HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) is preparing for potential fallout from federal policy changes even as its ambulatory and outpatient strategy continues to fuel strong financial performance.
Executives from the Nashville, Tennessee-based health care company spoke about those and other topics during a July 25 conference call focused on Q2 2025 financial results.
“We do not know what the outcome will be,” CFO Mike Cuffe said during the call, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and its potential impacts on payment structures and health care, broadly. “But we are working to develop resiliency programs to offset as much as possible any adverse impact.”
CEO Sam Hazen doubled-down on this idea.
“We do anticipate that some people will lose insurance coverage over the next few years, but we believe our financial resiliency program should offset these effects,” he said.
Hazen said that HCA is also going to be mindful of the scheduled expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits at the end of this year.
“We continue to advocate strongly for their extension, but at this point, we do not know what the outcome will be,” he said, adding that regardless of the outcome of federal policies, HCA’s balance sheet is strong.
“We have an experienced, capable and disciplined team, and where appropriate, we will adjust as we can,” Hazen said.
While outpatient surgery case volumes declined slightly for HCA in Q2 2025, revenue per case continued to rise, which Hazen attributed to favorable shifts in acuity and payer mix.
What’s more, same facility outpatient revenue rose nearly 8% year over year. HCA operated 124 freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as of June 30, up from 123 the previous year.
The company’s overall outpatient footprint now includes more than 2,500 sites of care. And HCA will continue to prioritize expansion in this area through both new development and acquisitions, Hazen said.
“We continue to add facilities … as well as acquisitions where we can,” he said. “We think that will continue to produce the necessary overall capacity to meet the demands as well as the share gains that we anticipate with our initiatives.”
HCA reported revenue of $18.6 billion for the second quarter of 2025, up 6.4% year over year.
“We’ve had 16 consecutive quarters of volume growth, and so that consistency tells us that the network model that we’re investing in very heavily, and we’re focused around execution on, allows us to compete effectively,” he said.
