A wave of newly insured patients coupled with fewer uninsured
patients and a higher rate of admissions drove Universal Health
Services Inc.'s revenue and profit growth in the first quarter, the
hospital operator said Monday.
Shares, up 45% over the past 12 months, rose 2% in recent late
trading to $123, just shy of a 52-week-high set Friday during
regular trading.
Like its industry peers, Universal Health--which operates
medical, surgical and behavioral-health facilities--has benefited
from an increase in insured patients under the Affordable Care Act.
UHS officials, however, said in a call with analysts following
fourth-quarter results that they expect a bump from higher federal
reimbursements under expanded Medicaid state programs to level off
in 2015 as no additional states are projected to sign on to the
expanded coverage.
In the most recent period, the provision for doubtful
accounts--money set aside to cover the cost of unpaid bills--rose
4% to $94.6 million.
For the most recent period, the company reported a profit of
$174.3 million, or $1.73 a share, compared with $138.1 million, or
$1.38 a share, a year earlier. Excluding costs associated with the
offering of electronic health records at its acute-care hospitals
and other items, profit rose to $1.78 a share from $1.36 a share a
year earlier.
Net revenue rose nearly 15% to $2.23 billion.
Analysts had projected earnings of $1.56 a share on revenue of
$2.13 billion.
On a same-facility basis, acute-care hospitals reported a 12.2%
increase in revenue with adjusted admissions up 5.7% and adjusted
patient days increasing 7.5%. Meanwhile, revenue from its
behavioral health hospitals rose 6.3%, with adjusted admissions
increasing 6% and adjusted patient days 2.6%.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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