DALLAS (AP) - Hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp., trying to turn
around after years of battling financial and legal troubles, said Tuesday it
swung to a first-quarter loss on a charge to cover the cost of litigation.
But its results excluding one-time items and discontiunued operations beat
Wall Street expectations and the company said admissions rose 1 percent at
hospitals open at least a year, the second straight quarterly gain after a long
string of falling admissions.
The Dallas-based company said it lost $31 million, or 6 cents per share, in
the three months ended March 31 compared with a profit of $75 million, or 16
cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items -- a litigation charge of $30 million, or 6 cents per share,
and losses from discontinued operations of $21 million, or 4 cents per share --
the company would have earned 4 cents per shares in the most recent quarter.
Analysts, who exclude items from their forecasts, had expected the company
to earn a penny per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
Revenue rose to $2.37 billion from $2.22 billion a year ago, and slightly
higher than the $2.35 billion that analysts had expected.
Its shares fell 33 cents, or 5 percent, to $6.14 in afternoon trading.
Chief Executive Trevor Fetter said he was "very pleased" with the company's
progress in attracting patients, pointing to the growth in admissions, which he
said continued in April. The company has spent millions on equipment and lobbied
doctors to send their patients to its hospitals.
However, outpatient visits fell 1.1 percent on a same-hospital basis, which
the company blamed on increasing competition from physician-owned facilities.
Tenet had to step up its courting of doctors. Admissions had been falling
after the company endured investigations and lawsuits over patient care and
overbilling Medicare.
The company's legal problems are not over. Most the charge for litigation
costs in the first quarter was to cover estimated liability for wage and hour
lawsuits and other employment issues.
Like other hospital operators, Tenet is also dealing with an increase in
patients who lack health insurance and often can't pay their bills. Bad debt
jumped 12 percent, to $149 million, the company said.
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