As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2010

Registration No. 333-      

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

 

 

Form S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

 

 

HCA Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

One Park Plaza

Nashville, Tennessee 37203

(615) 344-9551

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

John M. Franck II, Esq.

HCA Inc.

Vice President and Corporate Secretary

One Park Plaza

Nashville, Tennessee 37203

(615) 344-9551

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

With copies to:

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:  As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement is declared effective.

 

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  o

 

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

 

 

 

 

 

The registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MAY 7, 2010

 

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

 

 

HCA Inc.

 

           Shares

 

Common Stock

$      per share

 

 

 

 

We are offering           shares of our common stock, and the selling stockholders named in this prospectus are offering           shares of our common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares by the selling stockholders.

 

This is an initial public offering of our common stock. Since November 2006 and prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. We currently expect the initial public offering price will be between $      and $      per share. We intend to apply to list the common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HCA.”

 

 

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 14 of this prospectus to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

 

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 

To the extent that the underwriters sell more than           shares of common stock, the underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional           shares from us and the selling stockholders at the initial price to the public less the underwriting discount.

 

 

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares against payment in New York, New York on or about          , 2010.

 

 

Joint Book-Running Managers

 

 

 

Prospectus dated          , 2010.

 

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus that we authorize be delivered to you. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with additional or different information. If anyone provides you with additional, different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We and the underwriters are not making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where an offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock. Our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may have changed since that date.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

MARKET, RANKING AND OTHER INDUSTRY DATA

 

The data included in this prospectus regarding markets and ranking, including the size of certain markets and our position and the position of our competitors within these markets, are based on reports of government agencies or published industry sources and estimates based on our management’s knowledge and experience in the markets in which we operate. These estimates have been based on information obtained from our trade and business organizations and other contacts in the markets in which we operate. We believe these estimates to be accurate as of the date of this prospectus. However, this information may prove to be inaccurate because of the method by which we obtained some of the data for the estimates or because this information cannot always be verified with complete certainty due to the limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other limitations and uncertainties. As a result, you should be aware that market, ranking and other similar industry data included in this prospectus, and estimates and beliefs based on that data, may not be reliable. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any such information contained in this prospectus.

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

	•	our substantial debt could limit our ability to pursue our growth strategy;
	•	our debt agreements contain restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business;

	•	the current economic climate and general economic factors may adversely affect our performance;
	•	we face intense competition that could limit our growth opportunities;
	•	we are required to comply with extensive laws and regulations that could impact our operations;
	•	legal proceedings and governmental investigations could negatively impact our business; and
	•	uninsured and patient due accounts could adversely affect our results of operations.

Common stock offered by HCA		shares
Common stock offered by selling stockholders		shares
Common stock to be outstanding after this offering		shares (           shares if the underwriters exercise their option in full)
Use of Proceeds		We estimate that the net proceeds to us from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses, will be approximately $      billion, assuming the shares are offered at $      per share, which is the mid-point of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus.
		We intend to use the anticipated net proceeds to repay certain of our existing indebtedness, as will be determined prior to our offering, and for general corporate purposes.
		We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock by the selling stockholders.
Underwriters’ option		We and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to           additional shares of our common stock at the initial public offering price.
Dividend policy		We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future following completion of the offering.
Risk Factors		You should carefully read and consider the information set forth under “Risk Factors” beginning on page 14 of this prospectus and all other information set forth in this prospectus before investing in our common stock.
Conflicts of Interest		Certain of the underwriters and their respective affiliates have, from time to time, performed, and may in the future perform, various financial advisory, investment banking, commercial banking and other services for us for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses. See “Underwriting.” Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and/or its affiliates indirectly own in excess of 10% of our issued and outstanding common stock, and may therefore be deemed to be one of our “affiliates” and to have a “conflict of interest” with us within the meaning of NASD Conduct Rule 2720 (“Rule 2720”) of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. Therefore, this offering will be conducted in accordance with Rule 2720, which requires that a qualified independent underwriter as defined in Rule 2720 participate in the preparation of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and perform its usual standard of due diligence with respect thereto. See “Underwriting — Conflicts of Interest.”
Proposed NYSE ticker symbol		“HCA”

	•	assumes (1) no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of our common stock; and (2) an initial public offering price of $      per share, the midpoint of the initial public offering range indicated on the cover of this prospectus;
	•	reflects the   to 1 stock split that we effected on             , 2010; and
	•	does not reflect (1)           shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options at a weighted average exercise price of $      per share as of March 31, 2010,           of which           were then exercisable; and (2)           shares of our common stock reserved for future grants under our stock incentive plans.

														As of and for the
		As of and for the												Three Months Ended
		Years Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2010				2009
														(Unaudited)
		(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts)
Income Statement Data:
Revenues		$	30,052			$	28,374			$	26,858			$	7,544			$	7,431
Salaries and benefits			11,958				11,440				10,714				3,072				2,923
Supplies			4,868				4,620				4,395				1,200				1,210
Other operating expenses			4,724				4,554				4,233				1,202				1,102
Provision for doubtful accounts			3,276				3,409				3,130				564				807
Equity in earnings of affiliates			(246	)			(223	)			(206	)			(68	)			(68	)
Depreciation and amortization			1,425				1,416				1,426				355				353
Interest expense			1,987				2,021				2,215				516				471
Losses (gains) on sales of facilities			15				(97	)			(471	)			—				5
Impairments of long-lived assets			43				64				24				18				9
			28,050				27,204				25,460				6,859				6,812
Income before income taxes			2,002				1,170				1,398				685				619
Provision for income taxes			627				268				316				209				187
Net income			1,375				902				1,082				476				432
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests			321				229				208				88				72
Net income attributable to HCA Inc.		$	1,054			$	673			$	874			$	388			$	360

														As of and for the
		As of and for the												Three Months Ended
		Years Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2010				2009
														(Unaudited)
		(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts)
Earnings per share:
Basic		$	—			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	—
Diluted			—				—				—				—				—
Weighted average shares (shares in thousands):
Basic			—				—				—				—				—
Diluted			—				—				—				—				—
Statement of Cash Flows Data:
Cash flows provided by operating activities		$	2,747			$	1,990			$	1,564			$	901			$	615
Cash flows used in investing activities			(1,035	)			(1,467	)			(479	)			(181	)			(288	)
Cash flows used in financing activities			(1,865	)			(451	)			(1,326	)			(644	)			(436	)
Other Financial Data:
EBITDA(1)		$	5,093			$	4,378			$	4,831			$	1,468			$	1,371
Adjusted EBITDA(1)			5,472				4,574				4,592				1,574				1,457
Capital expenditures			1,317				1,600				1,444				214				337
Operating Data(2):
Number of hospitals at end of period(3)			155				158				161				154				155
Number of freestanding outpatient surgical centers at end of period(4)			97				97				99				98				97
Number of licensed beds at end of period(5)			38,839				38,504				38,405				38,719				38,763
Weighted average licensed beds(6)			38,825				38,422				39,065				38,687				38,811
Admissions(7)			1,556,500				1,541,800				1,552,700				398,900				396,200
Equivalent admissions(8)			2,439,000				2,363,600				2,352,400				615,500				610,200
Average length of stay (days)(9)			4.8				4.9				4.9				4.9				4.9
Average daily census(10)			20,650				20,795				21,049				21,696				21,701
Occupancy(11)			53	%			54	%			54	%			56	%			56	%
Emergency room visits(12)			5,593,500				5,246,400				5,116,100				1,367,100				1,359,700
Outpatient surgeries(13)			794,600				797,400				804,900				190,700				194,400
Inpatient surgeries(14)			494,500				493,100				516,500				122,500				122,600
Days revenues in accounts receivable(15)			45				49				53				46				47
Gross patient revenues(16)		$	115,682			$	102,843			$	92,429			$	31,054			$	28,742
Outpatient revenues as a percentage of patient revenues(17)			38	%			37	%			37	%			36	%			38	%

														As of and for the
		As of and for the												Three Months Ended
		Years Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2010				2009
														(Unaudited)
		(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts)
Balance Sheet Data:
Working capital(18)		$	2,264			$	2,391			$	2,356			$	2,167			$	2,592
Property, plant and equipment, net			11,427				11,529				11,442				11,252				11,455
Cash and cash equivalents			312				465				393				388				356
Total assets			24,131				24,280				24,025				24,091				24,284
Total debt			25,670				26,989				27,308				26,855				26,567
Equity securities with contingent redemption rights			147				155				164				144				154
Stockholders’ deficit attributable to HCA Inc.			(8,986	)			(10,255	)			(10,538	)			(10,313	)			(9,888	)
Noncontrolling interests			1,008				995				938				1,015				1,019
Total stockholders’ deficit			(7,978	)			(9,260	)			(9,600	)			(9,298	)			(8,869	)

(1)		EBITDA, a measure used by management to evaluate operating performance, is defined as net income attributable to HCA Inc. plus (i) provision for income taxes, (ii) interest expense and (iii) depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not a recognized term under GAAP and does not purport to be an alternative to net income as a measure of operating performance or to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. Additionally, EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow available for management’s discretionary use, as it does not consider certain cash requirements such as interest payments, tax payments and other debt service requirements. Management believes EBITDA is helpful to investors and our management in highlighting trends because EBITDA excludes the results of decisions outside the control of operating management and that can differ significantly from company to company depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which companies operate and capital investments. Management compensates for the limitations of using non-GAAP financial measures by using them to supplement GAAP results to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting the business than GAAP results alone. Because not all companies use identical calculations, our presentation of EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.
		Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA, adjusted to exclude net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, losses (gains) on sales of facilities and impairments of long-lived assets. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is an important measure that supplements discussions and analysis of our results of operations. We believe it is useful to investors to provide disclosures of our results of operations on the same basis used by management. Management relies upon Adjusted EBITDA as the primary measure to review and assess operating performance of its hospital facilities and their management teams. Adjusted EBITDA target amounts are the performance measures utilized in our annual incentive compensation programs and are vesting conditions for a portion of our stock option grants. Management and investors review both the overall performance (GAAP net income attributable to HCA Inc.) and operating performance (Adjusted EBITDA) of our health care facilities. Adjusted EBITDA and the Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenues) are utilized by management and investors to compare our current operating results with the corresponding periods during the previous year and to compare our operating results with other companies in the health care industry. It is reasonable to expect that losses (gains) on sales of facilities and impairment of long-lived assets will occur in future periods, but the amounts recognized can vary significantly from period to period, do not directly relate to the ongoing operations of our health care facilities and complicate period comparisons of our results of operations and operations comparisons with other health care companies. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, and should not be considered an alternative

		to net income attributable to HCA Inc. as a measure of operating performance or cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities as a measure of liquidity. Because Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and is susceptible to varying calculations, Adjusted EBITDA, as presented, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

		EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are calculated as follows:

														Three Months
		Years Ended December 31,												Ended March 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2010				2009
														(Unaudited)
		(Dollars in millions)
Net income attributable to HCA Inc.		$	1,054			$	673			$	874			$	388			$	360
Provision for income taxes			627				268				316				209				187
Interest expense			1,987				2,021				2,215				516				471
Depreciation and amortization			1,425				1,416				1,426				355				353
EBITDA			5,093				4,378				4,831				1,468				1,371
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests(i)			321				229				208				88				72
Losses (gains) on sales of facilities(ii)			15				(97	)			(471	)			—				5
Impairments of long-lived assets(iii)			43				64				24				18				9
Adjusted EBITDA		$	5,472			$	4,574			$	4,592			$	1,574			$	1,457

(i)		Represents the add-back of net income attributable to noncontrolling interests.
(ii)		Represents the elimination of losses (gains) on sales of facilities.
(iii)		Represents the add-back of impairments of long-lived assets.

(2)		The operating data set forth in this table includes only those facilities that are consolidated for financial reporting purposes.

(3)		Excludes eight facilities in 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 that are not consolidated (accounted for using the equity method) for financial reporting purposes.
(4)		Excludes eight facilities in 2010, 2009 and 2008 and nine facilities in 2007 that are not consolidated (accounted for using the equity method) for financial reporting purposes.
(5)		Licensed beds are those beds for which a facility has been granted approval to operate from the applicable state licensing agency.
(6)		Weighted average licensed beds represents the average number of licensed beds, weighted based on periods owned.
(7)		Represents the total number of patients admitted to our hospitals and is used by management and certain investors as a general measure of inpatient volume.
(8)		Equivalent admissions are used by management and certain investors as a general measure of combined inpatient and outpatient volume. Equivalent admissions are computed by multiplying admissions (inpatient volume) by the sum of gross inpatient revenues and gross outpatient revenues and then dividing the resulting amount by gross inpatient revenues. The equivalent admissions computation “equates” outpatient revenues to the volume measure (admissions) used to measure inpatient volume, resulting in a general measure of combined inpatient and outpatient volume.
(9)		Represents the average number of days admitted patients stay in our hospitals.
(10)		Represents the average number of patients in our hospital beds each day.
(11)		Represents the percentage of hospital licensed beds occupied by patients. Both average daily census and occupancy rate provide measures of the utilization of inpatient rooms.
(12)		Represents the number of patients treated in our emergency rooms.

(13)		Represents the number of surgeries performed on patients who were not admitted to our hospitals. Pain management and endoscopy procedures are not included in outpatient surgeries.
(14)		Represents the number of surgeries performed on patients who have been admitted to our hospitals. Pain management and endoscopy procedures are not included in inpatient surgeries.
(15)		Revenues per day is calculated by dividing the revenues for the period by the days in the period. Days revenues in accounts receivable is then calculated as accounts receivable, net of the allowance for doubtful accounts, at the end of the period divided by revenues per day.
(16)		Gross patient revenues are based upon our standard charge listing. Gross charges/revenues do not reflect what our hospital facilities are paid. Gross charges/revenues are reduced by contractual adjustments, discounts and charity care to determine reported revenues.

(17)		Represents the percentage of patient revenues related to patients who are not admitted to our hospitals.
(18)		We define working capital as current assets minus current liabilities.

 

An investment in our common stock involves risk. You should carefully consider the following risks as well as the other information included in this prospectus, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes, before investing in our common stock. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. However, the selected risks described below are not the only risks facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or those we currently view to be immaterial may also materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In such a case, the trading price of the common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment in our Company.

 

Risks Related to Our Business

 

Our hospitals face competition for patients from other hospitals and health care providers.

 

The health care business is highly competitive, and competition among hospitals and other health care providers for patients has intensified in recent years. Generally, other hospitals in the local communities we serve provide services similar to those offered by our hospitals. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) publicizes on its Medicare website performance data related to quality measures and data on patient satisfaction surveys hospitals submit in connection with their Medicare reimbursement. Federal law provides for the future expansion of the number of quality measures that must be reported. Additional quality measures and future trends toward clinical transparency may have an unanticipated impact on our competitive position and patient volumes. Further, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “Health Reform Law”) requires all hospitals to annually establish, update and make public a list of the hospital’s standard charges for items and services. If any of our hospitals achieve poor results (or results that are lower than our competitors) on these quality measures or on patient satisfaction surveys or if our standard charges are higher than our competitors, our patient volumes could decline.

 

In addition, the number of freestanding specialty hospitals, surgery centers and diagnostic and imaging centers in the geographic areas in which we operate has increased significantly. As a result, most of our hospitals operate in a highly competitive environment. Some of the facilities that compete with our hospitals are owned by governmental agencies or not-for-profit corporations supported by endowments, charitable contributions and/or tax revenues and can finance capital expenditures and operations on a tax-exempt basis. Our hospitals are facing increasing competition from specialty hospitals, some of which are physician-owned, and from both our own and unaffiliated freestanding surgery centers for market share in high margin services and for quality physicians and personnel. If ambulatory surgery centers are better able to compete in this environment than our hospitals, our hospitals may experience a decline in patient volume, and we may experience a decrease in margin, even if those patients use our ambulatory surgery centers. In states that do not require a Certificate of Need (“CON”) for the purchase, construction or expansion of health care facilities or services, competition in the form of new services, facilities and capital spending is more prevalent. Further, if our competitors are better able to attract patients, recruit physicians, expand services or obtain favorable managed care contracts at their facilities than our hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, we may experience an overall decline in patient volume. See “Business — Competition.”

 

The growth of uninsured and patient due accounts and a deterioration in the collectibility of these accounts could adversely affect our results of operations.

 

The primary collection risks of our accounts receivable relate to the uninsured patient accounts and patient accounts for which the primary insurance carrier has paid the amounts covered by the applicable agreement, but patient responsibility amounts (deductibles and copayments) remain outstanding. The provision for doubtful accounts relates primarily to amounts due directly from patients.

 

The amount of the provision for doubtful accounts is based upon management’s assessment of historical writeoffs and expected net collections, business and economic conditions, trends in federal and state

governmental and private employer health care coverage, the rate of growth in uninsured patient admissions and other collection indicators. At March 31, 2010, our allowance for doubtful accounts represented approximately 94% of the $4.833 billion patient due accounts receivable balance. The sum of the provision for doubtful accounts, uninsured discounts and charity care increased from $6.134 billion for 2007 to $7.009 billion for 2008 and to $8.362 billion for 2009.

 

A continuation of the trends that have resulted in an increasing proportion of accounts receivable being comprised of uninsured accounts and a deterioration in the collectibility of these accounts will adversely affect our collection of accounts receivable, cash flows and results of operations. Prior to the Health Reform Law being fully implemented, our facilities may experience growth in bad debts, uninsured discounts and charity care as a result of a number of factors, including the recent economic downturn and increase in unemployment. The Health Reform Law seeks to decrease over time the number of uninsured individuals. Among other things, the Health Reform Law will, effective January 1, 2014, expand Medicaid and incentivize employers to offer, and require individuals to carry, health insurance or be subject to penalties. However, it is difficult to predict the full impact of the Health Reform Law due to the law’s complexity, lack of implementing regulations or interpretive guidance, gradual implementation and possible amendment, as well as our inability to foresee how individuals and businesses will respond to the choices afforded them by the law. In addition, even after implementation of the Health Reform Law, we may continue to experience bad debts and have to provide uninsured discounts and charity care for undocumented aliens who are not permitted to enroll in a health insurance exchange or government health care programs.

 

Changes in governmental programs may reduce our revenues.

 

A significant portion of our patient volume is derived from government health care programs, principally Medicare and Medicaid. Specifically, we derived approximately 40% of our revenues from the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 2009. In recent years, legislative and regulatory changes have resulted in limitations on and, in some cases, reductions in levels of payments to health care providers for certain services under the Medicare program. For example, CMS has recently completed a two-year transition to full implementation of the Medicare severity diagnosis-related group (“MS-DRG”) system, which represents a refinement to the existing diagnosis-related group system. Future realignments in the MS-DRG system could impact the margins we receive for certain services. Further, the Health Reform Law provides for material reductions in the growth of Medicare program spending, including reductions in Medicare market basket updates, and Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (“DSH”) funding. Reductions to our reimbursement under the Medicare and Medicaid programs by the Health Reform Law could adversely affect our business and results of operations to the extent such reductions are not offset by anticipated increases in revenues from providing care to previously uninsured individuals.

 

Since most states must operate with balanced budgets and since the Medicaid program is often a state’s largest program, some states can be expected to enact or consider enacting legislation designed to reduce their Medicaid expenditures. The current economic downturn has increased the budgetary pressures on many states, and these budgetary pressures have resulted, and likely will continue to result, in decreased spending for Medicaid programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) in many states. Further, many states have also adopted, or are considering, legislation designed to reduce coverage, enroll Medicaid recipients in managed care programs and/or impose additional taxes on hospitals to help finance or expand the states’ Medicaid systems. Effective March 23, 2010, the Health Reform Law requires states to at least maintain Medicaid eligibility standards established prior to the enactment of the law for adults until January 1, 2014 and for children until October 1, 2019. However, states with budget deficits may seek exceptions from this requirement to address eligibility standards that apply to adults making more than 133% of the federal poverty level. The Health Reform Law also provides for significant expansions to the Medicaid program, but these changes are not required until 2014. In addition, the Health Reform Law will result in increased state legislative and regulatory changes in order for states to comply with new federal mandates, such as the requirement to establish health insurance exchanges, and to participate in grants and other incentive opportunities.

In some cases, commercial third-party payers rely on all or portions of the MS-DRG system to determine payment rates, which may result in decreased reimbursement from some commercial third-party payers. Other changes to government health care programs may negatively impact payments from commercial third-party payers.

 

Current or future health care reform efforts, changes in laws or regulations regarding government health programs, other changes in the administration of government health programs and changes to commercial third-party payers in response to health care reform and other changes to government health programs could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

 

We are unable to predict the impact of the Health Reform Law, which represents significant change to the health care industry.

 

The Health Reform Law will change how health care services are covered, delivered, and reimbursed through expanded coverage of uninsured individuals, reduced growth in Medicare program spending, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid DSH payments and the establishment of programs where reimbursement is tied to quality and integration. In addition, the new law reforms certain aspects of health insurance, expands existing efforts to tie Medicare and Medicaid payments to performance and quality, and contains provisions intended to strengthen fraud and abuse enforcement.

 

The expansion of health insurance coverage under the Health Reform Law may result in a material increase in the number of patients using our facilities who have either private or public program coverage. In addition, a disproportionately large percentage of the new Medicaid coverage is likely to be in states that currently have relatively low income eligibility requirements. Two such states are Texas and Florida, where about one-half of the Company’s licensed beds are located. The Company also has a significant presence in other relatively low income eligibility states, including Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia. Further, the Health Reform Law provides for a value-based purchasing program, the establishment of Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”) and bundled payment pilot programs, which will create possible sources of additional revenue.

 

However, it is difficult to predict the size of the potential revenue gains to the Company as a result of these elements of the Health Reform Law, because of uncertainty surrounding a number of material factors, including the following:

 

 

 

On the other hand, the Health Reform Law provides for significant reductions in the growth of Medicare spending, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid DSH payments and the establishment of programs where reimbursement is tied to quality and integration. Since approximately 40% of our revenues in 2009 were from Medicare and Medicaid, reductions to these programs may significantly impact the Company and could offset any positive effects of the Health Reform Law. It is difficult to predict the size of the revenue reductions to Medicare and Medicaid spending, because of uncertainty regarding a number of material factors, including the following:

 

 

Because of the many variables involved, we are unable to predict the net effect on the Company of the expected increases in insured individuals using our facilities, the reductions in Medicare spending, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid DSH funding, and numerous other provisions in the Health Reform Law that may affect the Company.

 

If we are unable to retain and negotiate favorable contracts with nongovernment payers, including managed care plans, our revenues may be reduced.

 

Our ability to obtain favorable contracts with nongovernment payers, including health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations and other managed care plans significantly affects the revenues and operating results of our facilities. Revenues derived from these entities and other insurers accounted for

53%, 52% and 53% of our patient revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and the years ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively. Nongovernment payers, including managed care payers, continue to demand discounted fee structures, and the trend toward consolidation among nongovernment payers tends to increase their bargaining power over fee structures. As various provisions of the Health Reform Law are implemented, including the establishment of the Exchanges, nongovernment payers increasingly may demand reduced fees. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to retain and renew our managed care contracts and enter into new managed care contracts on terms favorable to us. Other health care providers may impact our ability to enter into managed care contracts or negotiate increases in our reimbursement and other favorable terms and conditions. For example, some of our competitors may negotiate exclusivity provisions with managed care plans or otherwise restrict the ability of managed care companies to contract with us. It is not clear what impact, if any, the increased obligations on managed care payers and other payers imposed by the Health Reform Law will have on our ability to negotiate reimbursement increases. If we are unable to retain and negotiate favorable contracts with managed care plans or experience reductions in payment increases or amounts received from nongovernment payers, our revenues may be reduced.

 

Our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain quality physicians.

 

The success of our hospitals depends in part on the number and quality of the physicians on the medical staffs of our hospitals, the admitting practices of those physicians and maintaining good relations with those physicians. Although we employ some physicians, physicians are often not employees of the hospitals at which they practice and, in many of the markets we serve, most physicians have admitting privileges at other hospitals in addition to our hospitals. Such physicians may terminate their affiliation with our hospitals at any time. If we are unable to provide adequate support personnel or technologically advanced equipment and hospital facilities that meet the needs of those physicians and their patients, they may be discouraged from referring patients to our facilities, admissions may decrease and our operating performance may decline.

 

Our hospitals face competition for staffing, which may increase labor costs and reduce profitability.

 

Our operations are dependent on the efforts, abilities and experience of our management and medical support personnel, such as nurses, pharmacists and lab technicians, as well as our physicians. We compete with other health care providers in recruiting and retaining qualified management and support personnel responsible for the daily operations of each of our hospitals, including nurses and other nonphysician health care professionals. In some markets, the availability of nurses and other medical support personnel has been a significant operating issue to health care providers. We may be required to continue to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain nurses and other medical support personnel or to hire more expensive temporary or contract personnel. As a result, our labor costs could increase. We also depend on the available labor pool of semi-skilled and unskilled employees in each of the markets in which we operate. Certain proposed changes in federal labor laws, including the Employee Free Choice Act, could increase the likelihood of employee unionization attempts. To the extent a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, it is possible our labor costs could increase materially. In addition, the states in which we operate could adopt mandatory nurse-staffing ratios or could reduce mandatory nurse staffing ratios already in place. State-mandated nurse-staffing ratios could significantly affect labor costs and have an adverse impact on revenues if we are required to limit admissions in order to meet the required ratios. If our labor costs increase, we may not be able to raise rates to offset these increased costs. Because a significant percentage of our revenues consists of fixed, prospective payments, our ability to pass along increased labor costs is constrained. Our failure to recruit and retain qualified management, nurses and other medical support personnel, or to control labor costs, could have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

If we fail to comply with extensive laws and government regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations.

 

The health care industry is required to comply with extensive and complex laws and regulations at the federal, state and local government levels relating to, among other things:

 

 

 

Among these laws are the federal Anti-kickback Statute, the federal physician self-referral law (commonly called the Stark Law), the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) and similar state laws. We have a variety of financial relationships with physicians and others who either refer or influence the referral of patients to our hospitals and other health care facilities, and these laws govern those relationships. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG”) has enacted safe harbor regulations that outline practices deemed protected from prosecution under the Anti-kickback Statute. While we endeavor to comply with the applicable safe harbors, certain of our current arrangements, including joint ventures and financial relationships with physicians and other referral sources and persons and entities to which we refer patients, do not qualify for safe harbor protection. Failure to qualify for a safe harbor does not mean the arrangement necessarily violates the Anti-kickback Statute, but may subject the arrangement to greater scrutiny. However, we cannot offer assurance that practices outside of a safe harbor will not be found to violate the Anti-kickback Statute. Allegations of violations of the Anti-kickback Statute may be brought under the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Law, which requires a lower burden of proof than other fraud and abuse laws, including the Anti-kickback Statute.

 

Our financial relationships with referring physicians and their immediate family members must comply with the Stark Law by meeting an exception. We attempt to structure our relationships to meet an exception to the Stark Law, but the regulations implementing the exceptions are detailed and complex, and we cannot provide assurance every relationship complies fully with the Stark Law. Unlike the Anti-kickback Statute, failure to meet an exception under the Stark Law results in a violation of the Stark Law, even if such violation is technical in nature.

 

Additionally, if we violate the Anti-kickback Statute or Stark Law, or if we improperly bill for our services, we may be found to violate the FCA, either under a suit brought by the government or by a private person under a qui tam, or “whistleblower,” suit.

 

If we fail to comply with the Anti-kickback Statute, the Stark Law, the FCA or other applicable laws and regulations, we could be subjected to liabilities, including civil penalties (including the loss of our licenses to operate one or more facilities), exclusion of one or more facilities from participation in the Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health care programs and, for violations of certain laws and regulations, criminal penalties. See “Regulation and Other Factors.”

 

CMS published a proposal to collect information from 400 hospitals regarding their ownership, investment and compensation arrangements with physicians. Called the Disclosure of Financial Relationships Report (or “DFRR”), CMS intends to use this data to monitor compliance with the Stark Law, and CMS may share this information with other government agencies. Many of these agencies have not previously analyzed this

information and have the authority to bring enforcement actions against hospitals filing such reports. The DFRR and its supporting documentation are currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget, and it is unclear when, or if, it will be finalized.

 

Because many of these laws and their implementing regulations are relatively new, we do not always have the benefit of significant regulatory or judicial interpretation of these laws and regulations. In the future, different interpretations or enforcement of these laws and regulations could subject our current or past practices to allegations of impropriety or illegality or could require us to make changes in our facilities, equipment, personnel, services, capital expenditure programs and operating expenses. A determination we have violated these laws, or the public announcement that we are being investigated for possible violations of these laws, could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects, and our business reputation could suffer significantly. In addition, other legislation or regulations at the federal or state level may be adopted that adversely affect our business.

 

We have been and could become the subject of governmental investigations, claims and litigation.

 

Health care companies are subject to numerous investigations by various governmental agencies. Further, under the FCA, private parties have the right to bring qui tam, or “whistleblower,” suits against companies that submit false claims for payments to, or improperly retain overpayments from, the government. Some states have adopted similar state whistleblower and false claims provisions. Certain of our individual facilities have received, and other facilities may receive, government inquiries from federal and state agencies. Depending on whether the underlying conduct in these or future inquiries or investigations could be considered systemic, their resolution could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

 

Governmental agencies and their agents, such as the Medicare Administrative Contractors, fiscal intermediaries and carriers, as well as the OIG, CMS and state Medicaid programs, conduct audits of our health care operations. Private payers may conduct similar post-payment audits, and we also perform internal audits and monitoring. Depending on the nature of the conduct found in such audits and whether the underlying conduct could be considered systemic, the resolution of these audits could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

 

As required by statute, CMS is in the process of implementing the Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) program on a nationwide basis. Under the program, CMS contracts with RACs to conduct post-payment reviews to detect and correct improper payments in the fee-for-service Medicare program. The Health Reform Law expands the RAC program’s scope to include managed Medicare plans and to include Medicaid claims by requiring all states to enter into contracts with RACs by December 31, 2010. In addition, CMS employs Medicaid Integrity Contractors (“MICs”) to perform post-payment audits of Medicaid claims and identify overpayments. Throughout 2010, MIC audits will continue to expand. The Health Reform Law increases federal funding for the MIC program for federal fiscal year 2011 and later years. In addition to RACs and MICs, several other contractors, including the state Medicaid agencies, have increased their review activities.

 

Should we be found out of compliance with any of these laws, regulations or programs, depending on the nature of the findings, our business, our financial position and our results of operations could be negatively impacted.

 

Controls designed to reduce inpatient services may reduce our revenues.

 

Controls imposed by Medicare, managed Medicare, Medicaid, managed Medicaid and commercial third-party payers designed to reduce admissions and lengths of stay, commonly referred to as “utilization review,” have affected and are expected to continue to affect our facilities. Utilization review entails the review of the admission and course of treatment of a patient by health plans. Inpatient utilization, average lengths of stay and occupancy rates continue to be negatively affected by payer-required preadmission authorization and utilization review and by payer pressure to maximize outpatient and alternative health care delivery services for less acutely ill patients. Efforts to impose more stringent cost controls are expected to continue. For example, the Health Reform Law potentially expands the use of prepayment review by Medicare contractors

by eliminating statutory restrictions on their use. Although we are unable to predict the effect these changes will have on our operations, significant limits on the scope of services reimbursed and on reimbursement rates and fees could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

Our overall business results may suffer from the recent economic downturn.

 

During periods of high unemployment, governmental entities often experience budget deficits as a result of increased costs and lower than expected tax collections. These budget deficits at federal, state and local government entities have decreased, and may continue to decrease, spending for health and human service programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and similar programs, which represent significant payer sources for our hospitals. Other risks we face during periods of high unemployment include potential declines in the population covered under managed care agreements, patient decisions to postpone or cancel elective and non-emergency health care procedures, potential increases in the uninsured and underinsured populations and further difficulties in our collecting patient co-payment and deductible receivables.

 

The industry trend towards value-based purchasing may negatively impact our revenues.

 

There is a trend in the health care industry toward value-based purchasing of health care services. These value-based purchasing programs include both public reporting of quality data and preventable adverse events tied to the quality and efficiency of care provided by facilities. Governmental programs including Medicare and Medicaid currently require hospitals to report certain quality data to receive full reimbursement updates. In addition, Medicare does not reimburse for care related to certain preventable adverse events (also called “never events”). Many large commercial payers currently require hospitals to report quality data, and several commercial payers do not reimburse hospitals for certain preventable adverse events. Further, we have implemented a policy pursuant to which we do not bill patients or third-party payers for fees or expenses incurred due to certain preventable adverse events.

 

The Health Reform Law contains a number of provisions intended to promote value-based purchasing. Effective July 1, 2011, the Health Reform Law will prohibit the use of federal funds under the Medicaid program to reimburse providers for medical assistance provided to treat hospital acquired conditions (“HACs”). Beginning in federal fiscal year 2015, hospitals that fall into the top 25% of national risk-adjusted HAC rates for all hospitals in the previous year will receive a 1% reduction in their total Medicare payments. Hospitals with excessive readmissions for conditions designated by the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) will receive reduced payments for all inpatient discharges, not just discharges relating to the conditions subject to the excessive readmission standard.

 

The Health Reform Law also requires HHS to implement a value-based purchasing program for inpatient hospital services. Beginning in federal fiscal year 2013, HHS will reduce inpatient hospital payments for all discharges by a percentage specified by statute ranging from 1% to 2% and pool the total amount collected from these reductions to fund payments to reward hospitals that meet or exceed certain quality performance standards established by HHS. HHS will determine the amount each hospital that meets or exceeds the quality performance standards will receive from the pool of dollars created by these payment reductions.

 

We expect value-based purchasing programs, including programs that condition reimbursement on patient outcome measures, to become more common and to involve a higher percentage of reimbursement amounts. We are unable at this time to predict how this trend will affect our results of operations, but it could negatively impact our revenues.

 

Our operations could be impaired by a failure of our information systems.

 

Any system failure that causes an interruption in service or availability of our systems could adversely affect operations or delay the collection of revenues. Even though we have implemented network security measures, our servers are vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering. The occurrence of any of these events could result in interruptions, delays, the loss or corruption of data, cessations in the availability of systems or liability under privacy and security laws, all of which could

have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations and harm our business reputation.

 

The performance of our information technology and systems is critical to our business operations. In addition to our shared services initiatives, our information systems are essential to a number of critical areas of our operations, including:

 

 

If we fail to effectively and timely implement electronic health record systems, our operations could be adversely affected.

 

As required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, HHS is in the process of developing and implementing an incentive payment program for eligible hospitals and health care professionals that adopt and meaningfully use certified electronic health record (“EHR”) technology. If our hospitals and employed professionals are unable to meet the requirements for participation in the incentive payment program, we will not be eligible to receive incentive payments that could offset some of the costs of implementing EHR systems. Further, beginning in 2015, eligible hospitals and professionals that fail to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology will be subject to reduced payments from Medicare. Failure to implement EHR systems effectively and in a timely manner could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

 

State efforts to regulate the construction or expansion of health care facilities could impair our ability to operate and expand our operations.

 

Some states, particularly in the eastern part of the country, require health care providers to obtain prior approval, known as a CON, for the purchase, construction or expansion of health care facilities, to make certain capital expenditures or to make changes in services or bed capacity. In giving approval, these states consider the need for additional or expanded health care facilities or services. We currently operate health care facilities in a number of states with CON laws. The failure to obtain any requested CON could impair our ability to operate or expand operations. Any such failure could, in turn, adversely affect our ability to attract patients to our facilities and grow our revenues, which would have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

Our facilities are heavily concentrated in Florida and Texas, which makes us sensitive to regulatory, economic, environmental and competitive conditions and changes in those states.

 

We operated 162 hospitals at March 31, 2010, and 73 of those hospitals are located in Florida and Texas. Our Florida and Texas facilities’ combined revenues represented approximately 52% and 51%, respectively, of our consolidated revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and year ended December 31, 2009. This concentration makes us particularly sensitive to regulatory, economic, environmental and competitive conditions and changes in those states. Any material change in the current payment programs or regulatory, economic, environmental or competitive conditions in those states could have a disproportionate effect on our overall business results.

In addition, our hospitals in Florida and Texas and other areas across the Gulf Coast are located in hurricane-prone areas. In the recent past, hurricanes have had a disruptive effect on the operations of our hospitals in Florida, Texas and other coastal states, and the patient populations in those states. Our business activities could be harmed by a particularly active hurricane season or even a single storm, and the property insurance we obtain may not be adequate to cover losses from future hurricanes or other natural disasters.

 

We may be subject to liabilities from claims by the Internal Revenue Service.

 

At March 31, 2010, we were contesting before the Appeals Division of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) certain claimed deficiencies and adjustments proposed by the IRS in connection with its examination of the 2003 and 2004 federal income tax returns for HCA and eight affiliates that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes (“affiliated partnerships”). The disputed items include the timing of recognition of certain patient service revenues and our method for calculating the tax allowance for doubtful accounts.

 

Six taxable periods of HCA and its predecessors ended in 1997 through 2002 and the 2002 taxable year of four affiliated partnerships, for which the primary remaining issue is the computation of the tax allowance for doubtful accounts, are pending before the IRS Examination Division as of March 31, 2010.

 

The IRS completed its audit of HCA’s 2005 and 2006 federal income tax returns in April 2010. We will contest certain claimed deficiencies and adjustments proposed by the IRS Examination Division in connection with this audit, including the timing of recognition of certain patient service revenues, before the IRS Appeals Division. We anticipate the IRS will begin an audit of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 federal income tax returns for HCA and one or more affiliated partnerships during 2010.

 

Management believes HCA, its predecessors and affiliates properly reported taxable income and paid taxes in accordance with applicable laws and agreements established with the IRS and final resolution of these disputes will not have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations or financial position. However, if payments due upon final resolution of these issues exceed our recorded estimates, such resolutions could have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations or financial position.

 

We may be subject to liabilities from claims brought against our facilities.

 

We are subject to litigation relating to our business practices, including claims and legal actions by patients and others in the ordinary course of business alleging malpractice, product liability or other legal theories. See “Business — Legal Proceedings.” Many of these actions involve large claims and significant defense costs. We insure a portion of our professional liability risks through a wholly-owned subsidiary. Management believes our reserves for self-insured retentions and insurance coverage are sufficient to cover insured claims arising out of the operation of our facilities. Our wholly-owned insurance subsidiary has entered into certain reinsurance contracts, and the obligations covered by the reinsurance contracts are included in its reserves for professional liability risks, as the subsidiary remains liable to the extent that the reinsurers do not meet their obligations under the reinsurance contracts. If payments for claims exceed actuarially determined estimates, are not covered by insurance, or reinsurers, if any, fail to meet their obligations, our results of operations and financial position could be adversely affected.

 

We are exposed to market risks related to changes in the market values of securities and interest rate changes.

 

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in market values of securities. The investments in debt and equity securities of our wholly-owned insurance subsidiary were $1.296 billion and $7 million, respectively, at March 31, 2010. These investments are carried at fair value, with changes in unrealized gains and losses being recorded as adjustments to other comprehensive income. At March 31, 2010, we had a net unrealized gain of $22 million on the insurance subsidiary’s investment securities.

 

We are exposed to market risk related to market illiquidity. Liquidity of the investments in debt and equity securities of our wholly-owned insurance subsidiary could be impaired by the inability to access the

capital markets. Should the wholly-owned insurance subsidiary require significant amounts of cash in excess of normal cash requirements to pay claims and other expenses on short notice, we may have difficulty selling these investments in a timely manner or be forced to sell them at a price less than what we might otherwise have been able to in a normal market environment. At March 31, 2010, our wholly-owned insurance subsidiary had invested $333 million ($336 million par value) in municipal, tax-exempt student loan auction rate securities (“ARS”). Since February 2008, when multiple failed auctions occurred due to a severe credit and liquidity crisis in the capital markets, the ARS have experienced market illiquidity. It is uncertain if auction-related market liquidity will resume for these securities. We may be required to recognize other-than-temporary impairments on these investments in future periods should issuers default on interest payments or should the fair market valuations of the securities deteriorate due to ratings downgrades or other issue specific factors.

 

We are also exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates, and we periodically enter into interest rate swap agreements to manage our exposure to these fluctuations. Our interest rate swap agreements involve the exchange of fixed and variable rate interest payments between two parties, based on common notional principal amounts and maturity dates. The net notional amounts of the swap agreements represent balances used to calculate the exchange of cash flows and are not our assets or liabilities. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Market Risk.”

 

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

 

Our substantial leverage could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our obligations.

 

We are highly leveraged. As of March 31, 2010, our total indebtedness is $26.855 billion. Our high degree of leverage could have important consequences, including:

 

 

We and our subsidiaries have the ability to incur additional indebtedness in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our outstanding notes. If new indebtedness is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.

 

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may not be able to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms. If we are unable to do so, we may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

 

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot assure you we will maintain a

level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

 

As of March 31, 2010, our substantial indebtedness included $9.648 billion of indebtedness under our senior secured credit facilities maturing in 2012 and 2013, $4.150 billion aggregate principal amount of first lien notes maturing in 2019 and 2020, $6.088 billion aggregate principal amount of second lien notes maturing in 2014, 2016 and 2017 and $6.723 billion aggregate principal amount of unsecured senior notes and debentures that mature on various dates from 2010 to 2095 (including $5.321 billion maturing through 2016). Because a significant portion of our indebtedness matures in the next few years, we may find it necessary or prudent to refinance that indebtedness with longer-maturity debt at a higher interest rate. In February, April and August of 2009 and in March of 2010, for example, we issued $310 million in aggregate principal amount of 97/8% second lien notes due 2017, $1.500 billion in aggregate principal amount of 81/2% first lien notes due 2019, $1.250 billion in aggregate principal amount of 77/8% first lien notes due 2020 and $1.400 billion in aggregate principal amount of 71/4% first lien notes due 2020, respectively. We used the net proceeds of those offerings to prepay term loans under our cash flow credit facility, which currently bears interest at a lower floating rate. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms, or at all, is directly affected by the current global economic and financial conditions. In addition, our ability to incur secured indebtedness (which would generally enable us to achieve better pricing than the incurrence of unsecured indebtedness) depends in part on the value of our assets, which depends, in turn, on the strength of our cash flows and results of operations, and on economic and market conditions and other factors.

 

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations or we are unable to refinance our indebtedness, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. If our operating results and available cash are insufficient to meet our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions, or the proceeds from the dispositions may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

 

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

 

Our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our outstanding notes contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:

 

 

Under our asset-based revolving credit facility, when (and for as long as) the combined availability under our asset-based revolving credit facility and our senior secured revolving credit facility is less than a specified amount for a certain period of time or, if a payment or bankruptcy event of default has occurred and is continuing, funds deposited into any of our depository accounts will be transferred on a daily basis into a blocked account with the administrative agent and applied to prepay loans under the asset-based revolving credit facility and to cash collateralize letters of credit issued thereunder.

Under our senior secured credit facilities, we are required to satisfy and maintain specified financial ratios. Our ability to meet those financial ratios can be affected by events beyond our control, and there can be no assurance we will continue to meet those ratios. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under both our cash flow credit facility and our asset-based revolving credit facility. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under our senior secured credit facilities, our lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under our senior secured credit facilities to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under our senior secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such indebtedness. We have pledged a significant portion of our assets as collateral under our senior secured credit facilities, and that collateral (other than certain European collateral securing our senior secured European term loan facility) is also pledged as collateral under our first lien notes. If any of the lenders under our senior secured credit facilities accelerate the repayment of borrowings, there can be no assurance we will have sufficient assets to repay our senior secured credit facilities and the first lien notes.

 

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

 

An active, liquid trading market for our common stock may not develop.

 

After our Recapitalization and prior to this offering, there has not been a public market for our common stock. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in our company will lead to the development of a trading market on the New York Stock Exchange or otherwise or how active and liquid that market may become. If an active and liquid trading market does not develop, you may have difficulty selling any of our common stock that you purchase. The initial public offering price for the shares will be determined by negotiations between us and the underwriters and may not be indicative of prices that will prevail in the open market following this offering. The market price of our common stock may decline below the initial offering price, and you may not be able to sell your shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid in this offering, or at all.

 

You will incur immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the shares you purchase in this offering.

 

Prior investors have paid substantially less per share of our common stock than the price in this offering. The initial public offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of outstanding common stock prior to completion of the offering. Based on our net tangible book value as of March 31, 2010 and upon the issuance and sale of           shares of common stock by us at an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share (the midpoint of the initial public offering price range indicated on the cover of this prospectus), if you purchase our common stock in this offering, you will pay more for your shares than the amounts paid by our existing stockholders for their shares and you will suffer immediate dilution of approximately $      per share in net tangible book value. We also have a large number of outstanding stock options to purchase common stock with exercise prices that are below the estimated initial public offering price of our common stock. To the extent that these options are exercised, you will experience further dilution. See “Dilution.”

 

Our stock price may change significantly following the offering, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

 

We and the underwriters will negotiate to determine the initial public offering price. You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price due to a number of factors such as those listed in “— Risks Related to Our Business” and the following, some of which are beyond our control:

 

 

 

Furthermore, the stock market has recently experienced extreme volatility that, in some cases, has been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.

 

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

 

If we or our existing investors sell additional shares of our common stock after this offering, the market price of our common stock could decline.

 

The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of common stock in the market after this offering, or the perception that such sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. After the completion of this offering, we will have      million shares of common stock outstanding (      million shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full). This number includes      million shares that are being sold in this offering, which may be resold immediately in the public market.

 

We and the selling stockholders, our executive officers and directors and the Investors have agreed not to sell or transfer any common stock or securities convertible into, exchangeable for, exercisable for, or repayable with common stock, for 180 days after the date of this prospectus without first obtaining the written consent of two of the representatives. In addition, pursuant to stockholders agreements, we have granted certain members of our management and other stockholders the right to cause us, in certain instances, at our expense, to file registration statements under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) covering resales of our common stock held by them. These shares will represent approximately     % of our outstanding common stock after this offering, or     % if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full. These shares also may be sold pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act, depending on their holding period and subject to restrictions in the case of shares held by persons deemed to be our affiliates. As restrictions on resale end or if these stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of our stock could decline if the holders of restricted shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Stockholder Agreements — Management Stockholder’s Agreement,” “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Registration Rights Agreement,” “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” and “Underwriting.”

 

As of          , 2010,           shares of our common stock were outstanding,           shares were issuable upon the exercise of outstanding vested stock options under our stock incentive plans,           shares were subject to outstanding unvested stock options under our stock incentive plans, and           shares were reserved for future grant under our stock incentive plans. Shares acquired upon the exercise of vested options under our stock incentive plan will first become eligible for resale      days after the date of this prospectus. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock following the vesting of outstanding stock options could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Because we do not currently intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

 

We currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, for future operation, expansion and debt repayment and do not intend to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors (the “Board” or the “Board of Directors”) and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur, including our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our notes. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our common stock unless you sell our common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

 

Some provisions of Delaware law and our governing documents could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable.

 

In addition to the Investors’ ownership of a controlling percentage of our common stock, Delaware law and provisions contained in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could make it difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our stockholders. For example, our charter authorizes our Board of Directors to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of unissued preferred stock, without any vote or action by our stockholders. As a result, our Board could authorize and issue shares of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting or other rights of holders of our common stock or with other terms that could impede the completion of a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt. In addition, as described under “Description of Capital Stock — Delaware Anti-Takeover Statutes” elsewhere in this prospectus, we are subject to certain provisions of Delaware law that may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of our company, including through transactions, and, in particular, unsolicited transactions, that some or all of our stockholders might consider to be desirable. As a result, efforts by our stockholders to change the direction or management of our company may be unsuccessful.

 

The Investors will continue to have significant influence over us after this offering, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders, which could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.

 

We are controlled, and after this offering is completed will continue to be controlled, by the Investors. The Investors will indirectly own through their investment in Hercules Holding II, LLC (“Hercules Holding”) approximately     % of our common stock (or     % if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full) after the completion of this offering. In addition, representatives of the Investors will have the right to designate a majority of the seats on our Board of Directors. As a result, the Investors will have control over our decisions to enter into any corporate transaction (and the terms thereof) and the ability to prevent any change in the composition of our Board of Directors and any transaction that requires stockholder approval regardless of whether others believe that such change or transaction is in our best interests. So long as the Investors continue to indirectly hold a majority of our outstanding common stock, they will have the ability to control the vote in any election of directors, amend our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or take other actions requiring the vote of our stockholders. Even if such amount is less than 50%, the Investors will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions.

 

Additionally, Bain Capital Partners, LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and BAML Capital Partners, the successor organization to Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity (each a “Sponsor,” collectively, the “Sponsors”), are in the business of making investments in companies and may acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. One or more of the Sponsors may also pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange rules and, as a result, will qualify for, and intend to rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.

 

After completion of this offering, the Investors will continue to control a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the New York Stock Exchange. Under these rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including:

 

 

Following this offering, we intend to utilize these exemptions. As a result, we will not have a majority of independent directors, our nominating and corporate governance committee, if any, and compensation committee will not consist entirely of independent directors and such committees will not be subject to annual performance evaluations. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the New York Stock Exchange.

 

This prospectus contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “projects,” “continue,” “initiative” or “anticipates” or similar expressions that concern our prospects, objectives, strategies, plans or intentions. All statements made relating to our estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates, operating and growth strategies, ability to repay or refinance our substantial existing indebtedness and financial results or to the impact of existing or proposed laws or regulations (including the Health Reform Law) described in this prospectus are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, and, therefore, our actual results may differ materially from those expected. We derive many of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe our assumptions are reasonable, it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and, of course, it is impossible to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. These factors include, but are not limited to:

 

 

 

All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

 

We caution you that the important factors discussed above may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. The forward-looking statements included in this prospectus are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

 

We estimate that the gross proceeds we will receive from the sale of shares of our common stock sold by us in this offering, excluding the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, will be $2.5 billion. We estimate that the net proceeds we will receive from the sale of      shares of our common stock in this offering, after deducting underwriter discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us, will be approximately $ billion (or $      billion if the underwriters exercise the option to purchase additional shares in full). This estimate assumes an initial public offering price of $      per share, the midpoint of the range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus. A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $      per share would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by $      million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock by the selling stockholders.

 

We intend to use the anticipated net proceeds to repay certain of our existing indebtedness, as will be determined prior to this offering, and for general corporate purposes.

 

Following completion of the offering, we do not intend to pay any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future and instead may retain earnings, if any, for future operation and expansion and debt repayment. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by covenants in our senior secured credit facilities and in the indentures governing certain of our notes. See “Description of Indebtedness” and Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements for restrictions on our ability to pay dividends.

 

On January 27, 2010, our Board of Directors declared a distribution to the Company’s stockholders and holders of vested stock options of $1.751 billion in the aggregate. On May 5, 2010, our Board of Directors declared a distribution to the Company’s existing stockholders and holders of vested stock options of approximately $500 million in the aggregate.

 

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of March 31, 2010:

 

 

You should read this table in conjunction with “Use of Proceeds,” “Selected Financial Data,” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and notes thereto, included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

 

 

 

The table set forth above is based on the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2010. This table does not reflect:

 

 

If you invest in our common stock, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering. Dilution results from the fact that the initial public offering price per share of common stock is substantially in excess of the net tangible book value per share of our common stock attributable to the existing stockholders for our presently outstanding shares of common stock. We calculate net tangible book value per share of our common stock by dividing the net tangible book value (total consolidated tangible assets less total consolidated liabilities) by the number of outstanding shares of our common stock.

 

Our net tangible book value as of March 31, 2010 was a deficit of $(12.1) billion or $      per share of our common stock, based on      shares of our common stock outstanding. Dilution is determined by subtracting net tangible book value per share of our common stock from the assumed initial public offering price per share of our common stock.

 

Without taking into account any other changes in such net tangible book value after March 31, 2010, after giving effect to the sale of          shares of our common stock in this offering assuming an initial public offering price of $      per share, less the underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value at March 31, 2010 would have been $      , or $      per share. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $      per share of our common stock to the existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $      per share of our common stock, to investors purchasing shares of our common stock in this offering. The following table illustrates such dilution per share of our common stock:

 

 

If the underwriters exercise their overallotment option in full, the adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock after giving effect to the offering would be $      per share of our common stock. This represents an increase in adjusted net tangible book value of $      per share of our common stock to existing stockholders and dilution in adjusted net tangible book value of $      per share of our common stock to new investors.

 

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $      per share of our common stock would increase (decrease) our net tangible book value after giving to the offering by $      million, or by $      per share of our common stock, assuming no change to the number of shares of our common stock offered by us as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and estimated expenses payable by us.

 

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma basis as of March 31, 2010, the total number of shares of our common stock purchased from us, the total cash consideration paid to us and the average price per share of our common stock paid by purchasers of such shares and by new investors purchasing shares of our common stock in this offering.

 

If the underwriters were to fully exercise their overallotment option to purchase           additional shares of our common stock from the selling stockholders, the percentage of shares of our common stock held by existing stockholders who are directors, officers or affiliated persons would be  %, and the percentage of shares of shares of our common stock held by new investors would be  %.

 

To the extent that we grant options to our employees or directors in the future, and those options or existing options are exercised or other issuances of shares of our common stock are made, there will be further dilution to new investors.

 

The following table sets forth selected financial data of HCA Inc. as of the dates and for the periods indicated. The selected financial data as of December 31, 2009 and 2008 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2009 have been derived from our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, which have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP. The selected financial data as of December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005 and for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2006 presented in this table have been derived from our consolidated financial statements audited by Ernst & Young LLP that are not included in this prospectus.

 

The selected financial data as of March 31, 2010 and for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected financial data as of March 31, 2009 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements that are not included in this prospectus. The unaudited financial data presented have been prepared on a basis consistent with our audited consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, such unaudited financial data reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal and recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for those periods. The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or any future period.

 

The selected financial data set forth below should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified by reference to, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

 

 

 

 

You should read the following discussion of our results of operations and financial condition with “Selected Financial Data” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements and involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

 

You also should read the following discussion of our results of operations and financial condition with “Business — Business Drivers and Measures” for a discussion of certain of our important financial policies and objectives; performance measures and operational factors we use to evaluate our financial condition and operating performance; and our business segments.

 

Overview

 

We are one of the leading health care services companies in the United States. At March 31, 2010, we operated 162 hospitals, comprised of 156 general, acute care hospitals; five psychiatric hospitals; and one rehabilitation hospital. The 162 hospital total includes eight hospitals (seven general, acute care hospitals and one rehabilitation hospital) owned by joint ventures in which an affiliate of HCA is a partner, and these joint ventures are accounted for using the equity method. In addition, we operated 106 freestanding surgery centers, eight of which are owned by joint ventures in which an affiliate of HCA is a partner, and these joint ventures are accounted for using the equity method. Our facilities are located in 20 states and England. For the year ended December 31, 2009, we generated revenues of $30.052 billion and net income attributable to HCA Inc. of $1.054 billion, and for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, we generated revenues of $7.544 billion and net income attributable to HCA Inc. of $388 million.

 

On November 17, 2006, we were acquired by a private investor group comprised of affiliates of or funds sponsored by Bain Capital Partners, LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity (now BAML Capital Partners), Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corporation and HCA founder Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., and by members of management and certain other investors. We refer to the merger, the financing transactions related to the merger and other related transactions collectively as the “Recapitalization.”

 

First Quarter 2010 Operations Summary

 

Net income attributable to HCA Inc. totaled $388 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to $360 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Revenues increased to $7.544 billion in the first quarter of 2010 from $7.431 billion in the first quarter of 2009. First quarter 2010 results include impairments of long-lived assets of $18 million. First quarter 2009 results include losses on sales of facilities of $5 million and impairments of long-lived assets of $9 million.

 

Revenues increased 1.5% on a consolidated basis and on a same facility basis for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009. The increase in consolidated revenues can be attributed to the combined impact of a 0.6% increase in revenue per equivalent admission and a 0.9% increase in equivalent admissions. The same facility revenues increase resulted from the combined impact of a 0.4% increase in same facility revenue per equivalent admission and a 1.1% increase in same facility equivalent admissions.

 

During the quarter ended March 31, 2010, consolidated admissions and same facility admissions increased 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Inpatient surgeries declined 0.1% on a consolidated basis and declined 0.4% on a same facility basis during the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Outpatient surgeries declined 1.9% on a consolidated basis and declined 1.8% on a same facility basis during the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Emergency department visits increased 0.5% on a consolidated basis and

increased 1.0% on a same facility basis during the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009.

 

For the quarter ended March 31, 2010, the provision for doubtful accounts declined $243 million to 7.5% of revenues, from 10.9% of revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. The self-pay revenue deductions for charity care and uninsured discounts increased $55 million and $418 million (we increased our uninsured discount percentages during August 2009), respectively, during the first quarter of 2010, compared to the first quarter of 2009. The sum of the provision for doubtful accounts, uninsured discounts and charity care, as a percentage of the sum of revenues, uninsured discounts and charity care, was 23.5% for the first quarter of 2010, compared to 22.4% for the first quarter of 2009. Same facility uninsured admissions increased 6.8% and same facility uninsured emergency room visits decreased 1.6% for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2009.

 

The increases in the self-pay revenue deductions result in reductions to both the provision for doubtful accounts and revenues, and were the primary contributing factors to the lower growth rates we experienced in revenues and revenue per equivalent admission during the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

 

Interest expense increased $45 million to $516 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, from $471 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. The additional interest expense was due primarily to an increase in the average effective interest rate.

 

Cash flows from operating activities increased $286 million, from $615 million for the first quarter of 2009 to $901 million for the first quarter of 2010. The increase related primarily to income tax payments, as we received a net refund of $71 million in the first quarter of 2010 and made net payments of $146 million in the first quarter of 2009.

 

2009 Operations Summary

 

Net income attributable to HCA Inc. totaled $1.054 billion for 2009, compared to $673 million for 2008. The 2009 results include losses on sales of facilities of $15 million and impairments of long-lived assets of $43 million. The 2008 results include gains on sales of facilities of $97 million and impairments of long-lived assets of $64 million.

 

Revenues increased to $30.052 billion for 2009 from $28.374 billion for 2008. Revenues increased 5.9% on a consolidated basis and 6.1% on a same facility basis for 2009, compared to 2008. The consolidated revenues increase can be attributed to the combined impact of a 2.6% increase in revenue per equivalent admission and a 3.2% increase in equivalent admissions. The same facility revenues increase resulted from a 2.6% increase in same facility revenue per equivalent admission and a 3.4% increase in same facility equivalent admissions.

 

During 2009, consolidated admissions increased 1.0% and same facility admissions increased 1.2%, compared to 2008. Inpatient surgical volumes increased 0.3% on a consolidated basis and increased 0.5% on a same facility basis during 2009, compared to 2008. Outpatient surgical volumes declined 0.4% on a consolidated basis and declined 0.1% on a same facility basis during 2009, compared to 2008. Emergency department visits increased 6.6% on a consolidated basis and increased 7.0% on a same facility basis during 2009, compared to 2008.

 

For 2009, the provision for doubtful accounts declined to 10.9% of revenues from 12.0% of revenues for 2008. The combined self-pay revenue deductions for charity care and uninsured discounts increased $1.486 billion for 2009, compared to 2008. The sum of the provision for doubtful accounts, uninsured discounts and charity care, as a percentage of the sum of net revenues, uninsured discounts and charity care, was 23.8% for 2009, compared to 21.9% for 2008. Same facility uninsured admissions increased 4.7% and same facility uninsured emergency room visits increased 6.5% for 2009, compared to 2008.

 

Interest expense totaled $1.987 billion for 2009, compared to $2.021 billion for 2008. The $34 million decline in interest expense for 2009 was due to a reduction in the average debt balance offsetting an increase in the average interest rate.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent liabilities and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. We evaluate our estimates on an ongoing basis and make changes to the estimates and related disclosures as experience develops or new information becomes known. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

 

We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

 

Revenues

 

Revenues are recorded during the period the health care services are provided, based upon the estimated amounts due from payers. Estimates of contractual allowances under managed care health plans are based upon the payment terms specified in the related contractual agreements. Laws and regulations governing the Medicare and Medicaid programs are complex and subject to interpretation. The estimated reimbursement amounts are made on a payer-specific basis and are recorded based on the best information available regarding management’s interpretation of the applicable laws, regulations and contract terms. Management continually reviews the contractual estimation process to consider and incorporate updates to laws and regulations and the frequent changes in managed care contractual terms resulting from contract renegotiations and renewals. We have invested significant resources to refine and improve our computerized billing systems and the information system data used to make contractual allowance estimates. We have developed standardized calculation processes and related training programs to improve the utility of our patient accounting systems.

 

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) requires any hospital participating in the Medicare program to conduct an appropriate medical screening examination of every person who presents to the hospital’s emergency room for treatment and, if the individual is suffering from an emergency medical condition, to either stabilize the condition or make an appropriate transfer of the individual to a facility able to handle the condition. The obligation to screen and stabilize emergency medical conditions exists regardless of an individual’s ability to pay for treatment. Federal and state laws and regulations, including but not limited to EMTALA, require, and our commitment to providing quality patient care encourages, the provision of services to patients who are financially unable to pay for the health care services they receive. The Health Reform Law requires health plans offered through an Exchange to reimburse hospitals for emergency services provided to enrollees without prior authorization and without regard to whether a participating provider contract is in place. Further, the Health Reform Law contains provisions that seek to decrease the number of uninsured individuals, including requirements or incentives, which do not become effective until 2014, for individuals to obtain, and large employers to provide, insurance coverage. These mandates may reduce the financial impact of screening for and stabilizing emergency medical conditions. However, many factors are unknown regarding the impact of the Health Reform Law, including how many previously uninsured individuals will obtain coverage as a result of the new law or the change, if any, in the volume of inpatient and outpatient hospital services that are sought by and provided to previously uninsured individuals.

 

We do not pursue collection of amounts related to patients who meet our guidelines to qualify as charity care; therefore, they are not reported in revenues. Patients treated at our hospitals for nonelective care, who have income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, are eligible for charity care. The federal poverty level is established by the federal government and is based on income and family size. We provide discounts from our gross charges to uninsured patients who do not qualify for Medicaid or charity care. These discounts are similar to those provided to many local managed care plans.

 

Due to the complexities involved in the classification and documentation of health care services authorized and provided, the estimation of revenues earned and the related reimbursement are often subject to interpretations that could result in payments that are different from our estimates. Adjustments to estimated Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement amounts and disproportionate-share funds, which resulted in net

increases to revenues, related primarily to cost reports filed during the respective year were $40 million, $32 million and $47 million in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. The adjustments to estimated reimbursement amounts, which resulted in net increases to revenues, related primarily to cost reports filed during previous years were $60 million, $35 million and $83 million in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. We expect adjustments during the next 12 months related to Medicare and Medicaid cost report filings and settlements and disproportionate-share funds will result in increases to revenues within generally similar ranges.

 

Provision for Doubtful Accounts and the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

 

The collection of outstanding receivables from Medicare, managed care payers, other third-party payers and patients is our primary source of cash and is critical to our operating performance. The primary collection risks relate to uninsured patient accounts, including patient accounts for which the primary insurance carrier has paid the amounts covered by the applicable agreement, but patient responsibility amounts (deductibles and copayments) remain outstanding. The provision for doubtful accounts and the allowance for doubtful accounts relate primarily to amounts due directly from patients. An estimated allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded for all uninsured accounts, regardless of the aging of those accounts. Accounts are written off when all reasonable internal and external collection efforts have been performed. Our collection policies include a review of all accounts against certain standard collection criteria, upon completion of our internal collection efforts. Accounts determined to possess positive collectibility attributes are forwarded to a secondary external collection agency and the other accounts are written off. The accounts that are not collected by the secondary external collection agency are written off when they are returned to us by the collection agency (usually within 12 months). Writeoffs are based upon specific identification and the writeoff process requires a writeoff adjustment entry to the patient accounting system. We do not pursue collection of amounts related to patients that meet our guidelines to qualify as charity care.

 

The amount of the provision for doubtful accounts is based upon management’s assessment of historical writeoffs and expected net collections, business and economic conditions, trends in federal, state, and private employer health care coverage and other collection indicators. Management relies on the results of detailed reviews of historical writeoffs and recoveries at facilities that represent a majority of our revenues and accounts receivable (the “hindsight analysis”) as a primary source of information in estimating the collectibility of our accounts receivable. We perform the hindsight analysis quarterly, utilizing rolling twelve-months accounts receivable collection and writeoff data. We believe our quarterly updates to the estimated allowance for doubtful accounts at each of our hospital facilities provide reasonable valuations of our accounts receivable. These routine, quarterly changes in estimates have not resulted in material adjustments to our allowance for doubtful accounts, provision for doubtful accounts or period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations. At March 31, 2010 and 2009, the allowance for doubtful accounts represented approximately 94% and 93%, respectively, of the $4.833 billion and $5.266 billion, respectively, patient due accounts receivable balance. At December 31, 2009 and 2008, the allowance for doubtful accounts represented approximately 94% and 92%, respectively, of the $5.176 billion and $5.148 billion, respectively, patient due accounts receivable balance. The patient due accounts receivable balance represents the estimated uninsured portion of our accounts receivable. The estimated uninsured portion of Medicaid pending and uninsured discount pending accounts is included in our patient due accounts receivable balance.

 

The revenue deductions related to uninsured accounts (charity care and uninsured discounts) generally have the inverse effect on the provision for doubtful accounts. To quantify the total impact of and trends related to uninsured accounts, we believe it is beneficial to view these revenue deductions and provision for doubtful accounts in combination, rather than each separately. A summary of these amounts for the years

ended December 31, 2009, 2008 and 2007 and for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 follows (dollars in millions):

 

 

The provision for doubtful accounts, as a percentage of revenues, increased from 11.7% for 2007 to 12.0% for 2008 and declined to 10.9% for 2009. However, the sum of the provision for doubtful accounts, uninsured discounts and charity care, as a percentage of the sum of net revenues, uninsured discounts and charity care increased from 20.5% for 2007 to 21.9% for 2008 and to 23.8% for 2009.

 

Days revenues in accounts receivable were 46 days and 47 days at March 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, and 45 days, 49 days and 53 days at December 31, 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. Management expects a continuation of the challenges related to the collection of the patient due accounts. Adverse changes in the percentage of our patients having adequate health care coverage, general economic conditions, patient accounting service center operations, payer mix, or trends in federal, state, and private employer health care coverage could affect the collection of accounts receivable, cash flows and results of operations.

 

The approximate breakdown of accounts receivable by payer classification as of March 31, 2010, December 31, 2009 and 2008 is set forth in the following table: