HCA released new earning reports today, showing a rise in profits, probably due in part to the Affordable  Care Act. Credit: NEC Corporation of America via Creative Commons

The Affordable Care Act is proving to be a bigger benefit to Nashville’s hospital companies than they originally anticipated.

Today the hospital chain HCA released earnings reports showing large profits this quarter, in part due to the new health care law. The Nashville based company reported around a 9 percent increase in revenue to total 9 billion dollars this quarter.

HCA President of Operations Sam Hazen told investors that not only do more people have insurance, but they are also going to the hospital more.  “As we look forward and see really the progression throughout the early periods of health care reform, we have seen higher utilization rates than maybe we originally anticipated.”

Because of the additional paying patients, HCA is boosting its revenue forecast by 2 to 3 percent.

Franklin based Community Health Systems has not yet released their earnings for the 2nd quarter. However, Brentwood’s Lifepoint has also seen increased revenue from the health care law — with overall profits jumping 17 percent.