12 Leading For-Profit Acute-Care Hospital Companies

Here are 12 of the leading for-profit acute-care hospital companies in the United States.


Healthcare Corporation of America.
Healthcare Corporation of America is a leading provider of healthcare services, overseeing 163 locally-managed hospitals and 112 outpatient centers in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1968, HCA was one of the first hospital companies to operate in the United States. Nashville-based HCA and its affiliates currently employ approximately 183,000 people, and the company posted revenues of more than $28 billion in 2008.

HCA President and CEO Richard Bracken has been with the company since 1981, having held various executive positions including CEO of the Green Hospital of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in San Diego, Calif., and CEO of Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Bracken also served as president of HCA's Pacific division before being named CEO.

Community Health Systems.
Brentwood, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems is one of the largest for-profit health service providers in the United States. Through its subsidiaries, CHS owns, operates or leases 122 acute-care hospitals in 29 states, with more than 18,000 total licensed beds. In more than 65 percent of the markets CHS serves, the CHS facility is the sole provider of healthcare services. CHS was founded in 1985 and went public in June 2000. During 2008, CHS generated approximately $10.8 billion in revenue.

CHS is led by Wayne Smith, president, CEO and chairman of the board. Mr. Smith has been with CHS since 1997, helping the company achieve a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent since his arrival. Prior to joining CHS, Mr. Smith was with Humana for 23 years where he held a variety of senior management positions including president and COO.

Health Management Associates. Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates currently operates 56 hospitals in 15 states with approximately 8,100 licensed beds. The company employs approximately 32,000 employees and hosts a total medical staff of approximately 8,000 physicians. HMA was founded in 1977 to own, lease and manage hospitals throughout the United States, and in 1983, the company redirected its focus toward acquiring, improving and operating underperforming hospitals in non-urban areas. Since then, HMA has become a leading niche operator of acute-care medical hospitals in the Southeast and Southwest.

Gary Newsome serves as president and CEO of Health Management Associates. Mr. Newsome previously served as division president of hospital operations and president of group operations for Community Health Systems. Prior to joining CHS, he was with HMA from 1993-1998 where he served as a divisional vice president of group operations, assistant vice president of group operations and hospital CEO.

Universal Health Services. Universal Health Services, based in King of Prussia, Pa., owns and operates, through its subsidiaries, more than 50 acute-care and surgical hospitals in addition to behavioral health centers, ASCs and radiation oncology centers in the United States and Puerto Rico. Founded in 1978 by Alan Miller, UHS-affiliated facilities now employ more than 38,000 people.

Mr. Miller has served as UHS's president, CEO and chairman of the board since the company's founding. Prior to starting UHS, Mr. Miller served as president, CEO and chairman of the board for American Medicorp.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. With nearly 50 acute-care hospitals in 11 states employing 58,000 workers and $8.6 billion in net operating revenues for 2008, Dallas-based Tenet is one of the largest hospital corporations. Tenet's facilities saw more than 30,000 admissions and 4 million outpatient visits in 2008 alone.  

Tenet is led by Trevor Fetter, president and CEO, who has held this post since 2003. Mr. Fetter previously served as the chairman and CEO of Broadlane, a leading provider of cost-management services to both investor-owned and non-profit hospitals. He also currently serves as the chair of the board for the Federation of American Hospitals, which represents investor-owned community hospitals throughout the United States.

LifePoint Hospitals. Established in 1999 as a spinoff of HCA, Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint's mission is to develop strong, community-based hospitals in non-urban markets. LifePoint currently operates more than 45 hospitals in 18 states, most of which serve as the only acute-care facility in their communities. LifePoint employs approximately 21,000 people and focuses on providing management, enhanced medical services, dedicated physician recruitment, state-of-the-art technology and capital resources to its community hospitals.

LifePoint is led by president and CEO William Carpenter III, who has served in this position since 2006. Previously, Mr. Carpenter served as executive vice president, general council and corporate governance officer for the company.

National Surgical Hospitals.
Founded in 1998 and based in Chicago, National Surgical Hospitals partners with local physicians to develop freestanding surgical hospitals. NSH is one of the most highly capitalized specialty hospital companies, and currently has an ownership stake in 23 specialty hospitals across the United States, five of which were recently named the best hospitals in their respective states by Consumer Reports.

Under the guidance of John Rex-Waller, NSH's chairman, president and CEO, NSH has continued to grow, opening or acquiring interests in four facilities in 2008. NSH had revenues of $250 million in 2007 and employs more than 1,500 people at its facilities. Mr. Rex-Waller previously served as the CFO of Hawk Medical Supply and prior to that served as the CFO and a co-founder of National Surgery Centers, which was one the largest independent owners and operators of ASCs in the country.

IASIS Healthcare. Founded in 1998, IASIS Healthcare is a leading owner and operator of community-focused hospitals in high-growth markets. IASIS, based in Franklin, Tenn., currently owns and operates 15 general, acute-care hospitals and one behavioral hospital in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, Texas and Utah. IASIS Healthcare also owns and operates Health Choice, a Medicaid and Medicare managed health plan in Phoenix.

David White leads the company as chairman and CEO, bringing more than 30 years of experience leading multi-state hospital companies to the position. Prior to his appointment at IASIS, Mr. White served as CEO of LifeTrust America, an operator of assisted-living centers and as president of the Atlantic Group at Columbia/HCA, where he was responsible for 43 hospitals in nine states.

Vanguard Health System. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems owns and operates 15 hospitals and complementary healthcare services in Arizona, Massachusetts, Illinois and Texas, developing locally-branded, comprehensive healthcare delivery networks in urban markets, and targeting acquisitions where there are opportunities to partner with leading delivery systems in new urban markets.

Vanguard is currently overseen by Charles Martin, Jr., who has served as Vanguard's chairman and CEO since the company's inception in 1997. Prior to forming Vanguard, Mr. Martin served as chairman, president and CEO of OrNda HealthCorp. Under his leadership, OrNda grew from revenue of $450 million to $3 billion in four years to become the nation's third largest investor-owned hospital management company.

Capella Healthcare.
Franklin, Tenn.-based Capella Healthcare was founded in 2005 by hospital executives with management experience in more than 200 hospitals nationwide. Capella currently operates 13 non-urban, general acute-care hospitals in partnership with communities that are growing or have service needs that are not currently being met. Capella is backed by GTCR Golder Rauner, one of the nation's leading private equity firms, committing an initial $200 million in equity to Capella in 2005.

Capella is led by co-founder Daniel Slipkovich, who currently serves as CEO. In this role, Mr. Slipkovich oversees all facets of the company's strategies, operations, finances and corporate governance. Mr. Slipkovich previously served as president and COO for Province Healthcare, a rural hospital company which was acquired in April 2005 by LifePoint Hospitals. At Province, Mr. Slipkovich oversaw the operations of 21 non-urban hospitals.

Ardent Health Services.
Nashville-based Ardent Health Services owns and operates 11 acute-care hospitals in addition to two multi-specialty physician groups, a 220,000-member health plan and one national medical laboratory. Ardent was founded in 1993 as Behavioral Healthcare Corp., an owner and operator of psychiatric hospitals. In 2001, one of the largest private equity investors in healthcare — Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe — became majority owner and began to acquire medical/surgical hospitals and health systems. In 2005, Ardent sold its behavioral hospitals, thus completing its transformation into a acute-care-focused operator.

Ardent is led by president and CEO David Vandewater, who brings more than 30 years of healthcare management expertise to the company. Prior to joining Ardent, Mr. Vandewater served as president and COO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation.
Mr. Vandewater is also a past chairman of the Federation of American Hospitals.

Legacy Hospital Partners. Established in Jan. 2008 by James Shannon and Daniel Moen, Plano, Texas-based Legacy Hospital Partners boasts an experienced management team that owns, operates and manages acute-care hospitals in small cities and in select urban markets throughout the United States. Legacy's core competencies include acquiring, operating, developing and managing acute-care hospitals, and its unique development strategy focuses on acquiring and developing hospitals in partnership with various not-profit hospital companies.

Legacy is currently led by Mr. Moen, who serves as CEO. Mr. Moen previously served as executive vice president for development at Triad Hospitals and began his healthcare career with Humana in 1977, working there in positions of increasing responsibility for 14 years.

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