HCA Healthcare, Inc.

Welcome to the HCA Healthcare second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for open remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Vice President of Investor Relations, Mr. Frank Morgan. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, and welcome to everyone on today's call. With me this morning is our CEO, Sam Hazen, and CFO, Bill Rutherford. Sam and Bill will provide some prepared remarks, and then we'll take questions. Before I turn the call over to Sam, let me remind everyone that should today's call contain any forward-looking statements, they are based on management's current expectations. Numerous risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those that might be expressed today. More information on forward-looking statements and these factors are listed in today's press release and in our various SEC filings. On this morning's call, we may reference measures such as adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. A table providing supplemental information on adjusted EBITDA and reconciling net income attributable to HCA Healthcare Inc. is included in today's release. This morning's call is being recorded and a replay of the call will be available later today. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Sam.

All right, thank you, Frank, and good morning to everybody. Thank you for joining today's call. We are pleased with our financial results for the second quarter. The solid results were driven by a good mix of volume with respect to payer mix and acuity, coupled with progress in managing our operating costs. Although overall demand for our services was not as strong as anticipated when compared to the second quarter of last year, same facility revenue grew 4%. As indicated in our earnings release, same facility inpatient admissions declined 1.2% and adjusted admissions grew 0.5%. COVID admissions declined 18% and represented approximately 3% of total admissions, which is generally consistent with the mix in the prior year. COVID admissions dropped 70% from the first quarter. Emergency room visits on a same facilities basis grew 7.3%. reflecting strong demand for this service. Volumes across most categories exceeded pre-pandemic levels as compared to the second quarter of 2019. Many aspects of our business were positive, considering the challenges we faced with the labor market and other inflationary pressures on costs. Our teams executed well, as they have in the past through other difficult environments. Again, I want to thank them for their dedication and excellent work. Labor metrics improved in the quarter as compared to the first quarter. Recruitment was up, turnover was down, and throughout the quarter we lowered contract labor expenses in each successive month with June down 22% as compared to April. Overall, operating costs per adjusted admission improved on a sequential basis as compared to the first quarter. Because of these positive developments, we operated with more available capacity than we did in the first quarter and had solid volume growth sequentially. Additionally, we continue to expand our network offerings with new ambulatory centers and clinics. We opened three Galen nursing colleges in the quarter, and two more are scheduled to open later this year. And lastly, we increased hospital capacity with targeted capital investments. As we look to the balance of the year, we see volumes returning to pre-pandemic seasonal trends, but we expect growth in inpatient admissions at a more modest level than previously indicated in our guidance and in line with guidance for outpatient categories. We believe our labor and resiliency plans are appropriately responsive to market dynamics and the needs of our business, and they should continue to generate improvements in our operations. So let me close with this, and as I've mentioned this in the past, HCA Healthcare has an outstanding track record of responding to our realities by adjusting our operations in an appropriate manner. That is a manner aligned with our mission to provide high-quality care to our patients while also being prudent with our financial management. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bill for more details on the quarter.