Report highlights significant efforts of HCA Healthcare in advancing patient care, supporting its colleagues and investing in its communities

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today released its annual Impact Report that reflects on the past year and highlights HCA Healthcare’s positive impact throughout the country.

“This annual Impact Report highlights the teamwork and commitment of our physicians, nurses and other colleagues, and I am grateful for their dedication and the positive impact they have on others,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “The report demonstrates how our integrated network creates more resources, more solutions and more possibilities for everyone who walks through our doors.”

The HCA Healthcare Impact Report highlights significant efforts of the organization in advancing patient care, supporting its colleagues and investing in its communities. For additional details on these areas, please visit HCAhealthcareImpact.com to learn more.

Dedication to patients

Last year, HCA Healthcare was responsible for more than 35 million patient encounters, and the organization uses these interactions to develop and share best practices across its enterprise to help continuously improve patient care. As of December 2021, HCA Healthcare facilities achieved a median door-to-needle time of 35 minutes for stroke care, which is 42% faster than the national stroke treatment goal of 60 minutes set by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

HCA Healthcare provides one of the most generous patient financial assistance programs in the country. In 2021, HCA Healthcare contributed charity care, uninsured discounts and other uncompensated care at an estimated cost of more than $3.3 billion.

As part of its continued commitment to providing equitable access to care, in 2021, the organization formed the HCA Healthcare Health Equity Council to analyze data related to patient outcomes, explore opportunities to address disparities and pursue partnerships with outside organizations. The findings from HCA Healthcare’s annual equitable outcomes analysis have been used to shape the focus of initiatives undertaken by the council, including partnerships with community organizations and industry partners to address specific opportunities related to cardiovascular health, cancer screenings and navigation services, and maternal health for communities of color.

Innovations for care and research

As a learning health system, research and innovation are at the forefront of how HCA Healthcare operates. The HCA Healthcare Research Institute (HRI), a multispecialty clinical research arm focused on advancing therapies for patients, conducts large-scale clinical research and collaborates with institutions to unlock insights into real-world data and clinical studies that help lead to scientific breakthroughs and transform patient care.

To help accelerate the understanding and treatment of COVID-19, in January 2021, HCA Healthcare formed a consortium of prominent public and private research institutions to use its vast data on COVID-19 hospital care to improve patient outcomes and public knowledge. HCA Healthcare has treated more COVID-19 inpatients than any other health system in the country, including more than 160,000 in 2021 and more than 271,000 total from February 2020 to December 2021.The institutions, including the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Meharry Medical College, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and others, have access to the data in a research program directed by HRI. As of December 31, 2021, 12 studies were being conducted or had been completed using de-identified data from more than 210,000 patients in the HCA Healthcare COVID-19 Registry.

Supporting colleagues

HCA Healthcare offers a variety of programs and benefits to support its more than 283,000 colleagues through professional development and higher education. The organization’s tuition assistance program provides up to $5,250 in tuition assistance to eligible colleagues each year (lifetime maximums apply), and approximately $40 million is reimbursed to colleagues annually. Additionally, HCA Healthcare’s Leadership Institute invested more than 210,200 hours of training for more than 78,600 participants in 2021.

HCA Healthcare remains focused on strengthening the diversity of its colleagues. In 2021, 35% of the organization’s new hires to management and supervisory roles were people of color, a 10% increase from the prior year.

Investing in and advancing clinicians

HCA Healthcare is dedicated to listening to its clinicians and providing them with the tools they need. After receiving feedback from colleagues, HCA Healthcare committed more than $100 million in capital nursing investment over the last two years for resources and equipment that gives facilities a portion of funds to enhance patient care based on nurses' assessment of where it is needed most.

To expand access to nursing education, HCA Healthcare opened three new Galen College of Nursing campuses in 2021 of which it is the majority owner. HCA Healthcare’s tuition assistance program includes the HCA Healthcare-Galen College of Nursing Grant, which allows direct billing between the two organizations which translates to zero out-of-pocket tuition costs for colleagues pursuing an online RN to BSN.

Caring for communities

Whether through volunteering, making charitable donations or partnering with other organizations, HCA Healthcare is committed to creating healthier tomorrows for its communities. HCA Healthcare colleagues showed up in their communities, volunteering more than 99,600 hours collectively last year.

In 2021, HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation gave more than $41 million to community organizations, including those focused on addressing disaster relief, education and high priority community needs, as well as matching gifts to support colleagues’ charities of choice. In May 2021, the HCA Healthcare Foundation’s presence was expanded with the launch of its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, an $80 million community impact fund established to support initiatives focused on high-priority community needs and health equity in 25 communities in five states where HCA Healthcare has a presence.

HCA Healthcare is committed to creating a more diverse pipeline of healthcare professionals and leaders. In May 2021, the organization announced a $10 million commitment over three years to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in communities where HCA Healthcare has a presence.

HCA Healthcare’s commitment to the care and improvement of human life extends to the impact the organization has on the environment and is reflected in our ongoing efforts to understand, manage and mitigate climate-related risks. The organizations’ inaugural Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report outlines steps taken to better understand climate-related risks, including an initial climate-focused risk assessment, using scenarios developed by the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

For more information about the annual HCA Healthcare Impact Report, visit HCAhealthcareImpact.com.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals and approximately 2,200 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 35 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.

All references to “Company,” “HCA” and “HCA Healthcare” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220407005112/en/