$HCA withdraws guidance, suspends dividend and buyback.
Stock is down 31% from Feb 13th all-time high, up 80% from March 18th 52-wk low.
Hospitals trading lower in sympathy.
Will look for discussion on reopening elective surgery in some non-hotspots on the call.

$HCA CEO Sam Hazen: first 80% of the quarter was similar to a year ago.. then the pandemic hit...
says have learned from other crises like the Las Vegas shooting... but #covid19 is the first crisis that hit enterprise-wide scale

$HCA CEO: have cared for >5500 #Cvodi19 positive in-patient...
"to date, we have not laid off or furloughed a single employee"
-11K exec colleagues took pay cuts
- 90% of support staff WFH
- Hope Fund has $1.3 million in grant applications to support employees

$HCA CEO: have suspended rent collection from affiliated tenant doctors
- provided relief to docs in ambulatory surgical centers
- lauds staff serving patients "Our employees have shown up, our physicians have showed up, and they have not wavered"

$HCA CEO: our teams are working with FEMA, CDC, talks about working with Ventilator network..
"We believe these types of public private partnerships are necessary"

$HCA CEO: We are focused on using this pandemic to learn more and to learn faster...

$HCA CEO says continues to believe that dividends and buying back stock are good for shareholders.... but thinks that suspending buybacks and "out of an abundance of caution" suspending the dividend are prudent now

$HCA CEO says the shift fro employer health insurance coverage to possible ACA and Medicaid plans present an unknowable variable...
Modeling includes different levels for resumption of elective surgery and emergency room visits which are down b/c of #covid

$HCA CEO: Expect to bring on elective capacity conservatively, working with states... says he expects that the reboot stage of reopening will be completed by the end of Q2.

$HCA CFO Bill Rutherford: right now are in #cvoi19 dresponse phase... says are preparing and will be ready to perform surgeries during restart phase... when states allow
So far in April:
- in-patient admissions -30% y/y
- ER vists -50% y/y
- outpatient surgeries -70% y/y

$HCA CFO: anticipated $4 billion of accelerated #Medicare payaments, expect to repay next year; have received $700 million from CARES Act relief.. will be repaid over 8 months

$HCA CFO: We think the second quarter will probably be the most pronounced quarter (of #covid19 impact) and hopefully we'll begin to see recovery

$HCA CEO gives a shout out to $UNH for advancing payments and removing regulatory obstacles... "and that's helped.. and we will continue to work with them.."
UnitedHealth advanced providers $2 billion in payments earlier this month.

$HCA CEO: says recovery period is hard to assess... don't know the impact of unemployment... will be market to market.. "We think patient confidence is very important" and says can't know what #covid19 recurrence will be... which is why they pulled guidance

$HCA CFO says 20% bump in #Medicare #covid19 reimbursement... expects #MedicareAdvantage will follow suit... not sure about #Medicaid...
says relief funding more important.