The COVID-19 pandemic affected major for-profit hospital networks' financial and operating performance in the first quarter of 2020.
1. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems' revenues dropped 10.4 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2020. The decline was largely due to CHS owning fewer hospitals and lower patient volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CHS ended the first quarter of 2020 with net income of $18 million, compared to a net loss of $118 million in the same period a year earlier.
2. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare posted revenues of $12.9 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 2.7 percent from the same period a year earlier. Same-hospital admissions were up less than 1 percent year over year, while same-facility emergency room visits, inpatient surgeries and outpatient surgeries declined. The company said patient volumes were significantly impacted in the last two weeks of the first quarter as various COVID-19 policies were implemented by federal and state governments. HCA ended the first quarter of this year with net income of $581 million, down 44 percent from $1.04 billion in the same period last year.
3. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare posted revenues of $4.52 billion in the first quarter of this year, down slightly from $4.55 billion in the first quarter of 2019. The company ended the first quarter of 2020 with net income of $94 million, compared to a net loss of $20 million in the same period a year earlier. Tenet said the COVID-19 pandemic lowered its net income by about $73 million in the first quarter of this year.
4. King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services reported revenues of $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020, up less than 1 percent from the same period last year. UHS said the COVID-19 pandemic had "a material unfavorable effect" on its operations and financial results in the first quarter. The company ended the first quarter of this year with net income of $142 million, down 39 percent from a year earlier.