General (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Provider Taxes

Provider Taxes: We incur health-care related taxes (“Provider Taxes”) imposed by states in the form of a licensing fee, assessment or other mandatory payment which are related to: (i) healthcare items or services; (ii) the provision of, or the authority to provide, the health care items or services, or; (iii) the payment for the health care items or services. Such Provider Taxes are subject to various federal regulations that limit the scope and amount of the taxes that can be levied by states in order to secure federal matching funds as part of their respective state Medicaid programs. We derive a related Medicaid reimbursement benefit from assessed Provider Taxes in the form of Medicaid claims based payment increases and/or lump sum Medicaid supplemental payments.

Under these programs, including the impact of Uncompensated Care and Upper Payment Limit programs, and the Texas Delivery System Reform Incentive program, we earned revenues (before Provider Taxes) of approximately $62 million and $53 million during the three-month periods ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and approximately $221 million and $180 million during the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. These revenues were offset by Provider Taxes of approximately $30 million and $21 million during the three-month periods ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and approximately $97 million and $71 million during the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, which are recorded in other operating expenses on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income as included herein. Prior to 2015, these Provider Taxes were recorded as a reduction to our net revenues. Accordingly, the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2014 have been revised to reflect the current period classification, resulting in an increase in net revenue and an increase in other operating expenses of $21 million and $71 million, respectively. We assessed this adjustment to the classification and concluded that it was not material to our previously issued annual and quarterly Consolidated Statements of Income, which will be revised in future filings.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Goodwill and Intangible Assets: During the quarter-ended September 30, 2015, we changed our annual goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles testing date from September 1st to October 1st. Management believes that this voluntary change in accounting method is preferable as it aligns the annual impairment testing date with our annual budgeting process.  In connection with this change, we first performed an impairment test as of September 1, 2015, which indicated no impairment of goodwill or indefinite-lived intangible assets, and will perform an additional impairment test as of October 1, 2015.  This change in annual testing date does not delay, accelerate or avoid an impairment charge.