American for-profit health system HCA Healthcare has logged attributable net income of $1.59bn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, a 16.7% increase from $1.36bn in the same period last year.
The Tennessee-based company’s diluted earnings per share in the first three months of 2024 were $5.93, versus $4.85 a year ago.
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Benefitting from strong patient volumes, the company’s revenues grew 11.2%, climbing to $17.34bn in Q1 2024 from $16.82bn in the prior year.
Its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ending 31 March 2024 stood at $3.35bn, up from $3.17bn in Q1 2023.
The company said that its performance in this quarter included $201m of gains from facility sales.
HCA Healthcare witnessed a 6.2% year-on-year rise in same facility admissions, a 5.2% increase in same facility equivalent admissions, and a 7.2% rise in same facility emergency room visits.
However, surgical procedures registered mixed performance, with same facility inpatient surgeries growing 1.7% and same facility outpatient surgeries dipping 2.1%.
Same facility revenue per equivalent admission in the January-March 2024 quarter was 3.5% higher than a year ago.
Capital expenditures for the first quarter, excluding acquisitions, amounted to $1.12bn. The company’s operating activities generated cash flows of $2.47bn, an increase from $1.8bn in the previous year.
At the end of this March, HCA Healthcare reported cash and cash equivalents of $1.28bn, total debt of $40.19bn and total assets of $56.96bn.
Besides, the health system announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.66 per share and repurchased nearly 3.9 million shares of its common stock for $1.18bn, with $5.59bn remaining under its repurchase authorisation.
Commenting on the results, HCA Healthcare CEO Sam Hazen stated: “The strong fundamentals we saw in our business this past year continued into the first quarter of 2024. This momentum generated strong financial results that were driven primarily by broad-based volume growth.”
HCA Healthcare operates 188 hospitals and roughly 2,400 ambulatory sites of care across 20 states US and the UK.
