Mr. Joseph: I cover a number of different subsectors within healthcare services. I cover the hospital group along with the ambulatory surgery center space, hospice, and then a number of one-offs, including behavioral health care, a dialysis company, and a specialty healthcare services provider.
TWST: So it's a broad swath of coverage.
Mr. Joseph: It is a broad swath.
TWST: I guess the hospitals are probably the biggest segment. What's
gone on with that group from a market perspective so far this year?
Mr. Joseph: The two major issues that are still confounding investors
and analysts alike are the weak volume trends within the hospital
industry, along with increased bad-debt expense trends that are
affecting all the hospitals. These really started to crop up around the
first quarter of last year, and it has continued to be an issue, even
until a few days ago as hospital bellwether HCA (HCA) recently
preannounced 1Q04 earnings and indicated that bad debt expense continues
to rise and should remain fairly high throughout the year.
Tickers included in this excerpt: AMSG, CYH, HCA, LPNT, ODSY, PRV, USPI, VSTA
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