Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included and are of a normal and recurring nature.

The majority of our expenses are “costs of revenues” items. Costs that could be classified as general and administrative would include our corporate office costs, which were $87 million and $96 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization designated COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Patient volumes and the related revenues for most of our services were significantly impacted during the latter portion of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter of 2020 and have continued to be impacted as various policies were implemented by federal, state and local governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public remains wary of real or perceived opportunities for exposure to the virus. We believe the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on our operating results and financial condition has been and will continue to be driven by many factors, most of which are beyond our control and ability to forecast. Because of these uncertainties, we cannot estimate how long or to what extent the pandemic will impact our operations.

Revenues

Revenues

Our revenues generally relate to contracts with patients in which our performance obligations are to provide health care services to the patients. Revenues are recorded during the period our obligations to provide health care services are satisfied. Our performance obligations for inpatient services are generally satisfied over periods that average approximately five days, and revenues are recognized based on charges incurred in relation to total expected charges. Our performance obligations for outpatient services are generally satisfied over a period of less than one day. The contractual relationships with patients, in most cases, also involve a third-party payer (Medicare, Medicaid, managed care health plans and commercial insurance companies, including plans offered

through the health insurance exchanges) and the transaction prices for the services provided are dependent upon the terms provided by (Medicare and Medicaid) or negotiated with (managed care health plans and commercial insurance companies) the third-party payers. The payment arrangements with third-party payers for the services we provide to the related patients typically specify payments at amounts less than our standard charges. Medicare generally pays for inpatient and outpatient services at prospectively determined rates based on clinical, diagnostic and other factors. Services provided to patients having Medicaid coverage are generally paid at prospectively determined rates per discharge, per identified service or per covered member. Agreements with commercial insurance carriers, managed care and preferred provider organizations generally provide for payments based upon predetermined rates per diagnosis, per diem rates or discounted fee-for-service rates. Our revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 include $55 million related to the settlement of Medicare outlier calculations for prior periods. Management continually reviews the contractual estimation process to consider and incorporate updates to laws and regulations and the frequent changes in managed care contractual terms resulting from contract renegotiations and renewals.

Our revenues are based upon the estimated amounts we expect to be entitled to receive from patients and third-party payers. Estimates of contractual adjustments under managed care and commercial insurance plans are based upon the payment terms specified in the related contractual agreements. Revenues related to uninsured patients and uninsured copayment and deductible amounts for patients who have health care coverage may have discounts applied (uninsured discounts and contractual discounts). We also record estimated implicit price concessions (based primarily on historical collection experience) related to uninsured accounts to record these revenues at the estimated amounts we expect to collect. Patients treated at our hospitals for non-elective care, who have income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, are eligible for charity care. Because we do not pursue collection of amounts determined to qualify as charity care, they are not reported in revenues. Our revenues by primary third-party payer classification and other (including uninsured patients) for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 are summarized in the following table (dollars in millions):

	2021		Ratio			2020		Ratio
Medicare	$	2,559		18.3	%	$	2,743		21.3	%
Managed Medicare		2,053		14.7			1,826		14.2
Medicaid		527		3.8			414		3.2
Managed Medicaid		725		5.2			666		5.2
Managed care and insurers		6,885		49.1			6,645		51.6
International (managed care and insurers)		333		2.4			292		2.3
Other		895		6.5			275		2.2
Revenues	$	13,977		100.0	%	$	12,861		100.0	%

To quantify the total impact of the trends related to uninsured patient accounts, we believe it is beneficial to view total uncompensated care, which is comprised of charity care, uninsured discounts and implicit price concessions. A summary of the estimated cost of total uncompensated care for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 follows (dollars in millions):

	2021			2020
Patient care costs (salaries and benefits, supplies, other operating expenses and depreciation and amortization)	$	11,643		$	11,342
Cost-to-charges ratio (patient care costs as percentage of gross patient charges)		11.4	%		11.9	%
Total uncompensated care	$	6,821		$	7,873
Multiply by the cost-to-charges ratio		11.4	%		11.9	%
Estimated cost of total uncompensated care	$	778		$	937

The total uncompensated care amounts include charity care of $2.942 billion and $3.735 billion, respectively, and the related estimated costs of charity care were $335 million and $444 million, respectively, for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

Reclassifications

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.