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HCA Healthcare celebrates 50 years of improving life, making history

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Logo for HCA Healthcare's 50th anniversary
Exterior view of Park View Hospital

HCA Healthcare’s first hospital, Park View Hospital

2018 is a landmark year for HCA Healthcare: our 50th year as an organization. Since our founding in 1968 by Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., and Jack Massey, we have grown from a single hospital in Nashville, Tennessee to an expansive network of caregivers supported by shared services, solid infrastructure and a common mission to care for and improve human life.

Our founders envisioned a hospital model that empowers physicians and all who support them to provide the best possible care to patients, with warmth and compassion. Throughout the last 50 years, that vision has been embodied by millions of caregivers who have graced the halls of HCA Healthcare hospitals, physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, call centers and other points of care. In communities we serve, our combined efforts have saved, transformed and improved lives. Today, as in years past, each individual member of our HCA Healthcare family brings unique skills to a team that, together, advances the way healthcare is delivered.

Three men in suits and ties

Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., Jack Massey, Dr. Thomas Frist Jr.

Throughout 2018, we’ll pay tribute to the people, ideas and milestones that shaped us. In the earliest days, Dr. Frist, Sr. uttered the words “good people beget good people” and inspired us all to seek out the good in one another. A decade later, former CEO Don MacNaughton mentored a young Dr. Frist, Jr. and challenged him to always look to the big picture, to think about healthcare and not just hospitals. And throughout our history, Dr. Frist, Jr. has set the example for HCA Healthcare’s leadership to model integrity and a purpose-driven, patient-focused vision. Today, our company stands on a firm foundation of shared values. Through times of prosperity and times of uncertainty, we have been able to thrive by looking to these roots for guidance.

HCA Healthcare’s 50-year story is vast and impressive. The theme you will see repeated during this year of celebration is “Improving life. Making history.” Over the course of our 50-year history, we have cared for patients across five continents, made clinical discoveries that affect the way patients are cared for across the healthcare industry, and enriched hundreds of communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. By staying true to our founders’ original vision and our shared values, we will continue to improve life and make history in the years to come.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, is comprised of 183 hospitals and more than 2,300 sites of care, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Our more than 283,000 colleagues are connected by a single purpose — to give patients healthier tomorrows.

As an enterprise, we recognize the significant responsibility we have as a leading healthcare provider within each of the communities we serve, as well as the opportunity we have to improve the lives of the patients for whom we are entrusted to care. Through the compassion, knowledge and skill of our caregivers, and our ability to leverage our scale and innovative capabilities, HCA Healthcare is in a unique position to play a leading role in the transformation of care.

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