HCA Healthcare provided an early look at their 2026 guidance during their Q3 2025 earnings call. They highlighted solid results for the third quarter, reporting an increase in healthcare service demand. Surgical volumes showed improvement, ER visits increased, and net revenue per equivalent admission growth was strong. The company saw growth in commercial and Medicare ER visits but a decline in Medicaid and self-pay visits. They also noted the impact of the slow start to the respiratory season on admissions and ER visits. Medicaid supplemental payment programs drove revenue growth, contributing to the increase in net revenue per equivalent admission. The company reported an approximate $240 million increase in net benefit to adjusted EBITDA from these programs in 2025 over the prior year, driven by Tennessee program payments and approvals of grandfathered applications in Kansas and Texas. The company was pleased with operating leverage and expense management, driven primarily by good performance in labor and supplies. They saw improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin, driven by labor and supplies performance. Contract labor expenses were flat compared to the prior year. The increase in other operating expenses was driven primarily by Medicaid state supplemental payments and professional fees. The company stated that their work to enhance and accelerate their resiliency program is progressing well, leading to an increase in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter. They highlighted their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation, with cash flow from operations at $4.4 billion in the quarter. They also deferred approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to IRS relief to Tennessee taxpayers. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, with a strong balance sheet positioning them well for the future. The company updated their full-year 2025 guidance, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They also anticipate capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and a full-year net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments to be $250 million to $350 million favorable in 2025 versus 2024. The guidance update excludes any potential impact from additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act and assumes a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. The company also expects growth in their adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter to reflect their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They anticipate an estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. The company plans to continue executing their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation and believes their balance sheet is strong and well-positioned for the future. They see potential impacts from the approvals of grandfathered applications under the act, with expectations of a $250 million increase in net benefit from state supplemental payment programs and a $200 million increase from operational reform. The company also expects to increase their earnings guidance by $450 million at the midpoint of adjusted EBITDA. They have a robust set of opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies and are focused on enhancing their resiliency program as they prepare for the future. Through these efforts, they continue to identify opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They are pleased with their operating leverage and expense management in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily driven by good performance in labor and supplies, with contract labor expenses flattening compared to the prior year. The increase in other operating expenses was primarily driven by increased expenses related to Medicaid state supplemental payments and professional fees compared to the prior year. They have made progress in enhancing and accelerating their resiliency program as they prepare for the future, identifying opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They have also noted that the estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. They continue to execute their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation, with cash flow from operations at $4.4 billion in the quarter, and they have been able to defer approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to IRS relief to Tennessee taxpayers. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, and they believe their balance sheet is strong and well-positioned for the future. The company has updated their full-year 2025 guidance, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They also anticipate capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and a full-year net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments to be $250 million to $350 million favorable in 2025 versus 2024. The guidance update excludes any potential impact from additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act and assumes a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. The company also expects growth in their adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter to reflect their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They anticipate an estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. The company plans to continue executing their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation and believes their balance sheet is strong and well-positioned for the future. They see potential impacts from the approvals of grandfathered applications under the act, with expectations of a $250 million increase in net benefit from state supplemental payment programs and a $200 million increase from operational reform. They also expect to increase their earnings guidance by $450 million at the midpoint of adjusted EBITDA. They have made progress in enhancing and accelerating their resiliency program as they prepare for the future, identifying opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They have also noted that the estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. They continue to execute their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation, with cash flow from operations at $4.4 billion in the quarter, and they have been able to defer approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to IRS relief to Tennessee taxpayers. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, and they believe their balance sheet is strong and well-positioned for the future. The company has updated their full-year 2025 guidance, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They also anticipate capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and a full-year net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments to be $250 million to $350 million favorable in 2025 versus 2024. The guidance update excludes any potential impact from additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act and assumes a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. The company also expects growth in their adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter to reflect their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They anticipate an estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. The company plans to continue executing their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation and believes their balance sheet is strong and well-positioned for the future. They see potential impacts from the approvals of grandfathered applications under the act, with expectations of a $250 million increase in net benefit from state supplemental payment programs and a $200 million increase from operational reform. They also expect to increase their earnings guidance by $450 million at the midpoint of adjusted EBITDA. They have made progress in enhancing and accelerating their resiliency program as they prepare for the future, identifying opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They are pleased with their operating leverage and expense management in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily driven by good performance in labor and supplies, with contract labor expenses flattening compared to the prior year. The increase in other operating expenses was primarily driven by increased expenses related to Medicaid state supplemental payments and professional fees compared to the prior year. They have made progress in enhancing and accelerating their resiliency program as they prepare for the future, identifying opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They are pleased with their operating leverage and expense management in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin was driven primarily by good performance in labor and supplies. As expected, they saw contract labor expenses flatten compared to the prior year and represented 4.2% of total labor cost in 2025. The increase in other operating expenses as a percentage of revenue in the quarter was driven primarily by increased expenses related to Medicaid state supplemental payments and, to a lesser extent, professional fees compared to the prior year. Their work progressed to both enhance and accelerate their resiliency program as they prepared for the future. Through these efforts, they continued to identify a robust set of opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflects their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They would also note the estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. Moving to capital allocation, they continued to execute their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation. Cash flow from operations was $4.4 billion in the quarter, with $1.3 billion in capital expenditures, $500 million in share repurchases, and $166 million in dividends. Year-to-date, they were able to defer approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to the IRS providing relief to Tennessee taxpayers in the aftermath of severe weather in early April. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, and they believed their balance sheet was strong and well-positioned for the future. They were updating their full-year 2025 guidance as follows, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They anticipated capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and expected their supplemental payment full-year net benefit to be $250 million to $350 million favorable comparing full-year 2025 versus 2024. This guidance update did not include any potential impact in 2025 from any additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act. At the midpoint, this guidance assumed a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. Consistent with their comments on the second quarter call, they believed their hurricane-impacted markets would produce approximately $100 million in adjusted EBITDA growth in full-year 2025 over 2024. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA in their hurricane markets was modestly below the prior year, and they anticipated all of this growth would occur in the fourth quarter. They were increasing their earnings guidance at the midpoint of adjusted EBITDA by $450 million. This represented an expected $250 million increase in net benefit from the state supplemental payment programs and a $200 million increase from operational reform. They were pleased with their operating leverage and expense management in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily driven by good performance in labor and supplies. As expected, they saw contract labor expenses flatten compared to the prior year. Same-facility contract labor was basically flat in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the prior year and represented 4.2% of total labor cost in 2025. The increase in other operating expenses as a percentage of revenue in the quarter was driven primarily by increased expenses related to Medicaid state supplemental payments and, to a lesser extent, professional fees compared to the prior year. Their work progressed to both enhance and accelerate their resiliency program as they prepared for the future. Through these efforts, they continued to identify a robust set of opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in their adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflected their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They also noted the estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. Moving to capital allocation, they continued to execute their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation. Cash flow from operations was $4.4 billion in the quarter, with $1.3 billion in capital expenditures, $500 million in share repurchases, and $166 million in dividends. Year-to-date, they had been able to defer approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to the IRS providing relief to Tennessee taxpayers in the aftermath of severe weather in early April. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, and they believed their balance sheet was strong and well-positioned for the future. They were updating their full-year 2025 guidance as follows, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They anticipated capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and expected their supplemental payment full-year net benefit to be $250 million to $350 million favorable comparing full-year 2025 versus 2024. This guidance update did not include any potential impact in 2025 from any additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act. And at the midpoint, this guidance assumed a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. Consistent with their comments on the second quarter call, they believed their hurricane-impacted markets would produce approximately $100 million in adjusted EBITDA growth in full-year 2025 over 2024. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA in their hurricane markets was modestly below the prior year, and they anticipated all of this growth would occur in the fourth quarter. They were increasing their earnings guidance at the midpoint of adjusted EBITDA by $450 million. This represented an expected $250 million increase in net benefit from the state supplemental payment programs and a $200 million increase from operational reform. They were pleased with their operating leverage and expense management in the quarter. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily driven by good performance in labor and supplies. As expected, they saw contract labor expenses flatten compared to the prior year. The increase in other operating expenses as a percentage of revenue in the quarter was driven primarily by increased expenses related to Medicaid state supplemental payments and, to a lesser extent, professional fees compared to the prior year. Their work progressed to both enhance and accelerate their resiliency program as they prepared for the future. Through these efforts, they continued to identify a robust set of opportunities across revenue and cost to improve efficiencies. The growth in their adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter reflected their strong operating performance and the increase in supplemental payments. They also noted the estimated $50 million impact from the hurricane in 2024. Moving to capital allocation, they continued to execute their strategy of allocating capital for long-term value creation. Cash flow from operations was $4.4 billion in the quarter, with $1.3 billion in capital expenditures, $500 million in share repurchases, and $166 million in dividends. Year-to-date, they had been able to defer approximately $1.3 billion in federal income tax payments to the fourth quarter due to the IRS providing relief to Tennessee taxpayers in the aftermath of severe weather in early April. Debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remained in the lower half of their stated guidance range, and they believed their balance sheet was strong and well-positioned for the future. They were updating their full-year 2025 guidance as follows, expecting revenues to range between $75 billion and $76.5 billion, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare to range between $6.5 billion and $6.72 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $15.25 billion and $15.65 billion, and diluted earnings per share to range between $27 and $28. They also anticipated capital spending to be approximately $5 billion and expected their supplemental payment full-year net benefit to be $250 million to $350 million favorable in 2025 versus 2024. This guidance update did not include any potential impact in 2025 from any additional approvals of grandfathered applications under the act and assumed a $120 million decline in net benefit from Medicaid state supplemental payments in 2025 versus the prior year due to one-time payments. Consistent with their comments on the second quarter call, they believed their hurricane-impacted markets would produce approximately $100 million in adjusted EBITDA growth in full-year 2025 over 202
Read more at Yahoo Finance: HCA Healthcare Q3 2025 Earnings Transcript
