Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare doesn’t plan any significant changes to its market footprint, but the system will be “opportunistic” if acquisition opportunities emerge, CEO Sam Hazen said.
Mr. Hazen discussed the system’s market strategy during HCA’s Oct. 27 third-quarter earnings call after an analyst asked whether HCA is considering market exits or acquisitions as competitors face financial headwinds.
“We’re built to be bigger. We know that, but we just haven’t seen a lot of opportunities yet,” he said. “If opportunities do develop, as usual, we’ll be opportunistic and take a look at whether or not it’s affordable, whether or not we can execute our model and make the right decision at that particular juncture.”
HCA competes in about 43 U.S. markets. Mr. Hazen said the system has spent the last seven to eight years assessing whether it can execute its model in each one and has “largely pruned the portfolio of HCA down to the markets that we think can go the distance.” Its current footprint allows HCA to focus its capital spending, talent and resources on markets with “a very significant growth prospect,” he said.
HCA is continuing to build out its outpatient network. Mr. Hazen said the system is investing in urgent care centers, ambulatory surgery centers and other outpatient facilities as opportunities develop. HCA is also adding beds and capacity at its hospitals, where inpatient occupancy is at an all-time high and “pushing 75%,” he said.
HCA operated 189 hospitals as of Sept. 30, down from 191 a year earlier. It also operated about 2,600 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding emergency rooms, urgent care centers and physician clinics, in 19 states and the U.K.
The system reported net income of $1.58 billion in the third quarter of 2026, down from $1.64 billion during the same period last year.
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