HCA Healthcare Named a 2021 World’s Most Ethical Company

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced that it has been recognized for the 11^th time by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2021 World’s Most Ethical Companies. HCA Healthcare is one of only seven honorees in the Healthcare Providers category.

“We are honored to again be recognized as a World’s Most Ethical Company and owe it all to our incredible colleagues, especially those working on the front lines,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “This acknowledgement underscores that, even when faced with a threat to public health and safety like that of a pandemic, we are committed to doing what’s right for our people, our patients, our communities and other stakeholders.”

The COVID-19 pandemic was at the forefront of 2020 and HCA Healthcare responded by protecting its colleagues and patients, and by partnering with others to improve care beyond the organization. HCA Healthcare has not laid-off a single employee due to the pandemic, and in April, it instituted a pandemic pay program, which allowed the organization to continue to pay more than 127,000 colleagues, even when their hours were affected by the significant decrease in patients visiting hospitals across the country. Additionally, HCA Healthcare hospitals do not bill patients who are diagnosed with COVID-19, whether they have insurance or not, for testing or hospital care related to the treatment of COVID-19.

As a learning health system, HCA Healthcare analyzes data from its approximately 35 million patient encounters each year to develop best practices that improve patient care. To help combat COVID-19, the health system teamed up with Google and SADA on a data portal to help communities prepare and respond to COVID-19, offered more than $1 million to local community partners to aid in coronavirus relief efforts and participated in the White House collaborative to provide up to 1,000 ventilators to other health systems.

“The world has faced tremendous obstacles this past year, but we are proud to be recognized for the positive impact we are having in the communities that we serve,” said Kathi Whalen, senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer at HCA Healthcare. “During these challenging times, our colleagues have shown an unwavering commitment to doing what is right.”