Community Health Systems CEO: Acquisitions may be better for company than debt reduction

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., Jan. 6 - Community Health Systems Inc.'s chief executive officer, Wayne Smith, said Wednesday that he believes acquisitions and other opportunities may be more beneficial to the company than reducing debt given its current debt structure.

"We're in pretty good shape in terms of our debt structure and not having any big issues," Smith said during an investor presentation at the Goldman Sachs Healthcare CEOs Unscripted Conference in New York.

Community Health has about $9 billion of debt, $400 million of cash and $600 million available under its revolver, he said.

Smith said Community Health believes there are acquisition and physician practice opportunities over the next several years that may be more accretive than debt reduction.

"We're not interested in anything that's not additive in terms of our assets and incremental in terms of our earnings," he said of potential opportunities.

The company also sees opportunities to grow organically by increasing market share, he said.

Community Health is a Franklin, Tenn., operator of general acute care hospitals in non-urban and mid-sized markets.

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