Dive Brief:
- Lifepoint Health reported a net loss of $27 million in Q4 in 2017, down from a net income of $46.6 million in the quarter a year earlier.
- For the full year, the system disclosed a net income of $112.9 million, down from $131.8 million the prior year.
- The 71-hospital system experienced a 2.7% decrease in patient admissions in 2017.
Dive Insight:
The company disclosed that same-hospital revenues totaled $1.5 billion in Q4, a decrease of 5.2% compared to the same period in 2016.
The drop in the company’s same-hospital revenues was primarily attributable to the transfer of its home health and hospice service lines to In-Home Healthcare Partnership (IHHP), a joint venture with LHC Group.
When adjusted to exclude the impact of the transfer of its home health and hospice service lines to IHHP, the company’s normalized same-hospital revenues increased $6.4 million, or 0.4%, for the fourth quarter, compared to the same period last year, the company stated.
For the full year, same-hospital revenues decreased 0.8% compared to 2016, totaling $5.9 billion.
The company's stock fell 5% at the open of market Friday to $47.25 per stock.
Lifepoint estimated the company's revenue will be between $6.35 billion and $6.43 billion in 2018.
Several other publicly traded hospital companies will post results next week, including Tenet Healthcare and Community Health Systems.
Both have large debt loads, but the industry will be watching patient admission rates, which have declined in recent years. HCA said last month that admissions rose in 2017.