Despite labor shortage and supply cost challenges that have been affecting hospital operators across the country, King of Prussia-based Universal Health Services is bucking trends and continuing to execute its growth strategy, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The 45-year-old publicly traded hospital management company prefers to grow through new partnerships with nonprofit health systems that focus on opening new behavioral health hospitals together.

The model has proven to be a successful one. UHS ranked at No. 311 on the Fortune 500 and saw its revenue go up by 6.6 percent last year to $14.3 billion.

Additionally, its net income went up 6.2 percent to $717.8 million.

“Right now, we’re evaluating 40 opportunities,” said Marc D. Miller, the CEO of UHS.

“And we have had many more than 40 phone calls where we’ve said we don’t see a match here.”

UHS runs seven behavioral health hospitals in the Philadelphia region, including Horsham Clinic and Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital in Fort Washington.

The company decided to focus on behavioral health hospitals after it was repeatedly informed by health systems, that they were being overburdened by their acute care operations.

Read more about Universal Health Services and how it continues to buck trends in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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