Dive Brief:
- HCA announced plans to build five new hospitals in Texas in response to growing population there, executives said Thursday during a call with investors.
- The hospitals will serve as primary- and secondary-type hospitals with basic inpatient and outpatient services that will refer patients needing higher-acuity services to HCA's other campuses. These new hospitals will be smaller facilities with about 50 to 75 beds, executives said Thursday.
- The new hospitals will be located in the areas of Dallas Fort-Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
Dive Insight:
The news comes on the heels of HCA's plans to build three new hospitals in Florida, the other core market for the Nashville-based health system.
The expansions highlight HCA's strategy of targeting areas with significant population growth and then building out an array of services within its markets.
"It presents a nice platform for us to expand into some of these growing areas and add to our network," CEO Sam Hazen said Thursday.
Texas saw the largest population growth in 2021, the Census Bureau reported. More residents moved to Texas and Florida than any other state last year. Texas and Florida are the second and third most populous states in the U.S. behind California.
Of the 185 hospitals HCA operates, 91 are located in Texas and Florida, representing nearly half of the system's 2020 revenues, according to HCA's annual filing.
It's not just hospitals, HCA purchased Florida's largest urgent care chain at the end of 2021 for an undisclosed sum. And as the pandemic highlighted the need for at-home care, HCA purchased a majority stake in Brookdale Health Care Services' home health and hospice business.
Even amid the turmoil caused by the pandemic, HCA reported net income jumped 85% to nearly $7 billion from about $3.8 billion in 2020, according to financial results released Thursday.
In fourth quarter results, HCA saw revenue and net income climb even as the omicron variant battered health systems nationwide. HCA reported volume increases in most major categories except inpatient surgery during the quarter.
Although HCA volumes increased in the quarter, analysts pointed out on the call that they were below pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In addition to the effects of the pandemic, HCA executives blamed the lag on the fact that they didn't see the seasonal bump in volumes that come at the end of the year, and pointed to some surgeries migrating to outpatient settings over inpatient.