HCA’s corporate spokesman, Harlow Sumerford, said it is the company’s goal to provide its 35 million patients with high-quality care they want and deserve. Sumerford said that more than 4 out of 5 HCA hospitals rated by Leapfrog, a national patient safety organization, received an A or B grade, adding, “We are not satisfied and we are continuously looking for ways to improve.” HCA supports its caregivers “through investments in cutting-edge technology and automation, expanded training and education programs, and research designed to drive better outcomes for our patients,” he said. “When there are concerns, we look at those very seriously, we treat each one individually and make sure that we put processes in place that will protect our patients and our team. We treat over 2 million people a year, we get cards and letters and phone calls every day talking about the outstanding work that our caregivers give.”

“We were a great system as Mission Health and we’re an even better system as HCA Mission Health,” she said. A registered nurse, she has worked at Mission since 2012 and disputed criticism of its care and staffing. Jodie Becker is vice president for quality at HCA’s North Carolina Division, which includes Mission Health. Not long after the takeover, she told NBC News, patient-to-staff ratios rose and ancillary staff disappeared. As the burden on nurses increased, often requiring them to do the non-nursing work of those whose jobs were cut, patient care suffered, Fischer said.Įleven other current and former Mission employees echoed Fischer’s views. Sue Fischer is a longtime HCA employee who’s concerned about patient care in her facility. A 17-year registered nurse in a cardiology unit at the hospital that treated Jaquins’ partner, Fischer has worked at Mission both before and after the HCA buyout. Still, 11 current and six former HCA employees in five states told NBC News they believe the company understaffs its hospitals as a practice, helping to keep earnings high but increasing the risks of adverse patient outcomes.īuttressing this view is a new study of HCA’s staffing by a union representing some of its employees. It found the company’s overall staffing levels recently were below the average for other hospitals in 19 of the 20 states where it provided care. Investors are pleased with this performance - HCA’s shares were down only 6.6% in 2022 versus the 19.4% decline of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index.īut some HCA workers are concerned the company’s profit focus is imperiling patient safety and care. Health care providers throughout the U.S. In the first nine months of last year, it earned $4.2 billion. HCA is a health care juggernaut, employing 284,000 people in 182 hospitals and 125 surgery centers across the country and in the U.K. Operating in 20 U.S. states, HCA generated almost $7 billion in earnings in 2021, double that of the prior year, securities filings show. For example, she added, “receiving 5 units would be exceptionally unusual” in such a case. She noted, however, that “there are several reasons which lead us to believe that this particular story does not portray an accurate picture,” she said.

NBC Newsīecause Jaquins’ partner did not want to identify himself, a Mission spokeswoman said in an email that she could not check the specifics of the patient’s experience. But that dynamic changed in 2019, she added, when HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, bought Mission Health System’s six hospitals in western North Carolina.

“Mission Hospital used to be where everyone would go if they wanted good care,” Jaquins said, reflecting on her previous experiences with the health care system. Once there, he received five units of blood, she added, staying in the hospital for four days.Īlthough her partner ended up OK, the long delay in treatment was “abhorrent and unconscionable,” Jaquins said. The couple was told to “take a seat,” she said.įourteen hours later her partner finally got a bed, Jaquins said another five hours went by before the hospital found him a room. Once inside the Mission emergency department, however, they found it crowded and understaffed, with people sleeping or sitting on the floor, said Jaquins, a former psychiatric and cardiac nurse.

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