financial terms, can be found in a Current Report on Form8-K filed by MEDNAX on May 6, 2020 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company’s discussion of its results from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and the prior year quarter includes the operating results from American Anesthesiology.
Operating Results from Continuing Operations
MEDNAX’s net revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $845.9 million, compared to $851.2 million for the prior-year period. MEDNAX’s same-unit revenue declined by 1.0 percent, slightly offset by growth attributable to recent acquisitions.
Same-unit revenue from net reimbursement-related factors increased by 1.0 percent for the 2020 first quarter as compared to the prior-year period. The net increase in revenue was primarily due to hospital contract administrative fees and modest improvements in managed care contracting.
The percentage of services reimbursed under government programs increased by approximately 25 basis points for the 2020 first quarter compared with the prior-year period.
Same-unit revenue attributable to patient volume decreased by 2.0 percent for the 2020 first quarter as compared to the prior-year period, driven by declines across all service lines except for neonatology. For the quarter, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patient days increased by 0.3 percent compared to the prior-year period, which reflects slightly lower births at the hospitals where MEDNAX-affiliated practices provide neonatology services, offset by a modest increase in average length of stay.
For the 2020 first quarter, practice salaries and benefits expense was $652.7 million, compared to $621.5 million for the prior-year period, an increase of $31.2 million. Of this increase, approximately $10 million reflects growth in medical malpractice and othernon-salary expenses, while the remainder was attributable to growth in clinical compensation expense.
For the 2020 first quarter, general and administrative expenses were $105.2 million, as compared to $101.8 million for the prior-year period. This increase in general and administrative expenses compared to the prior-year period primarily reflects increases in legal and othernon-labor expenses, partially offset by net staffing reductions.
As previously disclosed, MEDNAX has incurred certain expenses related to transformational and restructuring activities. For the first quarter of 2020, these expenses totaled $30.9 million, which includes $28.0 million related to external consulting costs for various process improvement and transformational activities, primarily focused on enterprise replatforming and information technology, and $2.9 million related to position eliminations, contract termination fees and portfolio management activities.
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, which is defined as earnings from continuing operations before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and transformational and restructuring related expenses, was $63.4 million for the 2020 first quarter, compared to $104.9 million for the prior-year period.