HCA has been a Wall Street favorite for a while, bucking industry trends with admissions and revenue growth.
The Nashville-based chain boasted 19 consecutive quarters of rising admissions in its most recent earnings report, a feat given the volatility some of its competitors have experienced. By contrast, Community Health Systems and Tenet both reported slumps in patient volume in the most recent quarter. UHS also has seen volume growth but has a much smaller footprint of acute care hospitals.
The streak comes as hospital operators face headwinds leaning on patient volumes, including a shift to lower-cost care settings, payer pressures and relative shifts from commercial to government patients. A few key strategies have boosted HCA’s continued admissions growth — from picking the right markets to successfully riding the trend to care outside hospital walls, analysts say.