HCA Healthcare carries on with a big 2024.
The investor-owned hospital operator's stock price continues to soar, reaching an all-time high of over $410 per share on October 23 — a year-over-year increase of approximately 70%. The growth follows an 8% increase in revenue for 2023.
Behind Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA's 184 hospitals and 2,000 sites of care is Thomas Frist Jr., MD, co-founder and major shareholder of the company. Dr. Frist has seen his estimated net worth climb by about $7 billion year over year, reaching a new high in 2024.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts his net worth at $35.2 billion today, up by about $3 billion from a mere three months prior. Forbes puts Dr. Frist's wealth at $32.6 billion today. (The two outlets use different methodologies to arrive at their figures.)
In April, with the release of HCA's first quarter results, CEO Sam Hazen attributed the system's 11.2% year-over-year increase in revenue at that time to "broad-based volume growth." The system made headlines with Reuters for its projected recovery in surgical procedures, expected to persist throughout the year as staffing approaches pre-pandemic levels.
In the second quarter, HCA reported its net income increased 25% year over year to $1.5 billion. It estimates a net income of $5.7 billion to $6 billion for the year ending Dec. 31, up from its previous estimate of $5.2 billion to $5.6 billion.
HCA is set to expand further in 2024, having grown by seven hospitals from 2019 to 2023. Its targeted acquisitions are part of HCA's strategy, with Mr. Hazen emphasizing the focus on "selective strategic acquisitions that complement our networks" during a July earnings call.
This strategy of selective acute-care hospital mergers and acquisitions is complemented by HCA's outpatient growth plans. Mr. Hazen indicated at a healthcare event in September that the system currently operates an average of 13 outpatient facilities for each hospital, forecasting an increase to between 17 and 20 by the end of the decade.
At the same time, the system has faced challenges throughout 2024 with local officials and scrutiny regarding its ownership of Mission Health, an Asheville, N.C.-based system that it acquired in 2019 and converted to for-profit.