Happy Thursday, Hospitalogists!

I know I’ve hit you twice this week with a Care Continuity business model breakdown and the latest in retail health, so today’s send is my one-page executive summary - everything you need to know from HCA’s Q2 earnings in one tidy page straight from my consulting brain to your strategy memo. 

Hopefully it's helpful for you guys, and if it is I'd appreciate you passing this newsletter along to your CEO so I can monetize them you can look good professionally!

HCA Q2 Breakdown

Key themes/callouts:

• The big theme from Q2, and for HCA in general in 2024 is..."Core Operations, enhanced." Meaning nothing major - good or bad - has happened to the health system, while it enjoys a favorable operating environment from normalized labor conditions and higher volumes.
• All volumes are up and to the right in a high utilization environment
• Exchange growth is extremely strong
• Expenses are moderating in professional fees while supplies, other operating costs, SWB are flat as a % of revenue
• Supplemental payments were a headwind in Q1 and are now a tailwind as several states have flip-flopped
• The travel nursing market is at a trough - contract labor as a % of revenue is 4.8% and down from 10%+ from early 2022
• $400M of revenue in new M&A, 1% dilutive to EBITDA; mostly focused on tuck-in acquisitions rather than splashy acquisitions

For networking opportunities, exclusive content (I'm putting together a Q2 hospital packet for Hospitalogy community members) and thoughtful conversations across siloes, join my community! Reply to this email to ask any questions or learn more from me.

MISCELLANEOUS MADDENINGS

I played Texas Rangers Golf Club (one of my favorites in the DFW metroplex) last week and on hole 18, I put a 9 iron to 20 feed and drained the putt for an Eagle. It's probably my 5th or 6th ever eagle and I'm stoked. 

I also almost made a hole-in-one on hole 6, hitting a 60 degree wedge to 2 feet and it was tracking the whole way!! I ended up shooting a 78 on the day with some bad holes mixed in.

Arccos screenshots:

Thanks for the read! Let me know what you thought by replying back to this email.

— Blake