Community Health Systems, Inc. (CYH)

Community Health Systems reported third-quarter 2026 net operating revenues of $2.757 billion on 28 October 2026, down 10.7 percent from the year before 1. It had a net loss attributable to its stockholders of $86 million, or $0.63 per share, against net income of $130 million a year earlier 1.

Adjusted EBITDA, a profit measure that adds back interest, taxes, depreciation and some one-time items, was $280 million, against $376 million a year earlier 1. The company said divestitures, a worse mix of payors and higher fees for medical specialists drove the decline 1.

Revenue at hospitals owned in both periods, called same-store revenue, rose 3.8 percent 1. The company has divested nine hospitals and its 80 percent interest in one more during 2026 1.

Chief executive Kevin Hammons said payor mix and the severity of cases did not develop as expected in a hard economy, which hurt the quarter and the company's expectations for the rest of the year 1. The company now expects 2026 net operating revenues of $11,300 million to $11,500 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1,225 million to $1,275 million 1.

A conference call on the results is scheduled for 29 October 2026 1.

The company says it was founded in 1986 and reincorporated in 1996 as a Delaware corporation 4. It grew by acquiring hospitals, mostly from municipal or not-for-profit owners, with two large exceptions: Triad Hospitals in 2007 and Health Management Associates, or HMA, in 2014 5.

The HMA deal closed on 27 January 2014 for about $7.3 billion, including about $3.8 billion of assumed debt 5. At the end of 2014 the company owned or leased 197 hospitals in 28 states, with 30,137 licensed beds 4.

Net operating revenues were about $19.4 billion in 2015, then fell $999 million to about $18.4 billion in 2016 5. On 29 April 2016 the company spun off 38 hospitals and its hospital consulting arm into Quorum Health Corporation 5.

Shareholders received one Quorum share for every four shares of the company 5. The year closed with a loss from continuing operations of $1.6 billion, including an after-tax charge of $320 million to write down goodwill and hospitals held for divestiture 5.

Hospital divestitures then became the plan to cut debt 6. By the end of 2019 the company ran 102 hospitals in 18 states, after completing the divestiture of 12 hospitals during 2019 6.

Revenue fell $945 million to about $13.2 billion in 2019, mainly because of hospitals divested during 2018 and 2019 6.

In 2020 revenue fell $1.4 billion to about $11.8 billion, mainly because of COVID-19 and divested hospitals 7. The year ended with 89 hospitals in 16 states 7.

In 2022 revenue slipped $157 million to about $12.2 billion, and net income was $179 million, down from $368 million in 2021 8.

Revenue rose from about $12.5 billion in 2023 to about $12.6 billion in 2024, yet the year ended with a net loss of $362 million 9. Charges included $250 million after tax for impaired assets and $116 million for a higher estimate of professional liability claims 9.

In 2025 it divested four hospitals and a majority interest in three, with total net proceeds of over $1.0 billion 2. On 1 December 2025 Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings acquired its outpatient lab collection business across 13 states for about $194 million in cash 2.

Net income for 2025 was $676 million, helped by a $249 million after-tax gain on divestitures and a $163 million tax benefit 2. Revenue was about $12.5 billion 2.

The 2026 divestitures went on 2. The 80 percent interest in Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville went to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for about $623 million of cash, completed effective 1 February 2026 2.

Healthcare Dive reported on 21 January 2026 an agreement to divest Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, Alabama for $450 million 11. The company's quarterly report lists that sale as effective 1 April 2026 3.

Hospitals and care sites

The company's October 2026 release says its affiliates run care in 32 markets across 12 states 1. Its subsidiaries own or lease 59 hospitals with more than 8,000 beds and operate more than 800 sites of care 1.

Those sites include physician practices, urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, imaging centers, cancer centers and surgery centers 1. At the end of 2025 the company employed about 1,700 physicians and took part in 11 accountable care organizations, groups of doctors paid to coordinate care 2.

Forty-one hospitals sat in 12 regional networks at the end of 2025, and the company also runs systems built around a single acute-care hospital 2. The company names primary care, emergency medicine, orthopedics, neuroscience, cardiovascular care, surgery and behavioral health as growth service lines 2.

Who pays the bills

In 2025 managed care and other private payors supplied 47.8 percent of net operating revenues, Medicare Managed Care 18.0 percent, Medicare 17.4 percent, Medicaid 16.0 percent and self-pay patients 0.8 percent 2. Medicaid's share was 14.8 percent in 2024 2.

Rivals

In most markets with other hospitals, the main rival is a municipal or not-for-profit hospital that is exempt from sales, property and income taxes 2. The company believes it is the primary, if not the sole, provider of general acute care at the majority of its hospitals, which sit mostly in larger non-urban areas 2.

People

Kevin Hammons became chief executive on 10 December 2025 after serving as interim chief executive from 1 October 2025 2. Healthcare Dive reported that he first joined the company in 1997 and was named finance chief in January 2020 10.

Jason Johnson is chief financial officer and Wayne Smith is chairman of the board 10. At the end of 2025 the company had about 57,000 employees, about 13,000 of them part time, and workers at three hospitals were union members 2.

Problems and pressures

The company received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Department of Justice on 11 January 2024 about utilization review, inpatient admissions and inpatient dialysis 2. On 31 October 2024 the department said it was running a criminal investigation of a former behavioral health medical director at Northwest Arkansas Hospitals 2.

Total debt was $10,396 million at the end of 2025 2. The company expects 2026 interest expense of $820 million to $830 million 1.

The company expects the 2025 Reconciliation Law to cut federal healthcare spending, especially Medicaid, and a payment offset lowering outpatient rates by 0.5 percent a year began in 2026 2. The company said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may speed that offset up from 2027 2.

The umbrella, in words

The hospitals and businesses are owned and operated by distinct and indirect subsidiaries of the parent company 2. One of them, CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary that issues the company's notes 2.

Ties to others differ in kind 2. Vanderbilt University Medical Center held a minority interest in the two Clarksville joint ventures before it acquired the remaining 80 percent in 2026 2.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings owns the outreach lab sites it acquired from the company under an agreement closed in December 2025 2.

The company owns its headquarters building in Franklin, Tennessee, and reported 69 hospitals owned or leased at the end of 2025 2. The real property of substantially all of its wholly-owned hospitals backs the ABL Facility and its senior secured notes 2.

In its 28 October 2026 release the company gave updated 2026 guidance: net operating revenues of $11,300 million to $11,500 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1,225 million to $1,275 million 1. It expects a net loss per diluted share of $1.60 to $1.70 1.

The company expects capital spending of $350 million to $400 million and cash from operations of $100 million to $300 million in 2026 1. It expects about 136 million diluted shares 1.

The guidance leaves out future divestitures with no signed agreement, refinancing effects and any grants from the Rural Health Transformation Program 1. That program is a federal effort to strengthen rural care, with $10 billion available in each of federal fiscal years 2026 through 2030 2.

On the pace of divestitures, Hammons said in February 2026 that the company is "closer to the end of our programmatic divestitures" 12. The company's 10-K adds that it may still consider divesting more hospitals and non-hospital businesses 2.