Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Bill Ginocchio with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed.
Paul Ginocchio – Deutsche Bank
I think Bill is my brother actually but this is Paul. A question on the for profits, hospitals had another good quarter again helped by cost savings, but I think also they are seeing an increase in admission, just wondering I know you said that many of you clients are mainly not-for-profit, are just scrutinizing their budgets, but it seems like maybe with the increased admissions that maybe budgets are getting a little bit better, is that the right read or is that still too early to say that?
Robert Musslewhite
It's a good question. I think it is still a member by member, you're looking at right factors, and I probably wouldn't differentiate necessarily between for profits and not-for-profits. I think we're seeing characteristics on both sides, for profit and not-for-profit. So what I look for on the volume side if you are seeing outpatient and surgical volumes go up, that is generally a good sign. We have got a balanced side against bad debt and so areas with large unemployment, sometimes the bad debt can work the other way against that.
Certainly, we are still seeing even in the for profits that you mentioned, Paul, cost control, so if you look at all those reports, I think we see members still focused on cost controls, which can make some of impact on us feel acute. And then I factor in just the reform outlook and how the reform levers are going to play to where they are. So there are still a lot of factors at work in economics. We certainly have some members that are starting to perform pretty well and some members that are still feeling some real economic pressures. So I wouldn't confine that to just the not-for-profit or the for-profit, I think we're seeing it in different areas across the board.
Paul Ginocchio – Deutsche Bank
Thanks. Just a couple more, I think it sounds like overall what you said in your call, the healthcare reform has really driven engagement and is there any way to measure that? Obviously you have launched some new programs, it helped them, is there anyway we could – you can measure the increased engagement just from that healthcare reform?
Robert Musslewhite
Well, on that one, we have had – we just concluded our CEO meetings there. We had seen 700 CEOs in our hospice or in hotels across the country that had been talking to about these issues and those meetings scores have been some of the highest we have had in our history. So I think that we are seeing CEOs really engaged in the topic. It is on everyone's mind and it is one of the things where daily there is new news to get out there and new developments here on Capitol Hill. So I think it is just an area that everyone is interested in, both hospitals, and a lot of people outside of hospitals, so I think it is just naturally something where when people get a needed advice and counsel in terms of how to grapple with some of the plans that come out of reform, they are turning to us more and more for that.
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