including receivables for Medicaid supplemental payments, of substantially all of our wholly owned acute care and specialty hospitals, and our LC Facility is guaranteed and secured by a first priority pledge of the capital stock and other ownership interests of certain of our hospital subsidiaries on an equal‐ranking basis with our existing senior secured notes. From time to time, we expect to engage in additional capital market, bank credit and other financing activities, depending on our needs and financing alternatives available at that time.
Our indebtedness could have important consequences, including the following:
•Our indebtedness may limit our ability to adjust to changing market conditions and place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt.
•We may be more vulnerable in the event of a deterioration in our business, in the healthcare industry or in the economy generally, or if federal or state governments substantially limit or reduce reimbursement under the Medicare or Medicaid programs.
•Our debt service obligations reduce the amount of funds available for our operations, capital expenditures and corporate development activities, and may make it more difficult for us to satisfy our financial obligations.
•Our operations are capital intensive and require significant investment to maintain buildings, equipment, software and other assets. Our indebtedness could limit our ability to obtain additional financing, if needed, to fund future capital expenditures, as well as working capital, acquisitions or other needs.
•Our indebtedness may result in the market value of our stock being more volatile, potentially resulting in larger investment gains or losses for our shareholders, than the market value of the common stock of other companies that have a relatively smaller amount of indebtedness.
•A significant portion of our outstanding debt is subject to early call price or make‐whole premiums; as a result, it may be costly to pursue debt repayment as a deleveraging strategy depending on when we decide to retire the debt.
Furthermore, our Credit Agreement, our LC Facility and the indentures governing our outstanding notes contain, and any future debt obligations may contain, covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to pay dividends, incur additional debt and sell assets.
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness, and we may not be able to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms, if needed. If we are forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, these actions may not be successful.
Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our indebtedness depends on our cash on hand and our financial and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to financial, business and other factors that may be beyond our control. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain a level of
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cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.
In addition, our ability to meet our debt service obligations is primarily dependent upon the operating results of our subsidiaries and their ability to pay dividends or make other payments or advances to us. We hold most of our assets at, and conduct substantially all of our operations through, direct and indirect subsidiaries. Moreover, we principally rely on dividends or other intercompany transfers of funds from our subsidiaries to meet our debt service and other obligations, including payment on our outstanding debt. The ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other payments or advances to us will depend on their operating results and will be subject to applicable laws and restrictions contained in agreements governing the debt of such subsidiaries. Subsidiaries that are not wholly owned may also be subject to restrictions on their ability to distribute cash to us in their financing or other agreements and, as a result, we may not be able to access their cash flows to service their respective debt obligations.
In years past, we regularly issued new notes to refinance our outstanding notes prior to their maturity, and we may continue this practice in the future. Current capital market and macro-economic conditions have increased borrowing rates and can be expected to increase our cost of capital as compared to prior periods should we seek additional funding. Moreover, global capital markets have experienced significant volatility and uncertainty in the past, and there can be no assurance that such financing alternatives will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all, should we determine it necessary or advisable to seek additional capital. In addition, our ability to incur secured indebtedness (which would generally enable us to achieve better pricing than the incurrence of unsecured indebtedness) depends in part on the value of our assets, which depends, in turn, on the strength of our cash flows and results of operations, as well as on economic and market conditions and other factors.
If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations and we are unable to refinance our indebtedness on acceptable terms, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, including those required for physical plant maintenance or operation of our existing facilities, for integrating our historical acquisitions or for future corporate development activities, and such reduction or delay could continue for years. We also may be forced to sell assets or operations, seek additional capital, or restructure our indebtedness. We cannot assure you that we would be able to take any of these actions, that these actions would be successful and permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations, or that these actions would be permitted under the terms of our existing or future debt agreements, including our Credit Agreement, our LC Facility and the indentures governing our outstanding notes.
Restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness may adversely affect us.
Our Credit Agreement, our LC Facility and the indentures governing our outstanding notes contain various covenants that, among other things, limit our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to:
•incur, assume or guarantee additional indebtedness;
•incur liens;
•make certain investments;
•provide subsidiary guarantees;
•consummate asset sales;
•redeem debt that is subordinated in right of payment to outstanding indebtedness;
•enter into sale and lease‐back transactions;
•enter into transactions with affiliates; and
•consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets.
These restrictions are subject to a number of important exceptions and qualifications. In addition, under certain circumstances, the terms of our Credit Agreement require us to maintain a financial ratio relating to our ability to satisfy certain fixed expenses, including interest payments. Our ability to meet this financial ratio and the aforementioned restrictive covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, and there can be no assurance that we will meet those tests. These restrictions could limit our ability to obtain future financing, make acquisitions or needed capital expenditures, withstand economic downturns in our business or the economy in general, conduct operations or otherwise take advantage of business opportunities that may arise. In addition, a breach of any of these covenants could cause an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could require us to repay the indebtedness immediately. Under these conditions, we are not certain whether we would have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make accelerated payments.
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Despite current indebtedness levels, we have the ability and may decide to incur substantially more debt or otherwise increase our leverage. This could further intensify the risks described above.
We have the ability to incur additional indebtedness in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our Credit Agreement, our LC Facility and the indentures governing our outstanding notes. We may decide to incur additional secured or unsecured debt in the future to finance our operations and any judgments or settlements or for other business purposes.
Our Credit Agreement provides for revolving loans in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.500 billion (subject to a borrowing base calculation), with a $200 million subfacility for standby letters of credit. Our LC Facility provides for the issuance of standby and documentary letters of credit in an aggregate principal amount of up to $200 million. At December 31, 2024, we had no cash borrowings outstanding under the Credit Agreement, and we had $106 million of standby letters of credit outstanding in the aggregate under the Credit Agreement and the LC Facility. If new indebtedness is added or our leverage increases, the related risks could intensify.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY
RISK MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
We identify and assess areas of risk for our company on an ongoing basis, and we have developed, and regularly refine, comprehensive practices to manage and mitigate existing and potential risks to our business. Our board of directors oversees enterprise risk management as an integral and continuous part of its oversight role. Integrated into our overall enterprise risk management framework are processes dedicated to the identification, assessment and management of material risks from cybersecurity threats. Our approach to cybersecurity risk management is both proactive and defensive, and includes the following elements:
•a team dedicated solely to cybersecurity and managed by our chief information security officer (“CISO”), who reports directly to our chief information officer (“CIO”);
•an information technology request review process that includes cybersecurity assessments of third-party products and systems proposed to connect to our information systems environment or access our data; and
•a cybersecurity incident response plan.
Cybersecurity Team and Strategy—Our cybersecurity team, which includes both our employees and those of our managed services provider, is comprised of subgroups focused on distinct functional areas of responsibility. The team maintains a Security Operations Center, staffed 24 hours a day, that delivers day-to-day execution support for our cybersecurity risk management program.
We leverage a multi-layered strategy that is designed to assess, identify, manage and mitigate risks to our systems and data from cybersecurity threats. Proactively, we have implemented numerous threat‐management tools and processes. In addition, we have disaster recovery and business continuity plans that are tested and updated periodically. We strive to stay abreast of cybersecurity threats through integrated threat intelligence feeds, industry and federal threat notices, and participation in healthcare industry intelligence sharing. Our program leverages best practices and is guided by industry frameworks, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework. We also conduct table-top exercises, which serve to simulate cybersecurity incidents to practice response and identify gaps, on a regular basis. Our internal audit team performs random sampling audits of security practices at our facilities, and we routinely perform security risk assessments.
We also require all employees to participate in cybersecurity awareness training annually, and we circulate cybersecurity awareness alerts, safety tips and newsletters to employees across the enterprise regularly. In addition, we routinely run phishing campaigns and perform other tests to increase awareness of cybersecurity threats.
Third-Party Review Processes—Our business requires interaction of our systems and the sharing of data with third parties, including our service providers and vendors, as well as other healthcare providers and their vendors, that present risks to our systems and data from third-party systems and practices. Incidents and cybersecurity attacks at third parties can impact our operations and our obligations to patients, payers and others. We manage this risk through an information technology review and approval process that considers the anticipated use and implementation of proposed technologies, and includes cybersecurity team assessments of third-party products and systems proposed to connect to our information systems
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environment or access our data. A subgroup of our cybersecurity team is dedicated to risk-assessment analyses of vendor security practices and protections. In certain circumstances, we enter into information security agreements with service providers to secure their commitment to maintain certain security protections.
Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan—In addition to protecting our assets proactively, our cybersecurity team is tasked with detecting and defending against cybersecurity threats to our systems and data. We maintain a response plan that outlines actions to be taken with respect to cyber incidents and includes procedures, notification processes, and protocols for escalation to senior management and our board of directors. The cybersecurity incident response team is composed of a smaller, core group of our cybersecurity team, as well as a larger, extended group that includes personnel from our operations, legal, compliance, privacy, risk management, communications, incident command center, security, human resources, finance, audit and government relations teams. We also engage third parties, such as forensics consultants, external legal counsel and law enforcement, as needed and as appropriate based on the circumstances. Incidents are escalated to senior management in accordance with our plan and as otherwise appropriate based on the nature of the incident.
EXISTING AND POTENTIAL RISKS
As previously disclosed, in April 2022, we experienced a cybersecurity incident that disrupted a subset of our hospital operations and involved the exfiltration of certain confidential company and patient information. We incurred significant costs to remediate the issues, sustained lost revenues from the associated business interruption and incurred other related expenses. Following this incident, we implemented certain changes to our information systems and processes meant to provide additional protections to our environment, including enhancements to our Security Operations Center, system backups, training practices, detection tools and capabilities, and implementation of new tools and processes, among others.However, we continue to face a heightened risk of cybersecurity threats targeting healthcare providers, including ransomware attacks, which may materially impact our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additional information on cybersecurity‐related risks is included in Item 1A, Risk Factors, of Part I of this report.
GOVERNANCE
Board Oversight—Our board of directors has identified the oversight of cybersecurity risks to be one of its priorities, and it receives regular reports from management, including the CIO and the CISO, on various cybersecurity matters, including the security of the company’s information systems, anticipated sources of future material cyber risks and how management is addressing any significant potential vulnerability. The board’s audit committee reviews the company’s cybersecurity program at least annually and receives regular updates on cybersecurity threats and other matters. Cecil D. Haney, a member of the audit committee, brings to the board valuable insights into cybersecurity, systems planning, and crisis and risk management.
In addition to regular updates to the audit committee, we have protocols by which certain cybersecurity incidents are escalated within the company and, where appropriate, reported in a timely manner to the board and the audit committee.
Management Oversight—Our CISO, who reports directly to our CIO, oversees and manages our cybersecurity strategy and related programs. As the head of our cybersecurity team, both internal and outsourced, our CISO is primarily responsible for assessing and managing risks from cybersecurity threats. The processes by which he is informed about and monitors the prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation of cybersecurity incidents are described above.He reports information about such risks to the CIO and other members of senior management, who, in turn, report them to our board and audit committee, as appropriate.Our CISO joined the company in August 2022 with over 20 years of risk management, national security and cybersecurity experience garnered at both public and private companies, as well as governmental agencies.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
The disclosure required under this Item is included in Item 1, Business, of Part I of this report.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Because we provide healthcare services in a highly regulated industry, we have been and expect to continue to be party to various lawsuits, claims and regulatory investigations from time to time. For information regarding material pending legal proceedings in which we are involved, see Note 17 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, which is incorporated by reference.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
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PART II.
ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Common Stock—Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “THC.” As of February 7, 2025, there were 3,053 holders of record of our common stock. Our transfer agent and registrar is Computershare. Shareholders with questions regarding their stock certificates, including inquiries related to exchanging or replacing certificates or changing an address, should contact the transfer agent at (866) 229‐8416.
Equity Compensation—Refer to Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, of Part III of this report, as well as Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, for information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans.
Stock Performance Graph—The following graph shows the cumulative, five‐year total return for our common stock compared to the following indices:
•The S&P 500, a stock market index that measures the equity performance of 500 large companies listed on the stock exchanges in the United States (in which we are not included);
•The S&P 500 Health Care, a stock market index comprised of those companies included in the S&P 500 that are classified as part of the healthcare sector (in which we are not included); and
•A group made up of us and our healthcare provider peers (namely, Community Health Systems, Inc. (CYH), HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA), Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) and Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS)), which we refer to as our “Peer Group” herein.
Performance data assumes that $100.00 was invested on December 31, 2019 in our common stock and each of the indices. The data assumes the reinvestment of all cash dividends and the cash value of other distributions, if any. Moreover, in accordance with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regulations, the returns of each company in our Peer Group have been weighted according to the respective company’s stock market capitalization at the beginning of each period for which a return is indicated. The stock price performance shown in the graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance. The performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.
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At December 31,
Repurchases of Common Stock—In July 2024, our board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $1.500 billion of our common stock through a share repurchase program that has no expiration date. Repurchases under the program may be made in open‐market or privately negotiated transactions, at management’s discretion subject to market conditions and other factors, and in a manner consistent with applicable securities laws and regulations. The share repurchase program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and it may be suspended for periods or discontinued at any time. We had no share repurchase transactions during the three months ended December 31, 2024 (not including shares tendered to satisfy the exercise price in connection with cashless exercises of employee stock options or shares tendered to satisfy tax withholding obligations in connection with employee or director equity awards). The maximum dollar value of shares that may yet be purchased under the program is $1.376 billion.
ITEM 6. RESERVED
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
The purpose of this section, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”), is to provide a narrative explanation of our financial statements that enables investors to better understand our business, to enhance our overall financial disclosures, to give context to the analysis of our financial information, and to provide information about the quality of, and potential variability of, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. MD&A, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, includes the following sections:
•Management Overview
•Sources of Revenue for Our Hospital Operations and Services Segment
•Results of Operations
•Liquidity and Capital Resources
•Recently Issued Accounting Standards
•Critical Accounting Estimates
Our business consists of our Hospital Operations and Services (“Hospital Operations”) segment and our Ambulatory Care segment. Our Hospital Operations segment is comprised of our acute care and specialty hospitals, a network of employed physicians and ancillary outpatient facilities. At December 31, 2024, our subsidiaries operated 49 hospitals serving primarily urban and suburban communities in eight states. Our Hospital Operations segment also included 135 outpatient facilities at December 31, 2024, including urgent care centers (each, a “UCC”), imaging centers, off-campus hospital emergency departments and micro‐hospitals. In addition, our Hospital Operations segment provides revenue cycle management and value‐based care services to hospitals, health systems, physician practices, employers and other clients through our Conifer Health Solutions, LLC joint venture.
Our Ambulatory Care segment, through our USPI Holding Company, Inc. subsidiary (“USPI”), held ownership interests in 518 ambulatory surgery centers (each, an “ASC”), 375 of which are consolidated, and 25 surgical hospitals, seven of which are consolidated, in 37 states at December 31, 2024. USPI’s facilities offer a range of procedures and service lines, including, among other specialties: orthopedics, total joint replacement, and spinal and other musculoskeletal procedures; gastroenterology; pain management; otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat); ophthalmology; and urology.
Unless otherwise indicated, all financial and statistical information included in MD&A relates to our continuing operations, with dollar amounts expressed in millions (except per adjusted admission and per adjusted patient day amounts). Continuing operations information includes the results of all facilities operated during any portion of the periods presented, and it reflects the performance of those facilities only for the time periods in which we operated them. Continuing operations information excludes the results of our hospitals and other businesses classified as discontinued operations for accounting purposes. We believe this presentation is useful to investors because continuing operations information reflects the impact of the addition or disposition of individual hospitals and other operations on our volumes, revenues and expenses.
In certain cases, information presented in MD&A for our Hospital Operations segment is described as presented on a same‐hospital basis, which includes facilities we operated for the entirety of the periods presented. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, information presented on a same-hospital basis includes the results of our same 47 hospitals and those outpatient centers we operated throughout 2024 and 2023, and excludes the results of: (1) our Westover Hills Baptist Hospital, the new acute care hospital we opened in Texas in July 2024; (2) three hospitals located in South Carolina and certain related operations (the “SC Hospitals”) we sold in January 2024; (3) four hospitals and certain related operations located in Orange County and Los Angeles County, California (the “OCLA CA Hospitals”) we sold in March 2024; (4) two hospitals and certain related operations located in San Luis Obispo County, California (the “Central CA Hospitals”), which we also sold in March 2024; (5) the five hospitals and certain related operations located in Alabama we divested in September 2024 (the “AL Hospitals”); (6) a rehabilitation hospital in El Paso, Texas, in which we acquired a majority ownership interest in September 2024; (7) 56 UCCs we acquired ownership interests in through the formation of a joint venture with NextCare, Inc. in December 2023; and (8) businesses classified as discontinued operations for accounting purposes during those periods, along with other ancillary facilities acquired or divested during the reporting periods that have a limited financial or operational impact. We present same‐hospital data because we believe it provides investors with useful information regarding the performance of our current portfolio of hospitals and other operations that are comparable for the periods presented.
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Furthermore, same‐hospital data may more clearly reflect recent trends we are experiencing with respect to volumes, revenues and expenses exclusive of variations caused by the addition or disposition of individual hospitals and other operations.
We present certain metrics as a percentage of net operating revenues because a significant portion of our operating expenses are variable, and we present certain metrics on a per adjusted admission and per adjusted patient day basis to show trends other than volume.
Our Ambulatory Care segment reports growth data on a same-facility systemwide basis, which includes both consolidated and unconsolidated facilities held at the end of the period, as well as facilities acquired during the period on a pro forma basis as if owned for the full period. Divested facilities are generally excluded; however, management may include facilities sold near the end of the period when, in its judgment, their inclusion provides financial statement users with a better understanding of the segment's performance. This approach offers insights into the performance of our current portfolio by excluding variations from facility acquisitions or dispositions. Although we do not record the revenues of unconsolidated facilities, this information is important for understanding the financial performance of our Ambulatory Care segment, as these revenues form the basis for calculating management services revenues and equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates. Additionally, this presentation enhances comparability across periods.
The financial information provided throughout this report, including our Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto, has been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). However, we use certain non‐GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below), in this report and in communications with investors, analysts, rating agencies, banks and others to assist such parties in understanding the impact of various items on our financial statements. We use this information in our analysis of the performance of our business, excluding items we do not consider relevant to the performance of our operations. In addition, we use these measures to define certain performance targets under our compensation programs.
“Adjusted EBITDA” is a non‐GAAP measure we define as net income available (loss attributable) to Tenet Healthcare Corporation common shareholders before (1) the cumulative effect of changes in accounting principle, (2) net loss attributable (income available) to noncontrolling interests, (3) income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax, (4) income tax benefit (expense), (5) gain (loss) from early extinguishment of debt, (6) other non‐operating income (expense), net, (7) interest expense, (8) litigation and investigation (costs) benefit, net of insurance recoveries, (9) net gains (losses) on sales, consolidation and deconsolidation of facilities, (10) impairment and restructuring charges and acquisition‐related costs, (11) depreciation and amortization, and (12) income (loss) from divested and closed businesses (i.e., health plan businesses). Litigation and investigation costs do not include ordinary course of business malpractice and other litigation and related expense.
We also present certain operational metrics and statistics in order to provide additional insight into our operational performance efficiency and to help investors better understand management’s view and strategic focus. We define these operational metrics and statistics as follows:
Adjusted admissions—represents actual admissions in the period adjusted to include outpatient services provided by facilities in our Hospital Operations segment by multiplying actual admissions by the sum of gross inpatient revenues and outpatient revenues and dividing the result by gross inpatient revenues;
Adjusted patient days—represents actual patient days in the period adjusted to include outpatient services provided by facilities in our Hospital Operations segment by multiplying actual patient days by the sum of gross inpatient revenues and outpatient revenues and dividing the result by gross inpatient revenues; and
Utilization of licensed beds—represents patient days divided by the number of days in the period divided by average licensed beds.
MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT AND TRENDS
Industry Trends and Healthcare Policy Changes—We believe that several key trends are continuing to shape the demand for healthcare services: (1) consumers, employers and insurers are actively seeking lower‐cost solutions and better value with respect to healthcare spending; (2) patient volumes are shifting from inpatient to outpatient settings due to technological advances and demand for care that is more convenient, affordable and accessible; (3) the growing aging population requires greater chronic disease management and higher‐acuity treatment; and (4) consolidation continues across the entire healthcare sector. Furthermore, the healthcare industry, in general, and the acute care hospital business, in particular, continue to be subject to significant legislative and regulatory uncertainty. Changes in federal or state healthcare laws,
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regulations, funding policies or reimbursement practices, especially those involving reductions to government payment rates or access to insurance coverage, could have a significant impact on our future revenues and expenses.
Staffing and Labor Trends—We compete with other healthcare providers in recruiting and retaining qualified personnel responsible for the operation of our facilities. There is limited availability of experienced medical support personnel nationwide, which drives up the wages and benefits required to recruit and retain employees. In particular, like others in the healthcare industry, we continue to experience shortages of advanced practice providers and critical‐care nurses in certain disciplines and geographic areas. Over the past several years, we have had to rely on higher-cost contract labor, which we compete with other healthcare providers to secure, and pay premiums above standard compensation for essential workers. Our recruitment and retention efforts drove a reduction in contract labor expense during the year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to 2023, such that our contract labor costs are now in line with historical levels.
We also depend on the general labor pool of available workers in the areas where we operate. In some of our communities, employers across various industries have increased their minimum wage, which has created more competition and, in some cases, higher labor costs for this sector of employees. Furthermore, state‐mandated minimum wage increases in California became effective for healthcare workers in October 2024, with further annual increases anticipated through 2028. The current and expected future increases will result in higher compensation costs for certain of our employees and vendors.
Economic Conditions and Other Impacts—Our business has been impacted by inflation and its effects on salaries, wages and benefits, as well as other costs. Medical supply prices remain high due to current economic conditions and other factors. In addition, our Ambulatory Care segment continues to be impacted by shipment delays in specialty building systems with respect to its de novo facility development efforts, which are a key part of our portfolio expansion strategy. In general, supply chain operational challenges and cost pressures across our various expense categories may continue or worsen in the future, whether due to geopolitical conflicts, trade tensions, export control rules, tariffs, macro-economic conditions, climate change, weather events or other issues yet to emerge.
STRATEGIES
Expanding Our Ambulatory Care Segment—We continue to focus on opportunities to expand our Ambulatory Care segment through acquisitions, organic growth in our physician relationships and service lines, construction of new outpatient centers and strategic partnerships. We believe USPI’s ASCs and surgical hospitals offer many advantages to patients and physicians, including greater affordability, predictability, flexibility and convenience. Moreover, due in part to advancements in surgical techniques, medical technology and anesthesia, as well as the lower cost structure and greater efficiencies that are attainable at a specialized outpatient site, we believe the volume and complexity of surgical cases performed in an outpatient setting will continue to increase over time. Historically, our outpatient services have generated significantly higher margins for us than inpatient services. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we acquired ownership interests in 54 ASCs and one surgical hospital in which we did not have a previous investment, increased our ownership interest in seven ASCs sufficient to consolidate them and opened 14 de novo ASCs.
Driving Growth in Our Hospital Operations Segment—We remain committed to better positioning our hospitals and competing more effectively in the ever‐evolving healthcare environment by focusing on driving performance through operational effectiveness, investing in our physician enterprise, particularly our specialist network, enhancing patient and physician satisfaction, growing our higher‐demand and higher‐acuity clinical service lines (including outpatient lines), expanding patient and physician access, and optimizing our portfolio of assets. We believe our efforts in these areas improve the quality of care we deliver and enhance growth.
In 2024, we continued to pursue advantageous opportunities to grow our portfolio of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In July, we opened the newly constructed, 92-bed Westover Hills Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, and, in September, we acquired a majority ownership interest in a 36-bed rehabilitation hospital in El Paso. In addition, we continued construction in 2024 on a new medical campus located in Port St. Lucie, which will include the 54‐bed Florida Coast Surgical Hospital, as well as medical office space. We expect to complete construction of the Port St. Lucie medical campus in late 2025.
From time to time, we also capitalize on opportunities to refine our portfolio of hospitals and other healthcare facilities when we believe such refinements will help us improve profitability, allocate capital more effectively in areas where we have a stronger presence, deploy proceeds toward higher-return investments across our business, enhance cash flow generation or reduce our debt, among other things. To that end, we divested the SC Hospitals, OCLA CA Hospitals, Central CA Hospitals and AL Hospitals (collectively, the “Divested Hospitals”) in 2024.
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Improving the Customer Care Experience—As consumers continue to become more engaged in managing their health, we recognize that understanding what matters most to them and earning their loyalty is imperative to our success. As such, we have enhanced our focus on treating our patients as traditional customers by: (1) establishing networks of physicians and facilities that provide convenient access to services across the care continuum; (2) expanding service lines with growing community demand, including a focus on aging and chronic disease patients; (3) offering greater affordability and predictability, including simplified registration and discharge procedures, particularly in our outpatient centers; (4) improving our culture of service; and (5) creating health and benefit programs, patient education and health literacy materials that are customized to the needs of the communities we serve.
Recent advancements in technology and applications in healthcare, including Generative AI, are enabling our operations to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (“AI”) enabled tools in areas such as clinical care coordination, medical documentation, revenue cycle management and administrative services. When used responsibility, we believe AI has the potential to enhance our business processes and support efficient delivery of high‐quality care.
Improving Profitability—We continue to focus on growing patient volumes and effective cost management as a means to improve profitability. We believe that emphasis on higher‐demand clinical service lines (including outpatient services), focus on expanding our ambulatory care business, cultivation of our culture of service, participation in Medicare Advantage health plans that have been experiencing higher growth rates than traditional Medicare, and contracting strategies that create shared value with payers should help us grow our patient volumes over time. We are also continuing to pursue new opportunities to enhance efficiency, including further integration of enterprise‐wide centralized support functions, outsourcing additional functions unrelated to direct patient care, supply chain management, and reducing clinical and vendor contract variation.
Managing Our Capital Structure—All of our long‐term debt has a fixed rate of interest, except for outstanding borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility (as amended to date, the “Credit Agreement”), of which we had none at December 31, 2024. In addition, the maturity dates of our notes are staggered from 2027 through 2031. We believe that our capital structure helps to minimize the near‐term impact of increased interest rates, and the staggered maturities of our debt allow us to retire or refinance our debt over time. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we redeemed all $2.100 billion aggregate principal amount outstanding of our 4.875% senior secured first lien notes due 2026 (the “2026 Senior Secured First Lien Notes”) in advance of their maturity date.
In July 2024, our board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $1.500 billion of our common stock through a new share repurchase program that has no expiration date. Repurchases will be made in accordance with applicable securities laws and may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market or privately negotiated transactions, subject to market conditions and other factors. This program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and it may be suspended for periods or discontinued at any time. At December 31, 2024, there was $1.376 billion available under this program for future repurchases.
Our ability to execute on our strategies and respond to the aforementioned trends in the current operating environment is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, all of which may cause actual results to be materially different from expectations. For information about risks and uncertainties that could affect our results of operations, see the Forward‐Looking Statements and Risk Factors sections in Part I of this report.
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RECENT RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following table presents selected operating statistics for our Hospital Operations and Ambulatory Care segments on a continuing operations basis:
Three Months Ended December 31, Increase(Decrease)
Hospital Operations – hospitals and related outpatient facilities:
Number of hospitals (at end of period) 49 61 (12) (1)
Average length of stay (days) 4.90 5.06 (3.2) %
Utilization of licensed beds 50.5 % 48.7 % 1.8 % (1)
Ambulatory Care:
Total consolidated facilities (at end of period) 382 330 52 (1)
Total admissions decreased by 18,872, or 13.8%, total surgeries decreased by 18,015, or 20.7%, and total emergency department visits decreased by 116,434, or 17.5%, in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2023. The decreases in our volumes were primarily related to the sales of the Divested Hospitals. Excluding the impact of these divestitures, total admissions increased by 6,415, or 5.7%, total surgeries increased by 432, or 0.6%, and total emergency department visits decreased by 12,082, or 2.6%, during the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
The increase in our Ambulatory Care segment’s total consolidated cases of 14.3% in the three months ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023, was primarily attributable to incremental case volume from our newly acquired ASCs, net of the impact of the closure and deconsolidation of certain facilities, as well as same‐facility case growth.
The following table presents net operating revenues by segment on a continuing operations basis:
Three Months Ended December 31, Increase(Decrease)
Consolidated net operating revenues decreased by $307 million, or 5.7%, in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The decrease of $489 million, or 11.4%, in our Hospital Operations segment’s net operating revenues for the three‐month period in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 was primarily due to the sales of the Divested Hospitals. Excluding the effect of these sales, net operating revenues during the three months ended December 31, 2024 increased by $232 million, or 6.5%, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2023. This increase was attributable to the positive impact of a more favorable payer mix, higher patient admissions and acuity, growth in our Medicaid supplemental revenue, and negotiated commercial rate increases.
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Net operating revenues in our Ambulatory Care segment increased by $182 million, or 16.9%, in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. This change was primarily driven by our newly acquired ASCs, net of the impact of the closure and deconsolidation of certain facilities, as well as an increase in case volume and higher net revenue per case in the 2024 period.
The following table provides information about selected operating expenses by segment on a continuing operations basis:
Three Months Ended December 31, Increase(Decrease)
Hospital Operations:
Ambulatory Care:
Salaries, wages and benefits $ 306 $ 255 20.0 %
Total:
Salaries, wages and benefits $ 2,094 $ 2,315 (9.5) %
Rent/lease expense(1):
Hospital Operations $ 56 $ 70 (20.0) %
(1) Included in other operating expenses.
The following table provides information about our Hospital Operations segment’s selected operating expenses per adjusted admission on a continuing operations basis:
Three Months Ended December 31, Increase(Decrease)
Salaries, wages and benefits per adjusted admission $ 8,401 $ 8,234 2.0 %
Other operating expenses per adjusted admission 4,289 4,197 2.2 %
Salaries, wages and benefits expense for our Hospital Operations segment decreased by $272 million, or 13.2%, in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. This change was primarily attributable to the sales of the Divested Hospitals. After excluding the effects of these divestitures, salaries, wages and benefits expense for our Hospital Operations segment increased by $64 million, or 3.7%, during the three-month period in 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023. This increase was the result of annual merit increases for certain of our employees and increased employee benefits costs, partially offset by decreases in contract labor and premium pay and lower incentive compensation.
On a per adjusted admission basis, salaries, wages and benefits expense in our Hospital Operations segment increased by 2.0% in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2023. Excluding the impact of the sales of the Divested Hospitals, salaries, wages and benefits expense per adjusted admission during the three months ended December 31, 2024 did not change significantly from the same period in 2023.
Supplies expense for our Hospital Operations segment decreased by $48 million, or 7.4%, during the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2023, primarily due to the sales of the Divested Hospitals. Excluding the impact of these sales, supplies expense increased by $64 million, or 11.9%, during the three months ended December 31, 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023. This increase was primarily due to higher patient
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admissions and acuity, partially offset by our cost‐efficiency measures, which include product standardization, contract management, improved utilization, bulk purchases, focused spending and operational improvements, among others.
On a per adjusted admission basis, supplies expense increased by 9.1% in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2023. Excluding the impact of the sales of the Divested Hospitals, supplies expense per adjusted admission increased 8.1% during the three‐month period in 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023. This increase was primarily attributable to the factors discussed above.
Other operating expenses for our Hospital Operations segment decreased by $141 million, or 13.4%, in the three months ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to the sales of the Divested Hospitals. Excluding the effect of these divestitures, other operating expenses increased by $48 million, or 5.5%, during the three‐month period in 2024. The changes in other operating expenses during the three months ended December 31, 2024 included:
•a $25 million increase in medical fees;
•indigent care expense that was $8 million higher;
•a $6 million increase in legal and consulting fees; and
•a decrease of $27 million in malpractice expense.
On a per adjusted admission basis, other operating expenses during the three months ended December 31, 2024 increased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2023. Excluding the impact of the sales of the Divested Hospitals, other operating expenses per adjusted admission increased by 1.9%.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES OVERVIEW
Cash and cash equivalents were $3.019 billion at December 31, 2024 compared to $4.094 billion at September 30, 2024.
Significant cash flow items in the three months ended December 31, 2024 included:
•Net cash provided by operating activities before interest, taxes, discontinued operations, impairment and restructuring charges, and acquisition‐related costs, and litigation costs and settlements of $962 million;
•Income tax payments totaling $963 million;
•Capital expenditures of $330 million;
•Interest payments of $296 million;
•$185 million of distributions paid to noncontrolling interests; and
•Repayments of advances received from managed care payers totaling $150 million.
Net cash provided by operating activities was $2.047 billion in the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $2.374 billion in the year ended December 31, 2023. Key factors contributing to the change between 2024 and 2023 included the following:
•An increase in net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, impairment and restructuring charges, acquisition‐related costs, litigation costs and settlements, loss from early extinguishment of debt, other non-operating income or expense, and net gains on sales, consolidation and deconsolidation of facilities of $454 million;
•Income tax payments that were $1.028 billion higher in 2024 than in 2023;
•Lower interest payments of $31 million; and
•The timing of other working capital items.
SOURCES OF REVENUE FOR OUR HOSPITAL OPERATIONS SEGMENT
We earn revenues for patient services from a variety of sources, primarily managed care payers and the federal Medicare program, as well as state Medicaid programs, indemnity‐based health insurance companies and uninsured patients (that is, patients who do not have health insurance and are not covered by some other form of third‐party arrangement).
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The following table presents the sources of net patient service revenues for our hospitals and related outpatient facilities, expressed as percentages of net patient service revenues from all sources on a continuing operations basis:
Years Ended December 31,
Indemnity and other 3.7 % 4.1 % 4.8 %
(1) Includes Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs.
Our payer mix on an admissions basis for our hospitals, expressed as a percentage of total admissions from all sources on a continuing operations basis, is presented below:
Years Ended December 31,
Charity and uninsured 4.5 % 4.5 % 4.9 %
Indemnity and other 3.6 % 3.3 % 3.2 %
(1) Includes Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs.
Our hospitals and outpatient facilities are subject to various factors that affect our service mix, revenue mix and patient volumes and, thereby, impact our net patient service revenues and results of operations. These factors include, among others: changes in federal and state statutes, regulations and executive orders that effect the healthcare industry directly or indirectly, particularly those impacting government healthcare funding; changes in general economic conditions, including inflation, whether due to geopolitical conflicts, trade tensions, export control rules, tariffs or other factors; the number of uninsured and underinsured individuals in local communities treated at our hospitals; cybersecurity incidents, including those targeting our vendors, and other unanticipated information technology outages; disease hotspots and seasonal cycles of illness; climate and weather conditions; physician recruitment, satisfaction, retention and attrition; advances in technology and treatments that reduce length of stay or permit procedures to be performed in an outpatient rather than an inpatient setting; local healthcare competitors; utilization pressure by managed care organizations, as well as managed care contract negotiations or terminations; performance data on quality measures and patient satisfaction, as well as pricing for services; any unfavorable publicity about us, or our joint venture partners, that impacts our relationships with physicians and patients; and changing consumer behavior, including with respect to the timing of elective procedures.
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) that administers a number of government programs authorized by federal law; it is the single largest payer of healthcare services in the United States. Medicare is a federally funded health insurance program primarily for individuals 65 years of age and older, as well as some younger people with certain disabilities and conditions, and is provided without regard to income or assets. Medicaid is co‐administered by the states and is jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Medicaid is the nation’s main public health insurance program for people with low incomes and is the largest source of health coverage in the United States. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”), which is also co‐administered by the states and jointly funded, provides health coverage to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to afford private coverage. Unlike Medicaid, the CHIP is limited in duration and requires the enactment of reauthorizing legislation. Funding for the CHIP has been reauthorized through federal fiscal year (“FFY”) 2029.
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Potential Changes in Healthcare Policy
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the “Affordable Care Act”), extended health coverage to millions of uninsured legal U.S. residents through a combination of private sector health insurance reforms and public program expansion. The expansion of Medicaid in 40 states (including four of the eight states in which we operate acute care hospitals) and the District of Columbia is currently financed through:
•negative “productivity adjustments” to the annual market basket updates, which began in 2011 and do not expire under current law; and
•reductions to Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (“DSH”) payments, which began for Medicare payments in FFY 2014 and, under current law, are scheduled to commence for Medicaid payments on April 1, 2025.
The expansion of health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act resulted in an increase in the number of patients using our facilities with either private or public program coverage and a decrease in uninsured and charity care admissions. Although a substantial portion of our patient volumes and, as a result, our revenues has historically been derived from government healthcare programs, reductions to our reimbursement under the Medicare and Medicaid programs as a result of the Affordable Care Act have been partially offset by increased revenues from providing care to previously uninsured individuals.
Over the past several years, various laws and regulations lengthened the enrollment period, expanded income eligibility, and reduced premium caps for subsidies for individuals purchasing Affordable Care Act coverage through state and federal marketplaces – all of which led to increased enrollment numbers, particularly in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Certain of these provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025; if they are not extended, it could result in significant increases in premiums, potentially leading to decreased enrollment and a corresponding rise in the uninsured or a shift of individuals from commercial coverage to government program coverage beginning in 2026. In such a case, we could experience decreased patient volumes, reduced revenues and an increase in uncompensated care, which would adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. We cannot predict whether or how the new Congress may extend or modify provisions of or relating to the Affordable Care Act or other laws affecting the healthcare industry generally, nor can we predict how the new administration will influence, promulgate or implement rules, regulations or executive orders that affect the healthcare industry directly or indirectly. We may also experience potential impacts on our business, in ways we cannot anticipate, from healthcare‐related policy changes at the state level. Some federal and state changes, initiatives and requirements could, among other things, negatively impact our patient volumes, case mix and revenue mix, increase our operating costs, adversely affect the reimbursement we receive for our services, impact our competitive position or require us to expend resources to modify certain aspects of our operations.
More specifically, we are also unable to predict the effect of future government healthcare funding policy changes on our business. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are subject to:
•statutory and regulatory changes, administrative and judicial rulings, executive orders, interpretations and determinations concerning eligibility requirements, funding levels and the method of calculating reimbursements, among other things;
•requirements for utilization review; and
•federal and state funding restrictions.
Any of these factors could materially increase or decrease payments from these government programs in the future, as well as affect the cost of providing services to our patients and the timing of payments to our facilities. If the rates paid by governmental payers are reduced, if the scope of services covered by governmental payers is limited, if eligibility or enrollment is further restricted, if there are changes to align payment rates for certain procedures across various care settings, or if we or one or more of our hospitals are excluded from participation in the Medicare or Medicaid program or any other government healthcare program, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Medicare
Medicare offers its beneficiaries different ways to obtain their medical benefits. One option, the Original Medicare Plan (which includes “Part A” and “Part B”), is a fee‐for‐service (“FFS”) payment system. The other option, called Medicare Advantage (sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans”), includes health maintenance organizations (“HMOs”), preferred provider organizations (“PPOs”), private FFS Medicare special needs plans and Medicare medical savings account plans. Our total net patient service revenues from operation of the hospitals and related outpatient facilities in our Hospital Operations
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segment for services provided to patients enrolled in the Original Medicare Plan were $2.132 billion, $2.383 billion and $2.369 billion for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
A general description of the types of payments we receive for services provided to patients enrolled in the Original Medicare Plan is provided below. Recent regulatory and legislative updates to the terms of these payment systems and their estimated effect on our revenues can be found under “Recent Regulatory and Legislative Updates” below.
Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System
Medicare Severity-Adjusted Diagnosis-Related Group Payments—Sections 1886(d) and 1886(g) of the Social Security Act set forth a system of payments for the operating and capital costs of inpatient acute care hospital admissions based on a prospective payment system (“PPS”). Under the inpatient prospective payment systems (“IPPS”), Medicare payments for hospital inpatient operating services are made at predetermined rates for each hospital discharge. Discharges are classified according to a system of Medicare severity‐adjusted diagnosis‐related groups (“MS‐DRGs”), which categorize patients with similar clinical characteristics that are expected to require similar amounts of hospital resources. CMS assigns to each MS‐DRG a relative weight that represents the average resources required to treat cases in that particular MS‐DRG, relative to the average resources used to treat cases in all MS‐DRGs.
The base payment amount for the operating component of the MS‐DRG payment is comprised of an average standardized amount that is divided into a labor‐related share and a nonlabor-related share. Both the labor‐related share of operating base payments and the base payment amount for capital costs are adjusted for geographic variations in labor and capital costs, respectively. Using diagnosis and procedure information submitted by the hospital, CMS assigns to each discharge an MS‐DRG, and the base payments are multiplied by the relative weight of the MS‐DRG assigned. The MS‐DRG operating and capital base rates, relative weights and geographic adjustment factors are updated annually, with consideration given to: the increased cost of goods and services purchased by hospitals; the relative costs associated with each MS‐DRG; changes in labor data by geographic area; and other policies. Although these payments are adjusted for area labor and capital cost differentials, the adjustments do not take into consideration an individual hospital’s operating and capital costs.
Outlier Payments—Outlier payments are additional payments made to hospitals on individual claims for treating Medicare patients whose medical conditions are more costly to treat than those of the average patient in the same MS‐DRG. To qualify for a cost outlier payment, a hospital’s billed charges, adjusted to cost, must exceed the payment rate for the MS‐DRG by a fixed threshold updated annually by CMS. A Medicare Administrative Contractor (“MAC”) calculates the cost of a claim by multiplying the billed charges by an average cost‐to‐charge ratio that is typically based on the hospital’s most recently filed cost report. Generally, if the computed cost exceeds the sum of the MS‐DRG payment plus the fixed threshold, the hospital receives 80% of the difference as an outlier payment.
Under the Social Security Act, CMS must project aggregate annual outlier payments to all PPS hospitals to be not less than 5% or more than 6% of total MS‐DRG payments (“Outlier Percentage”). The Outlier Percentage is determined by dividing total outlier payments by the sum of MS‐DRG and outlier payments. CMS annually adjusts the fixed threshold to bring projected outlier payments within the mandated limit. A change to the fixed threshold affects total outlier payments by changing: (1) the number of cases that qualify for outlier payments; and (2) the dollar amount hospitals receive for those cases that qualify for outlier payments. Under certain conditions, outlier payments are subject to reconciliation based on more recent data.
Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments—In addition to making payments for services provided directly to beneficiaries, Medicare makes additional payments to hospitals that treat a disproportionately high share of low‐income patients. Prior to October 1, 2013, DSH payments were based on each hospital’s low income utilization for each payment year (the “Pre‐ACA DSH Formula”). The Affordable Care Act revised the Medicare DSH adjustment effective for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2013. Under the revised methodology, hospitals receive 25% of the amount they previously would have received under the Pre‐ACA DSH Formula. This amount is referred to as the “Empirically Justified Amount.”
Hospitals qualifying for the Empirically Justified Amount of DSH payments are also eligible to receive an additional payment for uncompensated care (the “UC‐DSH Amount”). The UC‐DSH Amount is a hospital’s share of a pool of funds that the CMS Office of the Actuary estimates would equal 75% of Medicare DSH that otherwise would have been paid under the Pre‐ACA DSH Formula, adjusted for changes in the percentage of individuals that are uninsured. Generally, the factors used to calculate and distribute UC‐DSH Amounts are set forth in the Affordable Care Act and are not subject to administrative or judicial review. The statute requires that each hospital’s cost of uncompensated care (i.e., charity and bad debt) as a percentage of the total uncompensated care cost of all DSH hospitals be used to allocate the pool. As of December 31, 2024, 40 of our hospitals qualified for Medicare DSH payments.
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The statutes and regulations that govern Medicare DSH payments have been the subject of various administrative appeals and lawsuits, and our hospitals have been participating in such appeals, including challenges to the inclusion of the Medicare Advantage (Part C) days used in the DSH calculation as set forth in the Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2005 Rates. In June 2023, CMS issued a Final Action on the Treatment of Medicare Part C Days in the Calculation of a Hospital’s Medicare Disproportionate Patient Percentage, which finalized CMS’ August 2020 proposed rule to include Medicare Advantage days in the Medicare fraction for all discharges prior to October 1, 2013. CMS expects no associated effect on payments given that prior payments were made in accordance with this policy. We are not able to predict whether CMS’s final action will be the subject of further or new legal challenges nor are we able to predict the outcome of those challenges, if any, or of pending appeals; however, a favorable outcome of our DSH appeals could have a material impact on our future revenues and cash flows.
Direct Graduate and Indirect Medical Education Payments—The Medicare program provides additional reimbursement to approved teaching hospitals for the increased expenses incurred by such institutions. This additional reimbursement, which is subject to certain limits, including intern and resident full-time equivalent (“FTE”) limits, is made in the form of Direct Graduate Medical Education (“DGME”) and Indirect Medical Education (“IME”) payments. As of December 31, 2024, 29 of our hospitals were affiliated with academic institutions and were eligible to receive such payments.
IPPS Quality Adjustments—The Affordable Care Act also authorizes quality adjustments to Medicare IPPS payments under the following programs:
•Value‐Based Purchasing (“VBP”) Program – Under the VBP program, IPPS operating payments to hospitals are reduced by 2% to fund value‐based incentive payments to eligible hospitals based on their overall performance on a set of quality measures;
•Hospital Readmission Reduction Program – Under this program, IPPS operating payments to hospitals with excess readmissions are reduced up to a maximum of 3% of base MS‐DRG payments; and
•Hospital‐Acquired Conditions (“HAC”) Reduction Program – Under this program, overall inpatient payments are reduced by 1% for hospitals in the worst performing quartile of risk‐adjusted quality measures for reasonable preventable hospital‐acquired conditions.
These adjustments, which CMS updates annually and are generally based on a hospital’s performance from prior periods, can have an adverse impact on our IPPS operating payments.
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System
Under the outpatient prospective payment system (“OPPS”), hospital outpatient services, except for certain services that are reimbursed on a separate fee schedule, are classified into groups called ambulatory payment classifications (“APCs”). Services in each APC are similar clinically and in terms of the resources they require, and a payment rate is established for each APC. Depending on the services provided, hospitals may be paid for more than one APC for an encounter. CMS annually updates the APCs and the rates paid for each APC.
Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Prospective Payment System
The inpatient psychiatric facility (“IPF”) prospective payment system (“IPF-PPS”) applies to psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units located within acute care hospitals that have been designated as exempt from the hospital inpatient prospective payment system. The IPF-PPS is based on prospectively determined per‐diem rates and includes an outlier policy that authorizes additional payments for extraordinarily costly cases.
Inpatient Rehabilitation Prospective Payment System
Rehabilitation hospitals and rehabilitation units in acute care hospitals meeting certain criteria established by CMS are eligible to be paid as an inpatient rehabilitation facility (“IRF”) under the IRF prospective payment system (“IRF‐PPS”). Payments under the IRF‐PPS are made on a per-discharge basis. The IRF‐PPS uses federal prospective payment rates across distinct case‐mix groups established by a patient classification system.
Physician and Other Health Professional Services Payment System
Medicare uses a fee schedule to pay for physician and other health professional services based on a list of services and their payment rates referred to as the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“MPFS”). In determining payment rates for each service, CMS considers the amount of clinician work required to provide a service, expenses related to maintaining a practice and professional liability insurance costs. These three factors are adjusted for variation in the input prices in different markets,
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and the sum is multiplied by the fee schedule’s conversion factor (average payment amount) to produce a total payment amount.
Cost Reports
The final determination of certain Medicare payments to our hospitals, such as DSH, DGME, IME and bad debt expense, are retrospectively determined based on our hospitals’ cost reports. The final determination of these payments often takes many years to resolve because of audits by the MACs, providers’ rights of appeal, and the application of numerous technical reimbursement provisions.
For filed cost reports, we adjust the accrual for estimated cost report settlements based on those cost reports and subsequent activity, and we consider the necessity of recording a valuation allowance based on historical settlement results. The accrual for estimated cost report settlements for periods for which a cost report is yet to be filed is recorded based on estimates of what we expect to report on the filed cost reports and a corresponding valuation allowance is recorded, if necessary, based on the method previously described. Cost reports must generally be filed within five months after the end of the annual cost report reporting period. After the cost report is filed, the accrual and corresponding valuation allowance may need to be adjusted.
Medicare Claims Reviews
HHS estimates that the overall 2024 Medicare FFS improper payment rate for the program is approximately 7.66%. The 2024 error rate for Hospital IPPS payments is approximately 3.90%. CMS has identified the FFS program as a program at risk for significant erroneous payments, and one of the agency’s stated key goals is to pay claims properly the first time. This means paying the right amount, to legitimate providers, for covered, reasonable and necessary services provided to eligible beneficiaries. According to CMS, paying correctly the first time saves resources required to recover improper payments and ensures the proper expenditure of Medicare Trust Fund dollars. CMS has established several initiatives to prevent or identify improper payments before a claim is paid, and to identify and recover improper payments after paying a claim. The overall goal is to reduce improper payments by identifying and addressing coverage and coding billing errors for all provider types. Under the authority of the Social Security Act, CMS employs a variety of contractors (e.g., MACs, Recovery Audit Contractors and Unified Program Integrity Contractors) to process and review claims according to Medicare rules and regulations.
Claims selected for prepayment review are not subject to the normal Medicare FFS payment timeframe. Furthermore, prepayment and post‐payment claims denials are subject to administrative and judicial review, and we pursue the reversal of adverse determinations where appropriate. We have established robust protocols to respond to claims reviews and payment denials. In addition to overpayments that are not reversed on appeal, we incur additional costs to respond to requests for records and pursue the reversal of payment denials. The degree to which our Medicare FFS claims are subjected to prepayment reviews, the extent to which payments are denied, and our success in overturning denials could have an adverse effect on our cash flows and results of operations.
Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, promotes the use of healthcare information technology by, among other things, providing financial incentives to hospitals and physicians to become “meaningful users” of electronic health record (“EHR”) systems and imposing penalties on those who do not. Under the HITECH Act and other laws and regulations, eligible hospitals that fail to demonstrate and maintain meaningful use of certified EHR technology and/or submit quality data every year (and have not applied and qualified for a hardship exception) are subject to a reduction of the Medicare market basket update. Eligible healthcare professionals are also subject to positive or negative payment adjustments based, in part, on their use of EHR technology. We continue to invest in the maintenance and utilization of certified EHR systems for our hospitals and employed physicians. Failure to do so could subject us to penalties that may have an adverse effect on our net revenues and results of operations.
Medicaid
Medicaid programs and the corresponding reimbursement methodologies vary from state‐to‐state and from year‐to‐year. Estimated revenues under various state Medicaid programs, including state‐funded Medicaid managed care programs, constituted approximately 20.4%, 19.1% and 19.4% of the total net patient service revenues of our hospitals and related outpatient facilities for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. We also receive DSH and other supplemental revenues under various state Medicaid programs. For the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, our total Medicaid revenues attributable to DSH and other supplemental revenues were approximately $1.161 billion, $929 million and $767 million, respectively.
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Several states in which we operate continue to face budgetary challenges that have resulted in reduced Medicaid funding levels to hospitals and other providers. Because most states must operate with balanced budgets, and the Medicaid program is generally a significant portion of a state’s budget, states can be expected to adopt or consider adopting future legislation designed to reduce or not increase their Medicaid expenditures. In addition, some states delay issuing Medicaid payments to providers to manage state expenditures. As an alternative means of funding provider payments, many of the states where we operate have adopted supplemental payment programs authorized under the Social Security Act. Continuing pressure on state budgets and other factors, including legislative and regulatory changes, could result in future reductions to Medicaid payments, payment delays or changes to Medicaid supplemental payment programs. Federal government denials or delayed approvals of waiver applications or extension requests by the states where we operate could also materially impact our Medicaid funding levels.
Total Medicaid and Medicaid managed care net patient service revenues recognized by the hospitals and related outpatient facilities in our Hospital Operations segment for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 were $2.845 billion, $2.776 billion and $2.692 billion, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2024, Medicaid and Medicaid managed care revenues comprised 50.6% and 49.4%, respectively, of our Medicaid‐related net patient service revenues recognized by the hospitals and related outpatient facilities in our Hospital Operations segment. All Medicaid and Medicaid managed care patient service revenues are presented net of provider taxes or assessments paid by our hospitals.
Because we cannot predict what actions the federal government or the states may take under existing or future legislation and/or regulatory changes to address budget gaps, deficits, Medicaid expansion, Medicaid eligibility redeterminations, provider fee programs, state‐directed payment programs or Medicaid Section 1115 waivers, we are unable to assess the effect that any such legislation or regulatory action might have on our business; however, the impact on our future financial position, results of operations or cash flows could be material.
Recent Regulatory and Legislative Updates
Recent regulatory and legislative updates to the Medicare and Medicaid payment systems, as well as other government programs impacting our business, are provided below.
Payment and Policy Changes to the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems—Section 1886(d) of the Social Security Act requires CMS to update Medicare inpatient FFS payment rates for hospitals reimbursed under the IPPS annually. The updates generally become effective October 1, the beginning of the FFY. In August 2024, CMS issued final changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and Fiscal Year 2025 Rates (“Final IPPS Rule”). In the Final IPPS Rule, CMS deferred taking immediate action on its low wage index hospital policy in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit’s decision in Bridgeport Hospital v. Becerra. In September 2024, CMS issued an interim final action with comment period (“IFC”) to implement revisions to the FFY 2025 Medicare wage index values, establish a transitional payment exception for low wage hospitals, and make conforming changes to the FFY 2025 IPPS payment rates following the court decision. The Final IPPS Rule and IFC include the following payment and policy changes, among others:
•A market basket increase of 3.4% for MS‐DRG operating payments for hospitals reporting specified quality measure data and that are meaningful users of EHR technology; CMS also finalized a 0.5% multifactor productivity reduction required by the Affordable Care Act that results in a net operating payment update of 2.9% before budget neutrality adjustments;
•An increase in the cost outlier threshold from $42,750 to $46,217;
•A 1.65% net increase in the capital federal MS‐DRG rate;
•Updates to the three factors used to determine the amount and distribution of Medicare UC‐DSH Amounts;
•An increase to the performance-based scoring threshold for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals reporting under the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program from 60 points to 70 points beginning with the EHR reporting period in calendar year (“CY”) 2025;
•An update to the hospital labor market area delineation based on the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 23-01; and
•Implementation of the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (“TEAM”), which will begin January 1, 2026 and end December 31, 2030 for certain episodic categories. TEAM will be mandatory, with limited exceptions, for all hospitals located within the CMS selected Core-Based Statistical Areas (“CBSAs”). Nine of our acute care hospitals and one surgical hospital are included in the CBSAs.
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According to CMS, the combined impact of the payment and policy changes in the Final IPPS Rule and IFC for operating costs will yield an average 2.9% increase in Medicare operating MS‐DRG FFS payments for hospitals in urban areas and an average 3.3% increase in such payments for proprietary hospitals in FFY 2025. We estimate that all of the final payment and policy changes affecting operating MS‐DRG and UC‐DSH Amounts will result in a 2.8% increase in our annual Medicare FFS IPPS payments, which would yield an estimated increase of approximately $36 million in 2025. Because of the uncertainty associated with various factors that may influence our future IPPS payments by individual hospital, including legislative, regulatory or legal actions, admission volumes, length of stay and case mix, we cannot provide any assurances regarding our estimates of the final impact of the payment and policy changes.
Payment and Policy Changes to the Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgery Center Payment Systems—In November 2024, CMS released the final policy changes and payment rates for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System for CY 2025 (“Final OPPS/ASC Rule”). The Final OPPS/ASC Rule includes the following payment and policy changes, among others:
•An estimated net increase of 2.9% for the OPPS rates based on a market basket increase of 3.4%, reduced by a multifactor productivity adjustment required by the Affordable Care Act of 0.5%; and
•A 2.9% increase to the Ambulatory Surgical Center payment rates.
CMS projects that the combined impact of the payment and policy changes in the Final OPPS/ASC Rule will yield an average 3.2% increase in Medicare FFS OPPS payments for hospitals in urban areas and an average 4.9% increase in Medicare FFS OPPS payments for proprietary hospitals. The projected CY 2025 impact of the payment and policy changes in the Final OPPS/ASC Rule is an increase to Medicare FFS hospital outpatient revenues of approximately $21 million, or 4.32%, for the facilities in our Hospital Operations segment and $20 million, or 2.87%, for USPI’s ASCs and surgical hospitals. Because of the uncertainty associated with various factors that may influence our future OPPS payments, including legislative or legal actions, volumes and case mix, we cannot provide any assurances regarding our estimates of the impact of the final payment and policy changes.
Final Rule on the Remedy for the 340B-Acquired Drug Payment Policy for Calendar Years 2018-2022—CMS’ 340B program allows certain hospitals (i.e., only nonprofit organizations with specific federal designations and/or funding) (“340B Hospitals”) to purchase drugs at discounted rates from drug manufacturers (“340B Drugs”). In the CY 2018 final rule regarding OPPS payment and policy changes, CMS reduced the payment for 340B Drugs from the average sales price (“ASP”) plus 6% to the ASP minus 22.5% and made a corresponding budget-neutral increase to payments to all hospitals for other drugs and services reimbursed under the OPPS (the “340B Payment Adjustment”). CMS retained the same 340B Payment Adjustment in the final rules regarding OPPS payment and policy changes for CYs 2019 through 2022. Certain hospital associations and hospitals commenced litigation challenging CMS’ authority to impose the 340B Payment Adjustment for CYs 2018, 2019 and 2020. Following the initial court decisions and a series of appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”) unanimously ruled in June 2022 that the decision to impose the 340B Payment Adjustment in CYs 2018 and 2019 was unlawful, and the case was remanded to the lower courts to determine the appropriate remedy. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, the final rules regarding OPPS payment and policy changes for CY 2023 affirmed that CMS was now applying the default rate, generally ASP plus 6%, to 340B Drugs and biologicals, and it had removed the 340B Payment Adjustment made in 2018. To address the remediation for the prior years’ underpayments, CMS released the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System: Remedy for 340B-Acquired Drugs Payment Policy for Calendar Years 2018-2022 Final Rule in November 2023. The final rule provides for a one-time lump sum remedy payment to each 340B Hospital that received a cut in 340B Drug payments from 2018 through 2022 (to which CMS will not apply interest). Due to budget neutrality requirements, CMS also implemented a reduction to future non‐drug item and service payments through an adjustment to the OPPS conversion factor by minus 0.5% starting in CY 2026 until the full amount is offset (which CMS estimates will take 16 years). We estimate this adjustment will result in a reduction of less than $10 million annually to our acute care and surgical hospital revenue.
Payment and Policy Changes to the MPFS—In November 2024, CMS released the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (“MPFS Final Rule”). The MPFS Final Rule includes updates to payment policies, payment rates and other provisions for services reimbursed under theMPFS from January 1 through December 31, 2025. Under the MPFS Final Rule, the CY 2025 conversion factor, which is the base rate that is used to convert relative units into payment rates, was reduced from $33.29 to $32.35, a decrease of 2.82%. We estimate the impact of the MPFS Final Rule will result in a reduction of approximately $5 million to our 2025 FFS MPFS revenues. Because of the uncertainty associated with various factors that may influence our future MPFS payments, including legislative, regulatory or legal actions, volumes and case mix, we cannot provide any assurances regarding our estimate of the impact of the final payment and policy changes.
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PRIVATE INSURANCE
Managed Care
We currently have thousands of managed care contracts with various HMOs and PPOs. HMOs generally maintain a full‐service healthcare delivery network comprised of physician, hospital, pharmacy and ancillary service providers that HMO members must access through an assigned “primary care” physician. The member’s care is then managed by his or her primary care physician and other network providers in accordance with the HMO’s quality assurance and utilization review guidelines so that appropriate healthcare can be efficiently delivered in the most cost‐effective manner. HMOs typically provide reduced benefits or reimbursement (or none at all) to their members who use non‐contracted healthcare providers for non‐emergency care.
PPOs generally offer limited benefits to members who use non‐contracted healthcare providers. PPO members who use contracted healthcare providers receive a preferred benefit, typically in the form of lower co‐pays, co‐insurance or deductibles. As employers and employees have demanded more choice, managed care plans have developed hybrid products that combine elements of both HMO and PPO plans, including high‐deductible healthcare plans that may have limited benefits, but cost the employee less in premiums.
The amount of our managed care net patient service revenues, including Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs, from our hospitals and related outpatient facilities during the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 was $9.809 billion, $10.248 billion and $9.607 billion, respectively. Our top 10 managed care payers generated 71% of our managed care net patient service revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024. During the same period, national payers generated 48% of our managed care net patient service revenues; the remainder came from regional or local payers. At both December 31, 2024 and 2023, 68% of our Hospital Operations segment’s net accounts receivable were due from managed care payers.