HCA admissions up, but net income down 23 percent for '08

Despite the bruising financial climate, HCA reported some positives, but its numbers are under stress. The hospital operator reported higher admissions for the fourth quarter of 2008 as compared with the same quarter last year, up 0.5 percent year over year, but net income fell substantially.

HCA reported net income of $276 million, compared with $278 million in the previous year. Revenue climbed 5.5 percent to $7.27 billion. For the full year of of 2008, meanwhile, net income was $673 million, down 23 percent over 2007, with revenue climbing 5.6 percent to $28.37 billion.

HCA isn't saying what its plans are to address the drop in net income, other than it expects capital spending to be lower in 2009 than it was in 2008. During 2008, the hospital company spent $1.6 billion on capital projects.

To learn more about HCA's results:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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