In the 1960s, Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr. led an effort by a group of physicians to build Park View Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. By the mid-1960s, Dr. Frist and other Park View physicians were seeking a group to manage the hospital and provide capital to expand and to maintain the latest medical technology. In 1968, Dr. Frist, Jack C. Massey and Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr. formed their own hospital management company - Hospital Corporation of America, today known simply as HCA.

Soon HCA decided to expand the scope of its venture by assembling a group of hospitals, in order to create economies of scale and enhance the quality of care in communities across the country. One of the nation's first hospital companies, HCA worked closely with local physicians and used innovative business practices and private capital to improve quality and reduce costs.

The company grew rapidly, building new hospitals in under-served communities, acquiring facilities and contracting to manage hospitals for other owners. Using its financial resources, management expertise and medical background, HCA focused on a core group of market-leading hospitals, an operating strategy it employs today.

With 11 hospitals, HCA filed its initial public offering in 1969. By the end of the year, HCA had 26 hospitals and 3,000 beds. The company invested capital to ensure that hospitals met the needs of their local communities. And while HCA provided support and resources to its facilities, hospital management decisions were made locally.

The 1970s were characterized by rapid growth in the industry and also for HCA. In the early 1980s, the focus shifted to consolidation with HCA 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, which had grown to operate 463 hospitals (255 owned and 208 managed), spun off HealthTrust, a privately owned, 104-hospital company. Believing its stock was undervalued, the company completed a $5.1 billion leveraged buyout in 1988. HCA re-emerged as a public company in 1992.

In February 1994, HCA merged with Columbia, which had acquired Galen Health Care (formerly Humana) in September 1993. The new company then acquired Medical Care America and several other healthcare businesses, quickly building a comprehensive healthcare network. At its peak, the $20 billion company had approximately 285,000 employees, more than 350 hospitals, 145 outpatient surgery centers, 550 home care agencies and several other ancillary businesses.

In 1997, Dr. Frist, Jr. and Jack O. Bovender returned as Chairman and CEO and Chief Operating Officer, respectively. Immediately together, they announced plans to restructure the company and focus on providing high quality healthcare through a core group of market leading hospitals. HCA sold its non-hospital businesses as well as several facilities that did not fit the company's strategy. Bovender now serves as Chairman and CEO while Dr. Frist, Jr. continues to serve on the company's Board of Directors. Richard M. Bracken is HCA's President and Chief Operating Officer.

HCA owns and operates approximately 182 hospitals and approximately 94 freestanding surgery centers in 22 states, England and Switzerland. We are dedicated to providing healthcare services that meet each community's local healthcare needs. We seek to integrate various services to deliver patient care with maximum quality and efficiency. Our approach includes focusing on quality; streamlining operations; sharing technology, equipment and personnel where appropriate; and using economies of scale when contracting for medical supplies and administrative services.

HPG as a group purchasing organization (GPO) strives to offer the best price for clinically recommended products while continously evaluating and improving the overall service provided to our members' patients, physicians and clinicians. HCA established HPG as a GPO in May 1999 to offer purchasing support to its spin-off companies, LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. and Triad Hospitals, Inc. Since public inception, HPG's membership has more than tripled with approximately $6B in annual purchasing volume and more than 1,100 members -- a true testament to our contracting success.

HPG meets its members' needs by negotiating national contracts with market-leading manufacturers at highly competitive prices, providing unparalleled customer service, incorporating its members' input into contracting strategies, and working to ensure continuous access to superior products and services.

With respect to our vendor relationship, we require and appreciate assistance from our vendors as we work to support the efforts of our member facilities to provide quality patient care. Our goal is to partner with our vendors to offer our member facilities the best quality products available, in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. Since our sincere intent is to establish a vendor relationship using the highest legal, moral, and ethical standards, HPG closely reviews each Prospective Vendor Questionnaire to ensure that contracts are negotiated only with companies with superior reputations and the highest quality products.

With the benefit choices available at HCA, the decision is yours. You choose the benefits that best meet your needs.

Choices include:

Medical

Dental

Vision Care

Employee Life Insurance

Dependent Life Insurance

Long-Term Disability

Healthcare Flexible Spending Account

Day Care Flexible Spending Account

HCA Retirement Plan

401(k)

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Long-Term Care Insurance

Adoption Assistance Program

Child Care Center Discounts

ConSern Student Loan Program

Laser Surgery Discounts at LaserVision

HCA Announces National 2005 Frist Humanitarian Award Recipients

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- HCA (NYSE: HCA) today announced the recipients of the 2005 Frist Humanitarian Award. Pam Watkins, Director of Health Information Management at Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome, Ga., and Margie Cartwright, a volunteer at the Nevada Neurosciences Institute at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, were honored today during a ceremony in Nashville.

Created in 1971, the awards honor outstanding individuals for their humanitarian and volunteer activities. The Frist Humanitarian Awards are given annually in recognition of the caring spirit and philanthropic work of the late Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr., a founder of HCA. Employees and volunteers who demonstrate commitment and dedication to care giving and humanitarianism are selected around the country and honorees are recognized at the local level. The two national recipients are selected from more than 200 local honorees.

The highest honor HCA employees and volunteers can receive, the Frist Humanitarian Award includes a $5,000 donation to the charity of the recipient's choice, $5,000 in cash and $1,000 in HCA stock.

Pam Watkins has worked at Redmond Regional Medical Center for 18 years. In that time she has touched countless lives at the hospital with acts of selflessness and compassion. When a co-worker's husband was injured in a serious auto accident, she spent hours at the hospital comforting family members. During the holidays, she organized the collection of donations for the family as he was unable to work for many months.

Watkins is active in cooking meals at a local homeless shelter, volunteers for United Way and is a mentor at an elementary school. She also provides much-needed transportation for a legally blind colleague.

Her most impressive gift came when she learned of a coworker who needed a kidney transplant. She immediately offered to be a donor and even after suffering postoperative complications noted that she never regretted giving another a new chance at life.

"Pam is a living example of the meaning of selflessness," said Jack O. Bovender, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HCA. "In addition to her many daily acts of kindness and service, she even put her own well-being at risk for another. This is a truly inspiring story."

Margie Cartwright has logged more than 15,500 hours in 13 years of volunteering at Sunrise Hospital. Cartwright does not own a car, so she rises at 2:30 each morning in order to catch the bus to the hospital and be the first person patients see in the morning.

Having once worked as a practical nurse makes her an integral part of the neurosciences floor and rehabilitation team where she helps bathe patients, answers call lights, makes beds, feeds patients and assists with discharges and transfers.

Often working more than eight hours at a time, she is renowned for high energy levels and never sits down. In the rare times she is not attending to a patient's need, she literally stands at the ready in order to answer call lights more quickly.

"Margie is an inspiration," noted Bovender. "After completing a career as a nurse, she has continued to devote her life to serving others. Her years of dedication have undoubtedly touched more lives in more ways than anyone will ever know."

HCA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to work force diversity. We invite you to see how our career opportunities can help you achieve the things you want most in life.