Full Transcript: Community Health Sys Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Community Health Sys (NYSE: CYH ) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below. APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit to learn more.

8% decline in net revenue for Q2 2026, primarily due to a decrease in state-directed payment benefits and recent divestitures. Adjusted EBITDA was $330 million, down from $380 million in the prior year, impacted by increased uninsured volumes and decreased demand for elective surgeries. 5% due to unfavorable service and payer mix. 375 billion, considering economic impacts and softer surgical demand.

Operational highlights include recognition for quality care and safety at various hospitals, as well as completing divestitures and acquisitions to strengthen positions in core markets. Management noted ongoing challenges with payer mix, service mix, and increased uncompensated care, all contributing to financial pressure. The company is focused on cost controls, with labor and supply expenses well-managed despite pressures from higher medical specialist fees. Full Transcript OPERATOR Good day and welcome to Community Health Sys second quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touchtone phone.

To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Anton High, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Anton High, Vice President of Investor Relations Thank you, Bailey. Good morning and welcome to Community Health Sys's second quarter 2026 conference call. Joining me on today's call are Kevin Hammons, Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Johnson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'll remind everyone this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements, including all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks which are described in headings such as Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. Actual results may differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In today's discussion, we do not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements. Yesterday afternoon we issued a press release with our financial statements and definitions and calculations of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS.

We've also posted a supplemental slide presentation on our website. All calculations we discuss today will exclude gains or losses from early extinguishment of debt, impairment gains or losses on the sale of businesses, and expense from employee termination benefits and other restructuring charges. With that said, I'll turn the call over to Kevin Hammons, Chief Executive Officer. Kevin Hammons, Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Anton.

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining our second quarter 2026 conference call and for your continued interest in CHS. Before we get into the call, I want to acknowledge the ongoing commitment and effort of all of our teammates and thank them for the work they are doing toward advancing our vision to make the healthcare experience exceptional for our patients, our communities and each other.

I am proud to say that in the face of a dynamic operating environment, we have continued to make progress on our top priorities of improving quality, physician experience, patient experience and employee satisfaction, in addition to improving Leapfrog safety grades and CMS Star ratings that we discussed on last quarter's call which included 12 of our hospitals achieving a Leapfrog A grade and approximately 70% achieving Leapfrog A, A or B grades.

We are proud of the recognition coming in from other noteworthy sources; for example, earlier this month our Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana was awarded the American College of Cardiology's Heart Care Center National Distinction of Excellence, the only hospital in the state and one of only 100 hospitals across the country to receive this designation. Also, several of our hospitals were recognized by CMS for achieving zero hospital-acquired infections—some of the nation's best performance in this area—and many others received recognition and designations reflecting the quality care we provide to our patients.

These recognitions underscore the significant progress our clinical teams have driven across multiple measures of safety and quality over the past few years, including record achievement in risk-adjusted mortality index, sepsis mortality and hospital-acquired infection rates. We are seeing positive movement in patient experience surveys and in the areas of employee satisfaction and physician experience. The record response rates to our recently completed employee surveys shows that we have a very engaged employee base even as we recognize that we have significant work still to be done.

Our ability to continue advancing in each of these areas will drive enhanced financial performance over time and long-term value creation for our organization and our shareholders. Turning to our operating performance for the second quarter of 2026, adjusted EBITDA was $330 million compare