Hospital Corporation of America is the largest private operator of health care facilities in the world. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee. The founders of HCA include Jack C. Massey and Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr, grandfather of former U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist. Richard M. Bracken is the current CEO of HCA. During the 1970s-1980s the corporation went through a tremendous growth period acquiring hundreds of hospitals across the United States which numbered 255 owned and 208 which HCA managed. In 1989, the hospital operator was acquired for $5.3 billion in a management buyout led... by Chairman Thomas J. Frist and completed a successful initial public offering in the 1990s. In 1993 HCA merged with Louisville-based Columbia Hospital Corporation to form Columbia/HCA. In April 1998 Birmingham, Alabama-based HealthSouth Corporation announced it was acquiring the majority of HCA's surgical division. On March 19, 1997, investigators from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services served search warrants at Columbia/HCA facilities in El Paso and on dozens of doctors with suspected ties to the company.
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