That last deal trimmed CHS’ portfolio of owned or leased hospitals to 75, which have a licensed bed count of about 11,000. When the signed and contemplated deals are completed, the company’s holdings will be roughly a third the size of what they were a decade ago, which was a year after it purchased Health Management Associates.
Then, CHS’ portfolio stood at 205 hospitals that were home to about 31,000 licensed beds. But the company’s $19 billion debt load and operational struggles at some of the acquired HMA facilities led executives to launch a major divestiture program. The recent sales are an outgrowth of that initiative driven by what remains of CHS’ long-term debt: The company finished 2024 with $11.4 billion of debt outstanding and a stockholders’ deficit of nearly $1.7 billion.
Hingtgen said Feb. 19 that his team’s broad plan—sell facilities outside of what it considers core markets and invest in network expansion in key regions (such as the acquisition of 10 urgent-care centers in Arizona)—is paying off. CHS has a series of surgery center builds or expansions lined up, he said, and is moving ahead with several freestanding emergency departments. Executives also are looking to further grow their post-acute and behavioral health service lines.
“It’s a smaller portfolio generating roughly [a] similar amount of net revenue as three or four years ago,” Hingtgen said. “We know that our investments are yielding the intended outcomes, caring for more patients and driving that type of growth.”
CHS posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $70 million on nearly $3.3 billion in operating revenues. In late 2023, those numbers were a profit of $46 million and roughly $3.2 billion, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter rose 11% year over year to $428 million while net cash from operations more than doubled to $216 million.
Shares of CHS (Ticker: CYH) rose more than 7 percent on that earnings report to $3.61 each. They are, however, still down more than 25 percent over the past six months, mostly because of a drop after executives reported third-quarter results that were hurt by a growing number of claims denials. The company’s market capitalization now stands at about $490 million.
