National Physicians Week & Doctors’ Day 2021: a letter of gratitude to physicians across HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare was founded by physicians who led with the premise that the system should support the highest quality care, the most efficient practice and give voice to physicians. Those principles served us well during what has been an extraordinarily challenging year, and roughly 12 months into the pandemic, our commitment to them has never been stronger.

We are proud of the work you do, and over the last year that pride has only deepened. If ever there was a time to share our appreciation during Doctors Day and Physicians Week, it is clearly now. We thank you for your dedication to the patients and communities we are privileged to serve.

While these are difficult times for all, we know that it is a particularly trying season for physician practices. Never have those patients and communities needed you more, yet we’ve had to devise the COVID medical response in real time. Much progress has been made, and thanks to your leadership COVID-19 patients are nearly 30 percent more likely to survive than one year ago.

As a “learning health system,” we have the capacity to generate knowledge from more than 32 million annual patient encounters. In 2020, we cared for more than 122,000 COVID-19 positive inpatients, more than any other system in the country, and over the course of the year we published or have in press, submission or late-stage preparation nearly 50 research manuscripts. Your work inspired our formation of a public/private research consortium to use HCA Healthcare’s vast COVID data to accelerate answers to COVID’s most pressing questions. Known as CHARGE, the “Consortium of HCA Healthcare and Academia for Research GEneration,” the consortium attracted partners including AHRQ, Cleveland Clinic, Columbia University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Meharry Medical College and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, among others.

Meanwhile, beyond your heroic response to COVID, we know other patient needs continued and you were there to answer those as well. You have shown incredible commitment, heartwarming compassion and remarkable resilience, being there for all patients amidst unprecedented challenges.

We continue to strive to make HCA Healthcare a place where you can provide the highest quality, safest, and most efficient patient care while also growing your practice.

As we celebrate you this Doctors Day and Physicians Week, please know we have never been more proud to work alongside you…and are grateful for all you do for this organization, your communities, our patients and humanity.

Sincerely,

Sam Hazen                                                                                     Jon Perlin, MD, PhD

Chief Executive Officer, HCA Healthcare                                        Chief Medical Officer, HCA Healthcare