For-profit provider firms see 2014 revenue gains

A revenue spike from hospital admissions buoyed HCA Holdings, which maintained the top spot on Modern Healthcare's list of the largest investor-owned healthcare providers in 2014. Almost all the ranked companies saw a surge in 2014 operating revenue over 2013.

Nashville-based HCA, which operates 166 hospitals in 20 states, saw an 8% increase in operating revenue. The company attributed that to its 3.1% increase in revenue per equivalent admission, as well as a 4% increase in overall equivalent admissions over the prior year. Equivalent admissions is a general measure of combined inpatient and outpatient volume.

The hospital company saw increases in revenue from Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare revenue was up 5.1%, rebounding from a 4.1% dip in 2013. Medicaid revenue continued its upward trend, rising 24.9% in 2014 after a 1% increase in 2013.

HCA boosted its revenue even as its uncompensated-care costs rose. Provision for doubtful accounts shrank 17.9% in 2014, but charity care and uninsured discounts both rose. HCA paid out 2.4% more in total uncompensated care than in 2013, and 15.2% more than in 2012.

Also on the list, Nashville-based Amsurg Corp. saw its operating revenue skyrocket 53.4%, the biggest jump of all the ranked companies. The ambulatory surgery provider, which operates more than 320 facilities in 24 states, attributed the increase to the acquisition of Sheridan Healthcare last July, forming a physician services division. Amsurg said the acquisition brought $512 million in net revenue to the company. Acquisitions of surgery centers and growth in same-center results provided the company's ambulatory surgery center division with a $52.7 million boost.

Not every company on the list saw a revenue increase in 2014. Amedisys, a home health and hospice company based in Baton Rouge, La., saw its operating revenue decline 3.6%. The company sold, closed or consolidated 63 home health units and hospices, and agreed to a $150 million settlement with the Justice Department last April to settle a claim that it falsely billed Medicare and that it entered into improper financial relationships with referring physicians.