Quorum Health Corporation reported unaudited consolidated earnings results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. For the quarter, the company reported net operating revenues of $486,820,000 against $527,640,000 a year ago. Loss from operations was $67,190,000 against income of $1,026,000 a year ago. Loss before income taxes was $98,121,000 against $26,504,000 a year ago. Net loss attributable to the company was $98,968,000 or $3.48 per basic and diluted share against $27,561,000 or $0.99 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $18.4 million compared to $26.1 million for the same period in 2017. The $40.8 million decline in the net operating revenues for the quarter was primarily attributable to a $60.6 million decrease from the ten hospitals sold or closed since the spin-off from Community Health Systems Inc. in April 2016, partially offset by a $7.9 million increase related to revenues from the California Hospital Quality Assurance Fee program, of which there were no comparable revenues in the same 2017 period. The net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was impacted by $39.8 million of impairment of long-lived assets, $13.7 million of costs related to the closure of one hospital and $7.8 million of net losses on the sale of two hospitals. The operating results from the divested hospitals negatively impacted EBITDA by $8.4 million and $4.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Net cash used in operating activities was $2,593,000 against net cash provided by operating activities of $18,526,000 a year ago. Capital expenditures for property and equipment were $14,528,000 against $23,217,000 a year ago. Capital expenditures for software were $513,000 against $1,506,000 a year ago. LBITDA was $48,929,000 against EBITDA of $23,146,000 a year ago. Loss per share attributable to the company's stockholders, excluding adjustments was $0.80 against $0.70 a year ago. Operating cash flow for the quarter was a negative, primarily due to the decline in the year-over-year profitability and closure cost at Affinity, of which approximately $8 million were cash costs. CapEx, including software capital expenditures, fell by nearly $10 million relative to the first period of 2017. This decline is primarily related to divestitures, lower spending on the Springfield, Oregon Tower project, which is nearing completion as well as overall enterprise efforts to manage CapEx effectively. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA is primarily due to the deteriorating performance of the hospitals, which were divested or closed during the quarter, particularly Affinity. These hospitals lost an aggregate $8 million in the quarter.

The company has updated its financial outlook for the year ending December 31, 2018. These projections are based on the company's historical operating performance, current economic, demographic and regulatory trends and other assumptions that the company believes are reasonable at this time. The 2018 guidance should be considered in conjunction with the assumptions included herein. Due to the impact of operating results at divested and closed hospitals, as well as the potential impact from divestitures that could occur prior to the end of the fiscal year 2018, the company is no longer providing guidance on Adjusted EBITDA and is presenting Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted for Divestitures to only include hospitals divested and closed through March 31, 2018. The company expects net operating revenues for the year ending December 31, 2018 to range from $1.925 billion to $1.975 billion. The company expects Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted for Divestitures to range from $145 million to $165 million. The guidance for Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted for Divestitures is adjusted: to include approximately $23 million of California HQAF revenues, net of provider taxes, to give effect to the reduction of approximately $3 million in electronic health records incentives earned in 2018 compared to 2017, to include approximately $10 million to $12 million of non-cash stock-based compensation and other non-cash benefits expense and approximately $20 million to $25 million of non-cash insurance expense, to provide no estimate for the effects of any changes to the Affordable Care Act, its interpretation or its implementation, and to exclude the negative (positive) EBITDA of hospitals divested or closed through March 31, 2018, but includes the negative (positive) EBITDA of potential divestitures that may occur during the remainder of 2018.

For the first quarter of 2018, the company reported impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill of $39,760,000 against $3,300,000 a year ago.