HCA Healthcare, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to HCA Healthcare fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening 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, Mike Marks. Sam and Mike 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're 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.

Good morning and thank you for joining the call. We closed out the year with strong results that were mostly consistent with the previous quarters in 2025. We delivered our 19th straight quarter of volume growth, reflecting continued solid demand across our markets. The benefit of network investments and improved results in capacity management, quality patient outcomes, and stakeholder engagement. Revenue increased 6.7% compared to the prior year quarter. And with disciplined expense management, margins improved both sequentially and year-over-year. For the quarter, net income attributable to HCA Healthcare increased almost 31%. Diluted earnings per share as adjusted increased 29%. And adjusted EBITDA increased around 11% versus the prior year period. Reflecting on 2025, this was another successful year for HCA Healthcare. Throughout the year, our teams executed at a high level. We gained ground with our strategic agenda, and we stayed focused on the fundamentals. Additionally, we invested significantly in network expansion, workforce development, and clinical capabilities. These investments helped deliver positive outcomes across the HCA Healthcare system. As a result, our networks had approximately 47 million patient encounters during the year, representing a record level of patient care activity for the company. I want to thank my colleagues for their outstanding work, their dedication to our patients, and their unyielding commitment to our mission. Now let me transition to the policy environment. We continue to monitor several policy matters, including the expired enhanced premium tax credits, the ongoing developments related to Medicaid supplemental payment programs, and the Rural Health Transformation Program. These matters continue to evolve. As we learn more, we will provide updates at the appropriate times. That said, we believe our core business remains strong with forecasted volumes in our long-term 2% to 3% growth range. This past year, we strengthened the company's resiliency program in three important areas. And this gives us confidence that we can navigate effectively through these policy dynamics. The first was organizational. In this area, we added new capabilities that were aligned around the company's operating imperatives. Next, we strengthened the management systems to enhance execution. And lastly, we ramped up leadership development. The second area relates to competitive positioning. We increased hospital capacity, clinical service offerings, and outpatient facilities across our networks to create greater patient access and address the needs of our communities. The third was financial. Here, we advanced our cost management agenda and improved our balance sheet with strong cash flow and disciplined capital allocation. These results allowed us to invest significantly in our networks, our people, and our AI and tech agenda. In closing, we are well positioned to move forward as we begin 2026. We continue to believe the HCA way of combining high-quality local provider networks with the distinct capabilities, talent, and scale of a national healthcare system creates sustained value for our stakeholders It allows us to deliver more effectively on our mission. With that, I will turn over the call to Mike for more details on the quarter and our outlook for 2026.