Story updated with comments from a Friday conference call.
Health Management Associates, Naples, Fla., is facing a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In an earnings release, HMA disclosed that it received a subpoena on April 25 that requests documents relating to its “accounts receivable, billing write-downs, contractual adjustments, reserves for doubtful accounts, accounts receivable aging and revenue from Medicare, Medicaid and from privately insured or uninsured patients.”
The chain said it is cooperating with the request. The company has been under the lens of HHS' inspector general's office and the U.S. Justice Department, according to previous SEC filings. And last fall the company was compelled to mount a public defense of its practices after “60 Minutes” aired allegations that its hospitals pressured physicians to admit patients.
HMA reported earnings that were largely in line with its preview last month, when it lowered its earnings guidance for the full year. Gary Newsome, president and CEO, said in a news release that its first-quarter results “did not meet our expectations and reflect a difficult operating environment.”
The system reported net income of $23.1 million on revenue of $1.48 billion compared with net income of $37.7 million on revenue of $1.69 billion in the first quarter of last year. It recorded an admissions drop of 8.8% and a decrease in adjusted admissions (which includes outpatient activity) of 5.8%.
The company also reported a higher percentage of uncompensated care, 28.6% compared with 26.1% in the same period of 2012.
During the Friday morning earnings call, Newsome said that the SEC described its investigation as a fact-finding inquiry. He added that such investigations are "not at all uncommon when there are already other government investigations going on.”
According to other filings with the SEC, HMA has received multiple requests for information from law-enforcement agencies regarding admissions policies. Several states' civil divisions of U.S. attorneys' offices have been investigating HMA. And in May and July 2011, HMA received subpoenas from HHS' office of inspector general.
Newsome said that the company will cooperate with the SEC's request, but emphasized again that “an SEC investigation is just that. It is an inquiry.
“It is not even an allegation, much less a finding of wrongdoing,” Newsome said during the call.
Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher
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