Patient numbers rebounded and staff shortages began to ease in the first quarter at Universal Health Services, signaling what Chief Executive Officer Marc Miller on Wednesday called “a year of continued transition to the world.” post-pandemic world”.
Universal Health, a for-profit system based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, reported more acute care and behavioral health patients in the first quarter. Behavioral health hospitalizations in the same facility rose 7.5% from a year ago, while acute care admissions increased 7.2%.
Chief Financial Officer Steve Filton said the health system is filling more positions and as such it is looking at expansion options as it prepares to treat more patients. He said executives recently met to discuss possible changes to facilities operating at more than 80 percent capacity.
“This is a bit of a dual-motivation,” says Filton. “As we can hire more people and fill more permanent vacancies, I think we will be able to treat more patients, and when we can treat more patients, we have may need to increase capacity for some of our facilities and some of our de novo projects.”
In March, Universal Health ended inpatient services at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, causing $10 million in losses from shutdown and layoffs. However, Universal subsidiary Valley Health System is building a hospital nearby in West Anderson and plans to open it in early to mid-2024. About a year ago it opened the Northern Nevada Medical Center Sierra in Reno, Nevada.
Universal Health operates nearly 30 acute care hospitals, 331 inpatient behavioral health facilities, and 39 outpatient facilities and outpatient care locations across 39 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and UK.
Late Tuesday, Universal Health reported first-quarter net income of $163.12 million, or $2.28 per share, compared with net income of $153.91 million, equivalent of $2.02 per share, a year ago.
Quarterly revenue grew 5.3% to $3.47 billion. Expenses rose 4.2% to $3.19 billion, including a 3.6% increase in wages and salaries and a 2.4% increase in supplies.
Despite the improvements in the first quarter, Universal Health did not change its financial guidance for 2023, as the for-profit companies HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare did. Universal Health closed at $142.79 a share on Wednesday, up about 1.5% from Tuesday’s closing price.
