Hca

10 posts · started Jul 21, 2006

kimmiejs Jul 21, 2006, 3:22 AM
I am curious if anyone has worked for HCA and what your opinion of this company is. If you left an HCA facility do you regret leaving or are you happy you left.
sheilabRN Jul 21, 2006, 10:04 PM
Hi Kimmie,

I just started working for a HCA hospital in the OR. So far I like it, orientation sounded really good, it seems like they have really good benefits, and take care of their employees. We'll see, I guess time will tell. Every place has its problems, I will surely let you know how this works out.
Sheila
:p
kimmiejs Jul 31, 2006, 3:06 AM
I am in Middle Georgia. Have they said anything to you guys about the sale of HCA? So far we have been told next to nothing so everything is all speculation.
sheilabRN Aug 2, 2006, 1:54 AM
yeah we just heard it last week, it was on the local news. But one of the doctors that are on the board said nothing is final yet. We have heard that it not a buy out, its a merger. who knows! i'll try to find the news article and send it to you.
sheila
jodeee Aug 2, 2006, 7:20 AM
our hospital here in idaho was an hca and we were bought out i left 2 years ago never looked back. i felt they were so obsessed with money they forgot their patients
Ricu Aug 8, 2006, 10:14 PM
Hi folks,

I worked at an HCA facility in the northeast for about 8 years and had no trouble with the HCA part of it. In fact, I think that corporate ownership is beneficial for a healthcare facility. For example, there are funds available to acquire big ticket items like specialty equipment, make renovations and/or build additions, etc. Another benefit from the financial perspective is that healthcare IS a business and really should be run like one. Before you shoot, listen. Many area hospitals around the one I worked at said that being cost conscious was akin to putting a price tag on the patient's nose. They accused this facility of restricting care to indigents, EMTALA violations and so on. None of it is true and in fact, the opposite is. This facility annually writes off significant patient debt AND provides free care to applicants who qualify- separate from Medicaid. I know this because my wife was a director in the finance department and crunched those numbers for over 10 years. She left for another career in informatics. From the medical perspective, where I fit in, everyone was encouraged to be cost conscious-physicians too, especially when inpatient days are considered. Read- few unnecesary admissions and inpatient days to a minimum. Work those pathways folks, they make a difference. In practice, what happens is that mostly essential inpatient services are provided and outpatient services including VNA is properly utilized. I saw few recurrent admissions and certainly less than many other local facilities did. Why? Admissions and outcomes are closely monitored and those UR and discharge planners carry a lot of weight. Physicians are held to a practice standard and if they don't perform, they have to answer for themselves. Slackers look out! It sounds like a lot of talk went on about money but I only use it to illustrate. Day to day operation was very ordinary. If you didn't see the sign outside, you really couldn't tell it was HCA. It just felt like a very efficiently run hospital. Why did I leave? Hospitals, HCA included, are prone to politics and I was tired of the ones present there. I went to another area hospital because change is what I needed and change is what I got. Would I go back to the HCA facility? Yes, absolutely.
kimmiejs Aug 10, 2006, 10:57 PM
I am really curious to see what will happen since HCA was sold to a bunch of investors, From my understanding they do not buy hospitals to shut them down. You would think by now CEOs and DONs would realise that when you take care of your nursing staff, pay them a good salary with decent benefits they become happy and loyal employees which in turn spills over to patient care. When nurses are happy patients generally can tell a difference in the level of care they receive ;)