More than 125 Leadership Health Care members were treated to a conversation with HCA chairman and CEO Richard Bracken on Tuesday. Jim Cheek, member, Bass, Berry & Sims, facilitated the discussion.
Founded in 1968, Nashville-based HCA was one of the nation’s first hospital companies. Today, the company is comprised of locally managed facilities, including 163 hospitals and 110 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and England. HCA employs approximately 199,000 people.
Tailoring the conversation topics to the audience of emerging executives, Bracken spoke about leadership, company culture, adapting to change and the challenges and opportunities that come with health care reform. He explained that HCA has been able to weather industry shifts over the past 40 years due to the company’s experienced leadership team and committed staff.
“HCA, especially now, is an ever-changing environment. For a company to be successful, new solutions must be discovered. We always test new strategies on a small scale before rolling them out on a larger scale. This gives us an opportunity to implement fresh concepts most effectively,” he said.
Bracken, a Council board member, began his career with HCA in 1981 and has held various executive positions within the company, including CEO of the Green Hospital of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in San Diego, Calif., and CEO of Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was appointed HCA’s Pacific Division President in 1995, Western Group President in 1997, Chief Operating Officer in 2001 and President and Chief Operating Officer in 2002 before being named Chairman and CEO in 2009.
Leadership Health Care is an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council. For more information, visit www.leadershiphealthcare.org.