He has outlined several measures including a review of the Victorian portfolio due by end of October and broader portfolio overhaul to identify new areas of investment due by December.

However, investors were not impressed with performance, selling down the stock by 15.3 per cent, or 34 cents, to $1.86 on Wednesday, wiping more than $570 million off its market capitalisation.

Mr Ballantyne expects 2018 full-year operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the company's key hospitals division to be broadly in line to that of 2017 - which is 8 per cent below consensus. He flagged that first-half operating EBITDA is expected to decline year-on-year before ticking up again in the second half

Healthscope has been hit softer market conditions and margin pressure as costs increased more than than health fund prices increased. The company is also facing declining private health insurance participation rate by consumers.

Mr Ballantyne, a former Telstra executive who took over the top job in May from Robert Cooke, said a change in strategy is not on deck.

"Given the challenging year we just completed it would not be appropriate to talk about future strategy, we have a job to do to attend to our core business and seeing the growth and return on our investment of $1.2 billion that we are investing over the next couple years to expand our hospitals footprint," he told The Australian Financial Review.

"I think a change in strategy would not be appropriate at this stage of my tenure."

Mr Ballantyne's comment came after presenting his first results as CEO when the nation's second-largest private hospitals operator posted near 40 per cent slide in full-year net profit, with its bottom line impacted by an impairment loss of $54.7 million in relation to the sale of the group's medical centres announced mid-August.

Operating NPAT was down 5.6 per cent to $180 million. The company said full-year 2017 revenue was up 3.8 per cent to $2318 million while operating EBITDA climbed 3.5 per cent to $411.4 million.

Earnings at its key hospitals business posted a marginal increase in 2017, but was flat in the second half and missed guidance for around 2.2 per cent growth.

Mr Ballantyne pointed to Tasmania and Victoria as problematic; EBITDA declined 8.7 per cent in second half due to wage inflation and increased competition. He also revealed a $11.5 million impairment charge against Geelong Hospital.

NZ Pathology delivered a strong result, boosted by new contract wins, but with no new contracts coming online performance is likely to moderate this year.

One fund manger who is not a shareholder said the strategy has not changed much since Mr Ballantyne's arrival, and needs better execution, especially around Victoria hospitals.

Mr Ballantyne has a tough job ahead as his predecessor warned many months ago of falling growth in hospital revenues and profits.

Mr Ballantyne thinks philosophically about healthcare given its greater purpose of providing quality care for every citizen.

"I'd say transitioning to healthcare from other roles at Telstra and my past life, it's easy to fall in love with healthcare," he said.

He said he is focused on driving above market revenue growth this year given Healthscope's underperformance of 3.5 per cent growth compared with the APRA data showing market growth at 5.2 per cent.

Merrill Lynch analyst William Dunlop said if weak conditions persist Healthscope may need to raise further capital.

Healthscope's hospital expansion program is its growth engine. It had five projects completed in 2017 adding 214 beds, with another seven under way which will add 566 beds and another three are approved. Mr Ballanyne said its largest development the Northern Beaches project is running on time and on budget, and is due to open in December 2018 with "a lot of doctors interested in this facility".

Mr Ballantyne added he was confident about its major hospital expansion program which delivered positive results and while it is early days for some facilities, over the coming years these projects will drive strong earnings growth and shareholder value.