HCA Healthcare, Inc.

Is HCA Healthcare a subsidiary of a bigger company?
No. HCA Healthcare, Inc. is the publicly traded parent (NYSE: HCA) of its hospital systems and regional brands.

Is HCA Healthcare publicly traded?
Yes, NYSE: HCA, an S&P 500 component. It was taken private in a 2006 leveraged buyout and re-listed in 2011.

When was HCA Healthcare founded?
In 1968 in Nashville by Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., and Jack Massey.

Who owns HCA Healthcare in 2026?
Public shareholders, predominantly institutions. Sam Hazen is CEO; the Frist family remains influential.

How many hospitals does HCA own?
190 hospitals as of December 31, 2025, plus about 2,500 ambulatory sites of care across 19 states and England.

Does HCA operate outside the U.S.?
Yes, through HCA Healthcare UK, private hospitals and clinics in London and Manchester.

Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., and financier Jack Massey founded Hospital Corporation of America in 1968 in Nashville, launching the investor-owned hospital chain model and taking it public in 1969. Through the 1970s-90s HCA grew to operate hundreds of hospitals globally.

In 1994 HCA merged with Columbia Healthcare, creating the Columbia/HCA behemoth that faced a massive federal fraud investigation, resulting in a $1.7 billion settlement and the departure of CEO Rick Scott. Thomas Frist Jr. returned to lead a rebuild and rebrand as HCA.

The company went private in a landmark $33 billion leveraged buyout in 2006 led by Frist, Bain Capital, and KKR, then returned to public markets in 2011. It grew through regional consolidation, acquiring Mission Health in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2019, and expanding ambulatory surgery, urgent care, and freestanding ER networks.

Under CEO Sam Hazen since 2019, HCA delivered record results through the mid-2020s: FY2025 revenue of $75.6 billion (up 7% year over year) and net income of $6.78 billion, with continued build-out of new hospitals, ERs, and outpatient sites in fast-growing Sun Belt markets.

HCA's historic controversy is the 1990s Columbia/HCA Medicare fraud case, the largest healthcare fraud settlement of its era at $1.7 billion. Modern scrutiny concentrates elsewhere.

The 2019 Mission Health acquisition drew sustained backlash in Western North Carolina over staffing, service cuts, and monopoly concerns under certificate-of-need protections, culminating in North Carolina attorney general investigations and litigation over anticompetitive covenants. HCA also faces recurring labor disputes with nurses' unions over staffing ratios, plus criticism of emergency-room billing, surprise charges, and charity-care levels common to for-profit systems.

Medicare/Medicaid compliance, Trauma-center billing practices, and private-equity-era debt legacies remain perennial regulatory topics for the sector's largest player.