HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides health care services company in the United States. The company operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. 

It also operates outpatient health care facilities consisting of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices, and various other facilities. 

In addition, the company operates psychiatric hospitals, which provide therapeutic programs comprising child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adolescent and adult alcohol, drug abuse treatment, and counseling services. 

As of December 31, 2021, it operated 182 hospitals, including 175 general and acute care hospitals, five psychiatric hospitals, and two rehabilitation hospitals; 125 freestanding surgery centers; and 21 freestanding endoscopy centers in 20 states and England. 

The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Early years

Hospital Corporation of America was founded in 1968 in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas F. Frist Sr., Thomas F. Frist Jr. and Jack C. Massey. The founders envisioned a company that would bring together hospitals to deliver patient-focused care while using the combined resources of the organization to strengthen hospitals and improve the practice of medicine. The company began with Nashville's Park View Hospital, which the elder Frist had founded in 1960 with other doctors and where he was serving as chief executive.The company included 11 hospitals when it filed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 1969 and had 26 hospitals and 3,000 beds by the end of the year.

Growth and merger

The 1970s were characterized by rapid growth in the industry and for HCA Healthcare. In the early 1980s, the focus shifted to consolidation with HCA Healthcare acquiring General Care Corporation, General Health Services, Hospital Affiliates International and Health Care Corporation. By the end of 1981, the company operated 349 hospitals with more than 49,000 beds. Operating revenues had grown to $2.4 billion.In 1987, HCA Healthcare, which had grown to operate 463 hospitals , spun off HealthTrust, a privately owned, 104-hospital company. Believing its stock was undervalued, the company completed a $5.1 billion leveraged management buyout led by chairman Thomas F. Frist, Jr. in 1988. HCA Healthcare re-emerged as a public company in 1992.

In February 1994, HCA Healthcare merged with Louisville, Kentucky-based Columbia Hospital Corporation, which earlier had acquired 73 hospitals of Galen Health Care from Humana, to form Columbia/HCA. Related names of note include HCA International and Health Corporation of America.

Columbia Hospital Corporation

In 1988, Rick Scott and Richard Rainwater each put up $125,000 in working capital in their new company, Columbia Hospital Corporation; they borrowed the remaining money needed to purchase two struggling hospitals in El Paso for $60 million. Then they acquired a neighboring hospital and shut it down. Within a year, the remaining two were doing much better. By the end of 1989, Columbia Hospital Corporation owned four hospitals with a total of 833 beds. In 1992, Columbia made a stock purchase of Basic American Medical, which owned eight hospitals, primarily in southwestern Florida. In September 1993, Columbia did another stock purchase, worth $3.4 billion, of Galen Healthcare, which had been spun off by Humana Inc. several months earlier. At the time, Galen had approximately 90 hospitals. After the purchase, Galen stockholders had 82% of the stock in the combined company, with Scott still running the company.

Recent History

On November 17, 2006, HCA became a private company for the third time when it completed a merger in which the company was acquired by a private investor group including affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bain Capital, together with Merrill Lynch and HCA Healthcare founder Thomas F. Frist, Jr. The total transaction was valued at approximately $33 billion, making it the largest leveraged buyout in history at the time, eclipsing the 1989 buyout of RJR Nabisco. In May 2010, HCA announced that the corporation would once again go public with an expected $4.6-billion IPO as HCA Holdings, Inc. In March 2011, HCA sold 126.2 million shares for $30 each, raising about $3.79 billion, at that time, the largest private-equity backed IPO in U.S. history. In May 2017, the corporation was renamed HCA Healthcare. In December 2018, a historical marker was installed in the parking lot of HCA's Sarah Cannon Cancer Center in Nashville, formerly the location of HCA's first hospital, Park View Hospital. In 2018, the company was ranked No. 67 in the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. 

In May 2021, the company finalized a deal with Google to develop healthcare algorithms using patient records. In August 2021, HCA announced a deal with Venture capital firm General Catalyst to develop digital solutions to streamline workflows and improve patient care; as part of the deal, HCA sold its healthcare app development firm PatientKeeper to General Catalyst's portfolio company Commure.In April 2022, HCA Healthcare announced a $1.5 million partnership with Florida International University’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences, to expand its facilities to address the national nursing shortage. In October 2022, LCMC Health in partnership with Tulane University announced that it would acquire Tulane Medical Center, Lakeview Regional Medical Center, and Tulane Lakeside Hospital from HCA for $150 million pending regulatory approval.

According to the website, the mission of the company is:

"We are committed to delivering healthcare as it should be: patient-centered and for the good of all people, no matter their circumstance. 

In pursuit of our mission, we believe the following value statements are essential and timeless:

We recognize and affirm the unique and intrinsic worth of each individual.

We treat all those we serve with compassion and kindness.

We trust our colleagues as valuable members of our healthcare team and pledge to treat one another with loyalty, respect and dignity.

We act with absolute honesty, integrity and fairness in the way we conduct our business and the way we live our lives."

HCA Healthcare is one of the largest healthcare providers in the United States, and its vision statement is a reflection of the company's goals and aspirations. The vision statement of HCA Healthcare is: "Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life."

The company is committed to improving the lives of patients, and is dedicated to excellence and compassion in all aspects of patient care.

Hospitals: HCA operates a network of over 185 hospitals across the United States, providing inpatient and outpatient care in a variety of medical specialties.

Outpatient Centers: HCA also operates a network of outpatient centers that offer same-day surgery, diagnostic imaging, and other non-inpatient services.

Emergency Care: HCA's emergency care services provide round-the-clock care for patients with urgent medical needs.

Urgent Care: HCA operates a network of urgent care centers that provide convenient, accessible care for non-emergency medical conditions.

Home Health: HCA offers home health services, including nursing care, rehabilitation, and hospice services, to patients who require medical care at home.

Clinical Research: HCA's clinical research program is dedicated to advancing medical knowledge through clinical trials and research studies.

Medical Education: HCA offers medical education and training programs for healthcare professionals, including residency programs, nursing programs, and continuing education courses.