Medical Facilities (TSE:DR) reported higher second-quarter revenue, operating income and EBITDA, with results supported by a shift toward higher-value orthopedic and spine procedures despite a modest decline in total surgical case volume.
President and Chief Executive Officer Jason Redman said facilities service revenue rose 7.8% from the prior-year quarter. The company said the improvement reflected a favorable case mix weighted toward orthopedic and spine procedures, while payer-rate increases also contributed to a lesser extent.
Revenue and Profitability
Chief Financial Officer David Watson said quarterly revenue totaled $63.1 million, up 7.8% year over year. Income from operations increased 9.4% to $9.6 million, while EBITDA rose 7.1% to $12.5 million.
Total surgical case volume declined 2.3% during the quarter. However, Watson said volumes were essentially flat when excluding low-margin dental cases.
- Outpatient cases increased 0.9%.
- Inpatient cases declined 12.5%.
- Observation cases fell 9.1%.
- Pain-management cases declined 19.9%.
Watson said the decline in pain-management cases again stemmed from Arkansas Surgical Hospital, a trend the company had discussed on previous calls. Both hospitals have active recruitment efforts intended to bring in additional pain physicians and support volumes, he said.
Arkansas Surgical Hospital is scheduled to add a new pain physician and a new orthopedic surgeon at the start of September, according to Watson.
Costs Rose Alongside Higher-Value Case Mix
Operating expenses increased $3.8 million, or 7.6%, from a year earlier. More than half of that increase came from drugs and supplies, which rose 12.5% and were largely associated with the quarter’s procedure mix, Watson said.
Salaries and benefits increased 6.4%, reflecting annual merit increases, higher market-driven compensation for anesthesia nurse practitioners and greater health-plan benefits utilization. General and administrative expenses rose 3.8%, primarily because of higher costs for contracted anesthesia services, repairs and maintenance, billing fees and marketing.
Management noted that its income-statement variance discussion covered continuing operations and excluded non-controllable, non-cash corporate-level charges related to share-based compensation plans.
Share Repurchases and Liquidity
The company continued to return capital to shareholders during the quarter through its normal course issuer bid, or NCIB. Medical Facilities repurchased about 1.34 million common shares for $17.1 million during the second quarter, bringing first-half repurchases to approximately 1.66 million shares for $21 million.
Redman said that, after the quarter ended, the company fully used the purchase limit of approximately 1.81 million shares under the current NCIB. Since changing its corporate strategy in the third quarter of 2022, the company has returned approximately C$218 million to shareholders through NCIBs, substantial issuer bids and dividends, he said.
Medical Facilities ended June with consolidated net working capital of $65.2 million, including $64.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. That compared with net working capital of $54 million and cash of $43.4 million at the end of December.
Watson said the increase in working capital was largely related to the sale of Oklahoma Spine Hospital in the first quarter, which increased cash. The impact was partly offset by a reduction in current assets and liabilities associated with removing Oklahoma Spine Hospital’s held-for-sale balances.
Redman said the company held $58 million of its cash balance at the corporate level, providing flexibility to support its hospitals and evaluate further shareholder capital-return opportunities. Watson added that Medical Facilities had no corporate-level bank debt after paying off its corporate credit facility in 2024.
About Medical Facilities (TSE:DR)
Medical Facilities Corp owns a diverse portfolio of surgical facilities in the United States. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the company owns controlling interests in four specialty hospitals and six ambulatory surgery centers. The hospitals offer a range of non-emergency surgical, imaging, diagnostic and pain management procedures, and other ancillary services. Its key revenue source is from the facility service income. The corporation’s operations are based in the United States.
