Measuring the impact of 60 Minutes

There's been plenty of speculation about the impact of a CBS “60 Minutes” report on Naples-based hospital operator Health Management Associates.

So when the operator of 71 hospitals posted disappointing preliminary results recently, one analyst questioned the role of the December news report in which current and former employees alleged improper hospital admissions.

“It's really difficult to measure the impact of that type of scrutiny,” responded Gary Newsome, HMA's president and CEO, in a transcript of the conference call posted on SeekingAlpha.com. “I can tell you the couple hospitals that were specific in December that were mentioned in the media, we can say, yes, at those facilities, there were some very direct challenges as a result of that. The remainder is very difficult to tell.”

HMA alerted investors last week that its hospital admissions declined 8.8% in the first quarter compared with the same quarter in 2012. But the company attributed the drop to an increase in observation stays and a decline in uninsured inpatient volumes.