Las Vegas hospital owner’s results slip

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- HCA Inc., the biggest U.S. hospital operator, today said first-quarter profit fell 26 percent as emergency rooms treated more uninsured patients who didn't pay bills and people postponed expensive elective procedures.

Net income declined to $345 million, or 69 cents a share, from $469 million, or 90 cents, a year earlier, the Nashville, Tenn.-based company said today in a statement. The average estimate of 23 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was 70 cents. Revenue rose 13 percent to $5.9 billion from $5.3 billion.

In Las Vegas, HCA operates three surgery centers and three hospitals: MountainView, Sunrise and newly opened Southern Hills.

Chief Executive Officer Jack Bovender has said the growing number of uninsured patients may continue to hurt profit growth and that the hospital industry has no immediate solution. HCA, Universal Health Services, Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Triad Hospitals Inc. have struggled to collect on bills as patients were unable to make higher co-payments or pay insurance deductibles and the ranks of the uninsured in the U.S. swelled, according to the Census Bureau.

The company, which operates 190 hospitals across the nation, had lowered 2004 earnings estimates in a preliminary release of quarterly results last week, the third time in a year HCA had done so.

This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which HCA raised its projected allowance for doubtful accounts, this time to $694 million, or 12 percent of revenue, from $428 million in the year- ago quarter.

Locally, patient admissions at MountainView rose slightly in the first quarter to 3,928 patients from 3,595 patients in the year-ago quarter. Admission numbers weren't readily available for Sunrise Hospital and South Hills didn't open until March 1.

In the coming quarters, MountainView will add 36 patient beds to its fifth floor and will soon break ground on a 600-space parking garage. Sunrise is expanding its pediatrics department by adding 60 beds to its 175 current beds. Sunrise is also expanding its Women's Pavilion from three to five floors.