CFO Larry Cash  said  the chain would henceforth focus on  outpatient and other regional service lines in the 11 markets where it owns more than one hospital as well as boost such services as orthopedics and cardiology in  markets where it owns only one hospital. CHS has 73 hospitals around those 11 regional hubs.

The 10 unnamed hospitals currently being shopped by CHS have single-digit profit margins;  margins for CHS hospitals more traditionally average 15 percent.

“We will continue to divest hospital operations that cannot meet these criteria and they are not productive to our results,” he said.

CHS  now has 160 acute-care hospitals, which might drop to 130 to 140 hospitals by the end of next year.

Eight CHS hospitals  in Florida and two in Tennessee are at the center of CHS’s earnings decline.

Mr. Cash, meanwhile,  told investors that centralizing management of  CHS physician practices from Nashville should help with physician efficiency and retention. Read this link for more information.