April 24 Reuters) - HCA Healthcare narrowly beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Friday but faced a dip in patient admissions during the flu season, sending shares of the hospital operator down 7% premarket.
As enhanced subsidies under Affordable Care Act plans phase out, hospital operators are seeing lower volumes for elective care, preventive visits and diagnostics. Rising uncompensated care from a higher share of uninsured patients is also pressuring margins.
HCA said it did not
experience a typical volume increase associated with the flu season as respiratory-related admissions fell 42%, and respiratory-related emergency room visits were down 32% year-over-year.
The company maintained its 2026 profit forecast. Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback said, "investors have gotten used to guidance increases from HCA in recent quarters, so perhaps just maintaining guidance is cutting into share sentiment."
A winter storm in January also negatively impacted first-quarter volumes in certain of the hospital operator's markets.
HCA was able to offset the drag from lower volumes, it said, with the help of certain Medicaid supplemental payment programs, which can lift patient reimbursement above base Medicaid rates and support managed-care hospital revenue.
The company reported a 0.9% increase in same-facility admissions, a metric that helps measure how each facility is performing, while emergency room visits increased 0.3% during the quarter ended March 31.
Revenue per equivalent admission at same facilities - a measure combining inpatient and outpatient volumes - rose 3.1%.
The company earned adjusted profit of $7.15 per share, compared with analysts' estimates of $7.14 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Total revenue for the first quarter came in at $19.11 billion, slightly beating estimates of $19.10 billion.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
