System is already knee deep in the planned divestitures of 30 hospitals; additional sales are part of shift to “smaller stronger” portfolio.
In addition to the planned divestitures of 30 hospitals, struggling Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems announced during an earnings call Wednesday that they are looking at the additional sale of a group of hospitals that carries a combined $1.5 billion in annual net operating revenue.
CHS has already completed 20 of the 30 other planned sales, with 11 being sold in May and another nine deals having closed as of July 1st. The remaining 10 hospital sales are expected to close by September 30th, CHS said.
CHS’ financial health continued its downward slope, with a net loss of $137 million or $1.22 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2017. Their net operating revenue was down 9.7 percent to $4.1 billion. The company’s operating results for the second quarter reflected a 10.8 percent decrease in total admissions. On a same-store basis, both admission and adjusted admission dropped 2.5 percent year over year from 2016, financial documents showed.
Wayne T. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Community Health Systems said their focus is now on shifting to a “smaller, stronger portfolio of assets.”
“Obviously, we are disappointed with our performance during the second quarter. Our financial results reflect weaker than expected volumes, which negatively affected our net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA performance. We are seeing better results in certain areas, and we continue to work on a number of initiatives to drive operational and financial improvements.”
HENRY KOTULA 