You should read this discussion together with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and "Selected Financial Data" included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

Executive Overview

We are one of the largest publicly-traded operators of hospitals in the United States in terms of number of facilities and net operating revenues. We provide healthcare services through the hospitals that we own and operate in non-urban and selected urban markets. We generate revenues by providing a broad range of general and specialized hospital and other outpatient healthcare services to patients in the communities in which we are located. As of December 31, 2012, we owned or leased 135 hospitals comprised of 131 general acute care hospitals and four stand-alone rehabilitation or psychiatric hospitals. In addition, we own and operate home care agencies, located primarily in markets where we also operate a hospital, and through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Quorum Health Resources, LLC, or QHR, we provide management and consulting services to non-affiliated general acute care hospitals located throughout the United States. For the hospitals and home care agencies that we own and operate, we are paid for our services by governmental agencies, private insurers and directly by the patients we serve. For our management and consulting services, we are paid by the non-affiliated hospitals utilizing our services.

As further discussed in Recent Accounting Pronouncements, during the first quarter of 2012 we adopted the provisions of Accounting Standards Update, or ASU, No. 2011-07 of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, which requires us to present revenues net of the provision for bad debts. Prior to the adoption of this ASU, our provision for bad debts was presented as a component of operating expenses. For all periods presented in this annual report, revenues and any related financial ratios or metrics have been updated to reflect the change in the presentation of net operating revenues. The adoption of this standard did not impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, we continued the execution of our acquisition strategy by acquiring four hospitals located in Scranton, Pennsylvania; Peckville, Pennsylvania; York, Pennsylvania; and Blue Island, Illinois and a large physician practice located in Longview, Texas.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, we also closed several financing arrangements that extend the maturity date of a significant portion of our outstanding indebtedness. As further discussed in the Liquidity and Capital Resources section, we entered into additional amendments and a modification of our Credit Facility that extend by two and a half years, until January 25, 2017, the maturity date of approximately $1.9 billion of our term loans due 2014. We obtained a new $750 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a new $750 million incremental term loan A facility, both with a maturity date of October 25, 2016, subject to certain acceleration clauses, the net proceeds of which were used to repay the same amount of existing borrowings under the previous revolving credit facility and term loans under the Credit Facility. We also completed through various offerings the issuance of $2.2 billion of senior notes and $1.6 billion of senior secured notes, the net proceeds of which were used to finance the purchase and redemption of all our outstanding 87/8% Senior Notes due 2015, to prepay $1.6 billion of the outstanding term loans due 2014 under the Credit Facility, to pay related fees and expenses and for general corporate purposes. Compared to our debt maturities at December 31, 2011, the net effect of these financing transactions extended the maturity of approximately $6.0 billion of our outstanding long-term debt previously due in 2014 and 2015 to various maturities ranging from 2016 to 2020.

Our net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased to approximately $13.0 billion, as compared to approximately $11.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2011. Income from continuing operations, before noncontrolling interests, for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased 3.1% over the year ended December 31, 2011 to $346.3 million compared to $335.9 million. Included in income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2012, is a $47.9 million after-tax benefit from the resolution of an industry-wide governmental settlement and a payment update related to prior periods, a $20.2 million after-tax charge for certain legal and regulatory matters, a $71.8 million after-tax loss from the early extinguishment of debt and a $6.2 million after-tax impairment charge for long-lived assets. For the year ended December 31, 2011, income from continuing operations included a $42.0 million after-tax loss from the early extinguishment of debt. Excluding the effect of these one-time items, the increase in income from continuing operations during the year ended December 31, 2012, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2011, is due primarily to increased revenues at our same-store hospitals, income from electronic health records incentive reimbursements and reductions in interest expense. Total inpatient admissions for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased 4.0%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2011, and adjusted admissions for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased 6.6%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2011. On a same-store basis, admissions decreased 0.9% and adjusted admissions increased 1.5%, compared with the year ended December 31, 2011.

Self-pay revenues represented approximately 13.0% of our net operating revenues, net of contractual allowances and discounts (but before provision for bad debts), in 2012 compared to 12.0% in 2011. The amount of foregone revenue related to providing charity care services as a percentage of net operating revenues was approximately 5.3% and 5.5% in 2012 and 2011, respectively. Direct and indirect costs incurred by us in providing charity care services were approximately 1.0% and 1.1% of net operating revenues in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, was signed into law on March 23, 2010. In addition, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, or Reconciliation Act, which contains a number of amendments to PPACA, was signed into law on March 30, 2010. These two healthcare acts, referred to collectively as the Reform Legislation, include a mandate that requires substantially all U.S. citizens to maintain medical insurance coverage, which will ultimately increase the number of persons with access to health insurance in the United States. The Reform Legislation, as originally enacted, is expected to expand health insurance coverage through a combination of public program expansion and private sector health insurance reforms. We believe the expansion of private sector and Medicaid coverage will, over time, increase our reimbursement related to providing services to individuals who were previously uninsured, which should reduce our expense from uncollectible accounts receivable. The Reform Legislation also makes a number of other changes to Medicare and Medicaid, such as reductions to the Medicare annual market basket update for federal fiscal years 2010 through 2019, a productivity offset to the Medicare market basket update which began October 1, 2011, and a reduction to the Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share payments, that could adversely impact the reimbursement received under these programs. The various provisions in the Reform Legislation that directly or indirectly affect reimbursement are scheduled to take effect over a number of years. Over time, we believe the net impact of the overall changes as a result of the Reform Legislation will have a positive effect on our net operating revenues. Other provisions of the Reform Legislation, such as requirements related to employee health insurance coverage, should increase our operating costs.

Also included in the Reform Legislation are provisions aimed at reducing fraud, waste and abuse in the healthcare industry. These provisions allocate significant additional resources to federal enforcement agencies and expand the use of private contractors to recover potentially inappropriate Medicare and Medicaid payments. The Reform Legislation amends several existing federal laws, including the Medicare Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act, making it easier for government agencies and private plaintiffs to prevail in lawsuits brought against healthcare providers. These amendments also make it easier for potentially severe fines and penalties to be imposed on healthcare providers accused of violating applicable laws and regulations.

On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States largely upheld the constitutionality of the Reform Legislation, though it overturned an aspect of the legislation that would have permitted the Federal government to withhold all Medicaid funding from a state if that state did not expand Medicaid coverage to the extent required by the Reform Legislation. The Supreme Court's ruling instead held that only new incremental funding could be withheld from a state in such a situation. As a result, states will face less severe financial consequences if they refuse to expand Medicaid coverage to individuals with incomes below certain thresholds. Since the Supreme Court's ruling, some states have suggested that, for budgetary and other reasons, they would not expand their Medicaid programs. If states refuse to expand their Medicaid programs, the number of uninsured patients at our hospitals will decline by a smaller margin as compared to our expectations when the Reform Legislation was first adopted. In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the previous estimates of the reduction in uninsured individuals as a result of the Reform Legislation have been revised, with approximately 27 million additional individuals expected to have health insurance coverage by 2017. Because of the many variables involved, including clarifications and modifications resulting from the rule-making process, the development of agency guidance and future judicial interpretations, whether and how many states decide to expand or not to expand Medicaid coverage, the number of uninsured who elect to purchase health insurance coverage, and budgetary issues at federal and state levels, we may not be able to realize the positive impact the Reform Legislation may have on our business, results of operations, cash flow, capital resources and liquidity. Furthermore, we cannot predict whether we will be able to modify certain aspects of our operations to offset any potential adverse consequences from the Reform Legislation.

In a number of markets, we have partnered with local physicians in the ownership of our facilities. Such investments have been permitted under an exception to the physician self-referral law, or Stark Law, that allows physicians to invest in an entire hospital (as opposed to individual hospital departments). The Reform Legislation changes the "whole hospital" exception to the Stark Law. The Reform Legislation permits existing physician investments in a whole hospital to continue under a "grandfather" clause if the arrangement satisfies certain requirements and restrictions, but physicians are now prohibited, from the time the Reform Legislation became effective, from increasing the aggregate percentage of their ownership in the hospital. The Reform Legislation also restricts the ability of existing physician-owned hospitals to expand the capacity of their facilities.

In addition to the Reform Legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included provisions for implementing health information technology under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH. These provisions were designed to increase the use of electronic health records, or EHR, technology and establish the requirements for a Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments program beginning in 2011 for eligible hospitals and providers that adopt and meaningfully use certified EHR technology. These incentive payments are intended to offset a portion of the costs incurred to implement and qualify as a meaningful user of EHR. Rules adopted in July 2010 by the Department of Health and Human Services established an initial set of standards and certification criteria. Our hospital facilities have begun to implement EHR technology on a facility-by-facility basis

beginning in 2011. We anticipate recognizing incentive reimbursement related to the Medicare or Medicaid incentives as we are able to implement the certified EHR technology, meet the defined "meaningful use criteria," and information from completed cost report periods is available from which to calculate the incentive reimbursement. The timing of recognizing incentive reimbursement will not correlate with the timing of recognizing operating expenses and incurring capital costs in connection with the implementation of EHR technology which may result in material period-to-period changes in our future results of operations. Hospitals that do not qualify as a meaningful user of EHR technology by 2015 are subject to a reduced market basket update to the inpatient prospective payment system standardized amount in 2015 and each subsequent fiscal year. Although we believe that our hospital facilities will be in compliance with the EHR standards by 2015, there can be no assurance that all of our facilities will be in compliance and therefore not subject to the penalty provisions of HITECH. We recognized approximately $126.7 million and $63.4 million during the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, of incentive reimbursement for HITECH incentive reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid related to certain of our hospitals and for certain of our employed physicians, which are presented as a reduction of operating expenses.

As a result of our current levels of cash, available borrowing capacity, long-term outlook on our debt repayments, the refinancing of our term loans and our continued projection of our ability to generate cash flows, we do not anticipate a significant impact on our ability to invest the necessary capital in our business over the next twelve months and into the foreseeable future. We believe there continues to be ample opportunity for growth in substantially all of our markets by decreasing the need for patients to travel outside their communities for healthcare services. Furthermore, we continue to benefit from synergies from our acquisitions and will continue to strive to improve operating efficiencies and procedures in order to improve our profitability at all of our hospitals.

Acquisitions and Divestitures

Effective July 1, 2012, we completed the acquisition of Memorial Health Systems in York, Pennsylvania. This healthcare system includes Memorial Hospital (100 licensed beds), the Surgical Center of York, and other outpatient and ancillary services. As part of this purchase agreement, we agreed to spend at least $75.0 million to build a replacement hospital within five years of the closing date. The total cash consideration paid for fixed assets and working capital was approximately $45.0 million and $2.6 million, respectively, with additional consideration of $12.5 million assumed in liabilities, for a total consideration of $60.1 million. Based upon our preliminary purchase price allocation relating to this acquisition as of December 31, 2012, approximately $9.9 million of goodwill has been recorded. The preliminary allocation of the purchase price has been determined by us based on available information and is subject to settling amounts related to purchased working capital and final appraisals of tangible and intangible assets. Adjustments to the purchase price allocation are not expected to be material.

Effective March 5, 2012, we completed a merger with Diagnostic Clinic of Longview, P.A., which is a multi-specialty clinic serving residents of Longview, Texas and surrounding East Texas communities. This merger was accounted for as a purchase business combination. The total cash consideration paid for the business, including net working capital, was approximately $52.3 million, with additional consideration of $6.9 million assumed in liabilities, for a total consideration of $59.2 million. Based upon our preliminary purchase price allocation relating to this acquisition as of December 31, 2012, approximately $41.8 million of goodwill has been recorded. The preliminary allocation of the purchase price has been determined by us based on available information and is subject to settling amounts related to purchased working capital. Adjustments to the purchase price allocation are not expected to be material.

Effective March 1, 2012, we completed the acquisition of MetroSouth Medical Center (330 licensed beds) located in Blue Island, Illinois. The total cash consideration paid for fixed assets was approximately $39.3 million with additional consideration of $5.8 million assumed in liabilities as well as a credit applied at closing of $0.9 million for negative acquired working capital, for a total consideration of $44.2 million. Based upon our preliminary purchase price allocation relating to this acquisition as of December 31, 2012, no goodwill has been recorded. The preliminary allocation of the purchase price has been determined by us based on available information and is subject to settling amounts related to purchased working capital and final appraisals of tangible and intangible assets. Adjustments to the purchase price allocation are not expected to be material.

Effective January 1, 2012, we completed the acquisition of Moses Taylor Healthcare System based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is a healthcare system comprised of two acute care hospitals and other healthcare providers. This healthcare system includes Moses Taylor Hospital (217 licensed beds) located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Mid-Valley Hospital (25 licensed beds) located in Peckville, Pennsylvania. The total cash consideration paid for fixed assets and working capital was approximately $151.1 million and $13.1 million, respectively, with additional consideration of $9.4 million assumed in liabilities, for a total consideration of $173.6 million. Based upon our final purchase price allocation relating to this acquisition as of December 31, 2012, approximately $54.6 million of goodwill has been recorded.

Additionally, during 2012, we paid approximately $41.5 million to acquire the operating assets and related businesses of certain physician practices, clinics and other ancillary businesses that operate within the communities served by our hospitals. In connection with these acquisitions, we assumed approximately $2.0 million in net working capital liabilities and allocated approximately $10.2 million of the consideration paid to property and equipment and the remainder, approximately $33.3 million consisting of intangible assets that do not qualify for separate recognition, to goodwill. These acquisition transactions were accounted for as purchase business combinations.

Sources of Revenue

The following table presents the approximate percentages of operating revenues, net of contractual allowances and discounts (but before provision for bad debts), by payor source for the periods indicated. The data for the periods presented are not strictly comparable due to the effect that hospital acquisitions have had on these statistics.

                                                       Year Ended December 31,

                                                 2012             2011          2010

   Medicare                                       26.0  %(1)       26.8  %       27.4  %

   Medicaid                                        9.8  %           9.7  %       10.7  %

   Managed Care and other third-party payors      51.2  %          51.5  %       50.4  %

   Self-pay                                       13.0  %          12.0  %       11.5  %


   Total                                         100.0  %         100.0  %      100.0  %

(1) Excludes the $84.3 million reimbursement settlement and payment update as discussed below.

As shown above, we receive a substantial portion of our revenues from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Included in Managed Care and other third-party payors is operating revenues from insurance companies with which we have insurance provider contracts, Medicare managed care, insurance companies for which we do not have insurance provider contracts, workers' compensation carriers and non-patient service revenue, such as rental income and cafeteria sales. In the future, we generally expect revenues received from the Medicare and Medicaid programs to increase due to the general aging of the population. In addition, the Reform Legislation, currently in effect, should increase the number of insured patients, which, in turn, should reduce revenues from self-pay patients and reduce our provision for bad debts. The Reform Legislation, however, imposes significant reductions in amounts the government pays Medicare managed care plans. The trend toward increased enrollment in Medicare managed care may adversely affect our operating revenue growth. Other provisions in the Reform Legislation impose minimum medical-loss ratios and require insurers to meet specific benefit requirements. Furthermore, in the normal course of business, managed care programs, insurance companies and employers actively negotiate the amounts paid to hospitals. There can be no assurance that we will retain our existing reimbursement arrangements or that these third-party payors will not attempt to further reduce the rates they pay for our services.

Net operating revenues include amounts estimated by management to be reimbursable by Medicare and Medicaid under prospective payment systems and provisions of cost-based reimbursement and other payment methods. In addition, we are reimbursed by non-governmental payors using a variety of payment methodologies. Amounts we receive for treatment of patients covered by these programs are generally less than the standard billing rates. We account for the differences between the estimated program reimbursement rates and the standard billing rates as contractual allowance adjustments, which we deduct from gross revenues to arrive at net operating revenues. Final settlements under some of these programs are subject to adjustment based on administrative review and audit by third parties. We account for adjustments to previous program reimbursement estimates as contractual allowance adjustments and report them in the periods that such adjustments become known. During the year ended December 31, 2012, we recognized a net after-tax benefit of $46.0 million from the resolution of an industry-wide governmental settlement and a payment update related to prior periods. Other than these items, contractual allowance adjustments related to final settlements and previous program reimbursement estimates impacted net operating revenues and net income by an insignificant amount in each of the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

The payment rates under the Medicare program for hospital inpatient and outpatient acute care services are based on a prospective payment system, depending upon the diagnosis of a patient's condition. These rates are indexed for inflation annually, although increases have historically been less than actual inflation. On August 31, 2012, CMS issued the final rule to adjust this index by 2.6% for hospital inpatient acute care services that are reimbursed under the prospective payment system. The final rule also made other payment adjustments that, coupled with the 0.7% multifactor productivity reduction and a 0.1% reduction to hospital inpatient rates implemented pursuant to the Reform Legislation, yielded an estimated net 2.3% increase in reimbursement for hospital inpatient acute care services beginning October 1, 2012. Reductions in the rate of increase or overall reductions in Medicare reimbursement may cause a decline in the growth of our net operating revenues.

Currently, several states utilize supplemental reimbursement programs for the purpose of providing reimbursement to providers to offset a portion of the cost of providing care to Medicaid and indigent patients. These programs are designed with input from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and are funded with a combination of state and federal resources, including, in certain instances, fees or taxes levied on the providers. Similar programs are also being considered by other states. After these supplemental programs are signed into law, we recognize revenue and related expenses in the period in which amounts are estimable and collection is reasonably assured. Reimbursement under these programs is reflected in net operating revenues and included as Medicaid revenue in the table above, and fees, taxes or other program related costs are reflected in other operating costs and expenses.

In addition, specified managed care programs, insurance companies and employers are actively negotiating the amounts paid to hospitals. The trend toward increased enrollment in managed care may adversely affect our net operating revenue growth.

Results of Operations

Our hospitals offer a variety of services involving a broad range of inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical services. These include general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic services, psychiatric and rehabilitation services. The strongest demand for hospital services generally occurs during January through April and the weakest demand for these services occurs during the summer months. Accordingly, eliminating the effect of new acquisitions, our net operating revenues and earnings are historically highest during the first quarter and lowest during the third quarter.

The following tables summarize, for the periods indicated, selected operating data.

                                                                       Year Ended December 31,

                                                         2012                      2011                   2010
                                                        (Expressed as a percentage of net operating revenues)

Consolidated

Net operating revenues                                  100.0         %           100.0         %        100.0      %

Operating expenses (a)                                  (85.1)                    (85.0)                 (84.5)

Depreciation and amortization                           (5.6)                     (5.5)                  (5.4)


Income from operations                                   9.3                       9.5                    10.1

Interest expense, net                                   (4.7)                     (5.4)                  (5.8)

Loss from early extinguishment of debt                  (0.9)                     (0.5)                    -

Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates          0.3                       0.4                    0.4

Impairment of long-lived assets                         (0.1)                       -                      -


Income from continuing operations before income
taxes                                                    3.9                       4.0                    4.7

Provision for income taxes                              (1.2)                     (1.2)                  (1.5)


Income from continuing operations                        2.7                       2.8                    3.2

Loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes           -                       (0.5)                  (0.1)

. . .