antiquity
03-13-2002, 01:45 PM
HealthSouth profits, patient flows rise
By Edward Tobin
NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - HealthSouth Corp. <HRC.N> on Tuesday reported a 15 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings as the provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitation health-care services saw more patients and received higher payments from them.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based company said earnings before special items increased to $88.6 million, or 22 cents per share, from $76.9 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. The results met the analysts' average estimate compiled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
In the latest quarter, HealthSouth took charges of $11.4 million for the sale of its United Kingdom diagnostic centers and four rehabilitation hospitals and $9.3 million on the sale of certain properties in a sale-leaseback transaction. After those charges, net income was $67.9 million, or 17 cents per diluted share.
Quarterly revenue rose slightly to $1.12 billion from $1.08 billion a year ago.
"It looks like the core business continues to trend slightly better than I expected," said analyst Gary Taylor of Banc of America Securities.
HealthSouth shares closed down 15 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $12.70 on the New York Stock Exchange after rising as high as $13.30 in the session.
"The numbers in the quarter were almost perfectly in line with what I looked for," Taylor said. "But the market is focused more on what HealthSouth is saying it can do in the next quarter and the impact of the recent Medicare reimbursement change."
Effective Jan. 1, the government insurance plan for senior citizens and the disabled changed its reimbursement plan for inpatient rehabilitation hospitals to a prospective payment system that sets uniform rates across the United States. As a result, those hospitals can make a profit on their Medicare business if their costs fall below those rates.
Previously, Medicare reimbursed hospitals with a percentage of their actual costs.
HealthSouth's inpatient rehabilitation unit, which accounts for 40 percent of its of business, gets a high percentage of its business from Medicare patients.
The company said in the earnings release that early experience under the payment system "is confirming our expectations for the positive impact that PPS will have on our business."
Banc of America's Taylor said he is "convinced that by some magnitude, HealthSouth's costs are lower than the national average. So there should be some positive benefit to the change."
16:13 03-12-02
By Edward Tobin
NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - HealthSouth Corp. <HRC.N> on Tuesday reported a 15 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings as the provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitation health-care services saw more patients and received higher payments from them.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based company said earnings before special items increased to $88.6 million, or 22 cents per share, from $76.9 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. The results met the analysts' average estimate compiled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
In the latest quarter, HealthSouth took charges of $11.4 million for the sale of its United Kingdom diagnostic centers and four rehabilitation hospitals and $9.3 million on the sale of certain properties in a sale-leaseback transaction. After those charges, net income was $67.9 million, or 17 cents per diluted share.
Quarterly revenue rose slightly to $1.12 billion from $1.08 billion a year ago.
"It looks like the core business continues to trend slightly better than I expected," said analyst Gary Taylor of Banc of America Securities.
HealthSouth shares closed down 15 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $12.70 on the New York Stock Exchange after rising as high as $13.30 in the session.
"The numbers in the quarter were almost perfectly in line with what I looked for," Taylor said. "But the market is focused more on what HealthSouth is saying it can do in the next quarter and the impact of the recent Medicare reimbursement change."
Effective Jan. 1, the government insurance plan for senior citizens and the disabled changed its reimbursement plan for inpatient rehabilitation hospitals to a prospective payment system that sets uniform rates across the United States. As a result, those hospitals can make a profit on their Medicare business if their costs fall below those rates.
Previously, Medicare reimbursed hospitals with a percentage of their actual costs.
HealthSouth's inpatient rehabilitation unit, which accounts for 40 percent of its of business, gets a high percentage of its business from Medicare patients.
The company said in the earnings release that early experience under the payment system "is confirming our expectations for the positive impact that PPS will have on our business."
Banc of America's Taylor said he is "convinced that by some magnitude, HealthSouth's costs are lower than the national average. So there should be some positive benefit to the change."
16:13 03-12-02