Segment and Geographic Information

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Segment and Geographic Information [Abstract]

SEGMENT AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

NOTE 10 — SEGMENT AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

We operate in one line of business, which is operating hospitals and related health care entities. Our operations are structured into three geographically organized groups: the National, Southwest and Central Groups. During February 2011, we reorganized our operational groups and have restated the prior period amounts to reflect this reorganization. The National Group includes 65 consolidating hospitals located in Florida, South Carolina, southern Georgia, Alaska, California, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, the Southwest Group includes 39 consolidating hospitals located in Texas, Oklahoma and the Wichita, Kansas market, and the Central Group includes 47 consolidating hospitals located in Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, New Hampshire, northern Georgia and the Kansas City market. We also operate six consolidating hospitals in England, and these facilities are included in the Corporate and other group.

Adjusted segment EBITDA is defined as income before depreciation and amortization, interest expense, losses on sales of facilities, impairments of long-lived assets, losses on retirement of debt, termination of management agreement, income taxes and net income attributable to noncontrolling interests. We use adjusted segment EBITDA as an analytical indicator for purposes of allocating resources to geographic areas and assessing their performance. Adjusted segment EBITDA is commonly used as an analytical indicator within the health care industry, and also serves as a measure of leverage capacity and debt service ability. Adjusted segment EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles, and the items excluded from adjusted segment EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Because adjusted segment EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and is thus susceptible to varying calculations, adjusted segment EBITDA, as presented, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The geographic distributions of our revenues, equity in earnings of affiliates, adjusted segment EBITDA, and depreciation and amortization for the quarters and nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010 are summarized in the following table (dollars in millions):

	Quarter						Nine Months
	2011			2010			2011			2010
Revenues:
National Group	$	3,033		$	2,858		$	9,150		$	8,668
Southwest Group		2,248			2,157			6,760			6,474
Central Group		1,743			1,667			5,240			5,006
Corporate and other		286			244			854			726
	$	7,310		$	6,926		$	22,004		$	20,874
Equity in earnings of affiliates:
National Group	$	(3	)	$	(1	)	$	(5	)	$	(3	)
Southwest Group		(64	)		(66	)		(212	)		(206	)
Central Group		—			(1	)		—			(2	)
Corporate and other		(1	)		1			—			1
	$	(68	)	$	(67	)	$	(217	)	$	(210	)
Adjusted segment EBITDA:
National Group	$	587		$	557		$	1,835		$	1,821
Southwest Group		552			539			1,714			1,674
Central Group		298			289			949			956
Corporate and other		(25	)		(28	)		(76	)		(30	)
	$	1,412		$	1,357		$	4,422		$	4,421
Depreciation and amortization:
National Group	$	129		$	127		$	381		$	383
Southwest Group		111			106			332			319
Central Group		86			88			263			266
Corporate and other		36			31			102			94
	$	362		$	352		$	1,078		$	1,062
Adjusted segment EBITDA	$	1,412		$	1,357		$	4,422		$	4,421
Depreciation and amortization		362			352			1,078			1,062
Interest expense		519			525			1,572			1,571
Losses on sales of facilities		2			2			3			2
Impairments of long-lived assets		—			10			—			119
Losses on retirement of debt		406			—			481			—
Termination of management agreement		—			—			181			—
Income before income taxes	$	123		$	468		$	1,107		$	1,667