Hospital chain Tenet Healthcare posted a smaller quarterly loss on Tuesday as in-patient revenue per admission increased.
"The quarter I would characterize as one where the trends have been improving," CEO Trevor Fetter said. "All the key drivers of our business -- volume, pricing, and costs -- had metrics moving in the right direction."
The company said its third-quarter net loss narrowed to $59 million, or 12 cents per share, from $89 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, a loss 6 cents per share was a penny better than analyst expectations, according to Reuters Estimates.
Net operating revenue increased 7.5 percent to $2.21 billion.
Hospital admissions for those operated by Tenet at least a year fell 0.8 percent to 135,979, but its in-patient revenue per admission rose 7.8 percent.
Tenet last year entered into a $900 million settlement over allegations of defrauding Medicare with the U.S. government.
Its troubles have hurt ties with doctors, leading many to flee its networks, taking their insured patients with them.
Reuters contributed to this report.