Form 10-K

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form

10-K

(Mark One)

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from

Commission File Number

1-11239

HCA Healthcare, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)


Delaware		27-3865930
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

One Park Plaza Nashville, Tennessee		37203
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)		(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(615) 344-9551

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, $0.01 Par Value	HCA	New York Stock Exchange

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of

Regulation S-T

(§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a

non-accelerated

filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in

Rule 12b-2

of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the Registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in

Rule 12b-2

of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of January 31, 2021, there were 339,917,500 outstanding shares of the Registrant’s common stock. As of June 30, 2020, the aggregate market value of the common stock held by nonaffiliates was approximately $25.836 billion. For purposes of the foregoing calculation only, Hercules Holding II and the Registrant’s directors and executive officers have been deemed to be affiliates.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy materials for its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

PART I

Item 1.

Business

General

HCA Healthcare, Inc. is one of the leading health care services companies in the United States. At December 31, 2020, we operated 185 hospitals, comprised of 178 general, acute care hospitals; five psychiatric hospitals; and two rehabilitation hospitals. In addition, we operated 121 freestanding surgery centers and 21 freestanding endoscopy centers. Our facilities are located in 20 states and England.

The terms “Company,” “HCA,” “we,” “our” or “us,” as used herein and unless otherwise stated or indicated by context, refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates. The term “affiliates” means direct and indirect subsidiaries of HCA Healthcare, Inc. and partnerships and joint ventures in which such subsidiaries are partners. The terms “facilities” or “hospitals” refer to entities owned and operated by affiliates of HCA, and the term “employees” refers to employees of affiliates of HCA.

Our primary objective is to provide a comprehensive array of quality health care services in the most cost-effective manner possible. Our general, acute care hospitals typically provide a full range of services to accommodate such medical specialties as internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and obstetrics, as well as diagnostic and emergency services. Outpatient and ancillary health care services are provided by our general, acute care hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities,

walk-in

clinics, diagnostic centers and rehabilitation facilities. Our psychiatric hospitals provide a full range of mental health care services through inpatient, partial hospitalization and outpatient settings.

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol “HCA”). Through our predecessors, we commenced operations in 1968. The Company was incorporated in Delaware in October 2010. Our principal executive offices are located at One Park Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, and our telephone number is

(615) 344-9551.

Available Information

We file certain reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including annual reports on Form

10-K,

quarterly reports on Form

10-Q

and current reports on Form

8-K.

The SEC maintains an Internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains the reports, proxy and information statements and other information we file. Our website address is www.hcahealthcare.com. Please note that our website address is provided as an inactive textual reference only. We make available free of charge, through our website, our annual report on Form

10-K,

quarterly reports on Form

10-Q,

current reports on Form

8-K

and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The information provided on our website is not part of this report, and is therefore not incorporated by reference unless such information is specifically referenced elsewhere in this report.

Our Code of Conduct is available free of charge upon request to our Corporate Secretary, HCA Healthcare, Inc., One Park Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, and is also available on the Ethics and Compliance and Corporate Governance portion of our website at www.hcahealthcare.com.

Business Strategy

We are committed to providing the communities we serve with high quality, cost-effective health care while growing our business and creating long-term value for our stockholders. We strive to be the provider system of choice in the communities we serve and to support our operations with unique enterprise capabilities and best in class economies of scale. To achieve these objectives, we align our efforts around the following growth agenda:

•

grow our presence in existing markets;

•

achieve industry-leading performance in clinical, operational and satisfaction measures;

•

recruit and employ physicians to meet the need for high quality health services;

•

continue to leverage our scale and market positions to grow the Company; and

•

pursue a disciplined development strategy.

Health Care Facilities

We currently own, manage or operate hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities,

walk-in

clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, physician practices and various other facilities.

At December 31, 2020, we owned and operated 178 general, acute care hospitals with 48,492 licensed beds. Most of our general, acute care hospitals provide medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic services and emergency services. The general, acute care hospitals also provide outpatient services such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology and physical therapy. Each hospital has an organized medical staff and a local board of trustees or governing board, made up of members of the local community.

At December 31, 2020, we operated five psychiatric hospitals with 593 licensed beds. Our psychiatric hospitals provide therapeutic programs, including child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care and adolescent and adult alcohol and drug abuse treatment and counseling.

We also operate outpatient health care facilities, which include freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (“ASCs”), freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities,

walk-in

clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices and various other facilities. These outpatient services are an integral component of our strategy to develop comprehensive health care networks in select communities. Most of our ASCs are operated through partnerships or limited liability companies, with majority ownership of each partnership or limited liability company typically held by a general partner or member that is an affiliate of HCA.

Certain of our affiliates provide a variety of management services to our health care facilities, including patient safety programs, ethics and compliance programs, national supply contracts, equipment purchasing and leasing contracts, accounting, financial and clinical systems, governmental reimbursement assistance, construction planning and coordination, information technology systems and solutions, legal counsel, human resources services and internal audit services.

COVID-19

Pandemic and CARES Act Funding

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization designated

COVID-19

as a global pandemic. Patient volumes and the related revenues for most of our services were significantly impacted during the latter portion of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter of 2020 and have continued to be impacted as various policies that were implemented by federal, state and local governments in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic,

including policies that have caused many people to remain at home, forced the closure of or limitations on certain businesses, and suspended elective surgical procedures by health care facilities. While many of these restrictions have been eased across the U.S. and most states have lifted moratoriums on

non-emergent

procedures, restrictions remain in place or may be adopted or

re-imposed,

and the possibility exists that the public, particularly segments with a high mortality risk, could remain wary of real or perceived opportunities for exposure to the virus. We are unable to predict the future impact of the pandemic on our operations.

During 2020, we received approximately $4.4 billion of accelerated Medicare payments and approximately $1.8 billion in general and targeted distributions from the Provider Relief Fund, both as provided for and established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act. During October 2020,

we announced our decision to return, or repay early, all of our share of the Provider Relief Fund distributions and all of the Medicare accelerated payments. During the fourth quarter of 2020, we returned, or repaid early, approximately $6.1 billion of these funds.

We believe the extent of the

COVID-19

pandemic’s impact on our operating results and financial condition has been and will continue to be driven by many factors, most of which are beyond our control and ability to forecast. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the severity or duration of the pandemic, including whether there will be additional periods of increases in the number of COVID-19 cases in the areas in which we operate, the rollout and availability of effective medical treatments and vaccines, the efficacy of public health controls, including vaccines, and the impact of any mutations of the virus; the scope and duration of

stay-at-home

practices and business closures and restrictions; recommended or required suspensions of elective procedures; continued declines in patient volumes for an indeterminable length of time; increases in the number of uninsured and underinsured patients as a result of higher sustained rates of unemployment; incremental expenses required for supplies and personal protective equipment (“PPE”); and changes in professional and general liability exposure. Because of these and other uncertainties, we cannot estimate how long or how severely the pandemic will impact our business. If we experience declines in cash flows and results of operations, such declines could have an impact on the inputs and assumptions used in significant accounting estimates, including estimated implicit price concessions related to uninsured patient accounts, professional and general liability reserves, and potential impairments of goodwill and long-lived assets.

Summary Risk Factors

You should carefully read and consider the risk factors set forth under Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” as well as all other information contained in this annual report on Form

10-K.

Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect us. If any of these risks occur, our business, financial position, results of operations, cash flows or prospects could be materially, adversely affected.

Our business is subject to the following principal risks and uncertainties:

Risks related to the

COVID-19

pandemic and other potential pandemics:

•

The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly affecting our operations, business and financial condition. Our liquidity could also be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly if the U.S. economy remains unstable for a significant amount of time.

•

There is a high degree of uncertainty regarding the implementation and impact of the CARES Act and other existing or future stimulus legislation, if any. There can be no assurance as to the total amount of financial assistance or types of assistance we will receive, that we will be able to comply with the applicable terms and conditions to retain such assistance, that we will be able to benefit from provisions intended to increase access to resources and ease regulatory burdens for health care providers or that additional stimulus legislation will be enacted.

•

The emergence and effects related to a potential future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease could adversely affect our operations.

Risks related to our indebtedness:

•

Our substantial leverage could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our obligations.

•

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may not be able to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms. If we are unable to do so, we may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

•

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

•

Discontinuation, reform or replacement of LIBOR may adversely affect our business.

Risks related to governmental regulation and other legal matters:

•

Our results of operations may be adversely affected by health care reform efforts, including court challenges to, and efforts to repeal, replace or otherwise significantly change the Affordable Care Act. We are unable to predict what, if any, and when such changes will be made in the future.

•

Changes in government health care programs may adversely affect our revenues.

•

If we fail to comply with extensive laws and government regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations.

•

State efforts to regulate the construction or expansion of health care facilities could impair our ability to operate and expand our operations.

•

We may incur additional tax liabilities.

•

We have been and could become the subject of government investigations, claims and litigation.

•

We may be subject to liabilities from claims brought against our facilities.

Risks related to human capital:

•

Our labor costs may be adversely affected by competition for staffing, the shortage of experienced nurses and labor union activity.

•

We may be unable to attract, hire, and retain a highly qualified and diverse workforce, including key management.

•

Our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain quality physicians.

Risks related to technology, data privacy and cybersecurity:

•

We may not be reimbursed for the cost of expensive, new technology.

•

A cybersecurity incident could result in the compromise of our facilities, confidential data or critical data systems. A cybersecurity incident could also give rise to potential harm to patients; remediation and other expenses; and exposure to liability under HIPAA, consumer protection laws, common law theories or other laws. Such incidents could subject us to litigation and foreign, federal and state governmental inquiries, damage our reputation, and otherwise be disruptive to our business.

•

Our operations could be impaired by a failure of our information systems.

•

Health care technology initiatives, particularly those related to patient data and interoperability, may adversely affect our operations.

Risks related to operations, strategy, demand and competition:

•

Our hospitals face competition for patients from other hospitals and health care providers.

•

A deterioration in the collectability of uninsured and patient due accounts could adversely affect our results of operations.

•

If our volume of patients with private health insurance coverage declines or we are unable to retain and negotiate favorable contracts with private third-party payers, including managed care plans, our revenues may be reduced.

•

Changes to physician utilization practices and treatment methodologies, third-party payer controls designed to reduce inpatient services or surgical procedures and other factors outside our control that impact demand for medical services may reduce our revenues.

•

We may encounter difficulty acquiring hospitals and other health care businesses and challenges integrating the operations of acquired hospitals and other health care businesses and become liable for unknown or contingent liabilities as a result of acquisitions.

•

Our facilities are heavily concentrated in Florida and Texas, which makes us sensitive to regulatory, economic, public health, environmental and competitive conditions and changes in those states.

•

The industry trend toward value-based purchasing may negatively impact our revenues.

Risks related to macroeconomic conditions:

•

Our overall business results may suffer during periods of general economic weakness.

•

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in the market values of securities and interest rates.

Risks related to ownership of our common stock:

•

There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends.

•

Certain of our investors may continue to have influence over us.

Sources of Revenue

Hospital revenues depend upon inpatient occupancy levels, the medical and ancillary services ordered by physicians and provided to patients, the volume of outpatient procedures and the charges or payment rates for such services. Reimbursement rates for inpatient and outpatient services vary significantly depending on the type of third-party payer, the type of service (e.g., medical/surgical, intensive care or psychiatric) and the geographic location of the hospital. Inpatient occupancy levels fluctuate for various reasons, many of which are beyond our control.

We receive payments for patient services from the federal government under the Medicare program, state governments under their respective Medicaid or similar programs, managed care plans (including plans offered through the American Health Benefit Exchanges (“Exchanges”)), private insurers and directly from patients. Our revenues by primary third-party payer classification and other (including uninsured patients) for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 are summarized in the following table (dollars in millions):


	Years Ended December 31,
	2020		Ratio			2019		Ratio			2018		Ratio
Medicare	$	10,420		20.2	%	$	10,798		21.0	%	$	9,831		21.1	%
Managed Medicare		6,997		13.6			6,452		12.6			5,497		11.8
Medicaid		1,965		3.8			1,572		3.1			1,358		2.9
Managed Medicaid		2,621		5.1			2,450		4.8			2,403		5.1
Managed care and other insurers		26,535		51.5			26,544		51.6			24,467		52.4
International (managed care and other insurers)		1,120		2.2			1,162		2.3			1,156		2.5
Other		1,875		3.6			2,358		4.6			1,965		4.2

Revenues	$	51,533		100.0	%	$	51,336		100.0	%	$	46,677		100.0	%

Medicare is a federal program that provides certain hospital and medical insurance benefits to persons age 65 and over, some disabled persons, persons with

end-stage

renal disease and persons with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Medicaid is a federal-state program, administered by the states, that provides hospital and medical benefits to qualifying individuals who are unable to afford health care. All of our general, acute care hospitals located in the United States are eligible to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Amounts received under Medicare and Medicaid programs are generally significantly less than established hospital gross charges for the services provided.

Our hospitals generally offer discounts from established charges to certain group purchasers of health care services, including private health insurers, employers, health maintenance organizations (“HMOs”), preferred provider organizations (“PPOs”) and other managed care plans, including health plans offered through the Exchanges. These discount programs generally limit our ability to increase revenues in response to increasing costs. See Item 1, “Business — Competition.” For services under Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs, PPOs and other managed care plans, patients are generally responsible for any exclusions, deductibles or coinsurance features of their coverage. The amount of such exclusions, deductibles and coinsurance continues to increase. Collection of amounts due from individuals is typically more difficult than from government health care programs or other third-party payers. We provide discounts to uninsured patients who do not qualify for Medicaid or for financial relief under our charity care policy. We may attempt to provide assistance to uninsured patients to help determine whether they may qualify for Medicaid, other federal or state assistance or charity care under our charity care policy. If an uninsured patient does not qualify for these programs, the uninsured discount is applied.

Medicare

In addition to the reimbursement reductions and adjustments discussed below, the Budget Control Act of 2011 (the “BCA”) requires automatic spending reductions to reduce the federal deficit, including Medicare spending reductions of up to 2% per fiscal year, with a uniform percentage reduction across all Medicare programs. In 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) began imposing a 2.0% reduction on Medicare payments. The CARES Act temporarily suspended these reductions through December 31, 2020 and extended the reductions through 2030. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”) further extended the suspension through March 31, 2021.

Inpatient Acute Care

Under the Medicare program, we receive reimbursement under a prospective payment system (“PPS”) for general, acute care hospital inpatient services. Under the hospital inpatient PPS, fixed payment amounts per

inpatient discharge are established based on the patient’s assigned Medicare severity diagnosis-related group

(“MS-DRG”).

MS-DRGs

classify treatments for illnesses according to the estimated intensity of hospital resources necessary to furnish care for each principal diagnosis.

MS-DRG

weights represent the average resources for a given

MS-DRG

relative to the average resources for all

MS-DRGs.

MS-DRG

payments are adjusted for area wage differentials. Hospitals, other than those defined as “new,” receive PPS reimbursement for inpatient capital costs based on

MS-DRG

weights multiplied by a geographically adjusted federal rate. When the cost to treat certain patients falls well outside the normal distribution, providers typically receive additional “outlier” payments. These payments are financed by offsetting reductions in the inpatient PPS rates. A high-cost outlier threshold is set annually at a level that will result in estimated outlier payments equaling 5.1% of total inpatient PPS payments for the fiscal year.

MS-DRG

rates are updated, and

MS-DRG

weights are recalibrated, using cost-relative weights each federal fiscal year (which begins October 1). The index used to update the

MS-DRG

rates (the “market basket”) gives consideration to the inflation experienced by hospitals and entities outside the health care industry in purchasing goods and services. Each federal fiscal year, the annual market basket update is reduced by a productivity adjustment based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”)

10-year

moving average of changes in specified economy-wide productivity, as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”). A decrease in payment rates or an increase in rates that is below the increase in our costs may adversely affect our results of operations.

For federal fiscal year 2020, CMS increased the

MS-DRG

rate by approximately 3.1%. This increase reflected a market basket update of 3.0%, adjusted by the following percentage points: a negative 0.4 productivity adjustment and a positive 0.5 adjustment in accordance with the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”). For federal fiscal year 2021, CMS increased the

MS-DRG

rate by approximately 2.9%. This increase reflects a market basket update of 2.4%, adjusted by a positive 0.5 adjustment required by MACRA. Additional adjustments may apply, depending on patient-specific or hospital-specific factors. For example, the two midnight rule limits payments to hospitals when services to Medicare beneficiaries are payable as inpatient services. In addition, under the post-acute care transfer policy, Medicare reimbursement rates may be reduced when an inpatient hospital discharges a patient in a specified

MS-DRG

to certain post-acute care settings.

CMS has implemented and is implementing a number of programs and requirements intended to transform Medicare from a passive payer to an active purchaser of quality goods and services. For example, hospitals that do not successfully participate in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program are subject to a 25% reduction of the market basket update. Hospitals that do not demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records (“EHRs”) are subject to a 75% reduction of the market basket update.

Medicare does not allow an inpatient hospital discharge to be assigned to a higher paying

MS-DRG

if certain designated hospital acquired conditions (“HACs”) were not present on admission and the identified HAC is the only condition resulting in the assignment of the higher paying

MS-DRG.

In this situation, the case is paid as though the secondary diagnosis was not present. There are currently 14 categories of conditions on the list of HACs. In addition, the 25% of hospitals with the worst risk-adjusted HAC scores in the designated performance period receive a 1% reduction in their inpatient PPS Medicare payments. CMS has also established three National Coverage Determinations that prohibit Medicare reimbursement for erroneous surgical procedures performed on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

Payments to hospitals may also be reduced based on readmission rates. Each federal fiscal year, inpatient payments are reduced if a hospital experiences “excess” readmissions within the

30-day

time period from the date of discharge for conditions designated by CMS. For federal fiscal year 2017 and subsequent years, CMS has designated six conditions or procedures, including heart attack, pneumonia and total hip arthroplasty. Hospitals with what CMS defines as excess readmissions for these conditions or procedures receive reduced payments for

all inpatient discharges, not just discharges relating to the conditions or procedures subject to the excess readmission standard. The amount by which payments are reduced is determined by assessing a hospital’s performance relative to hospitals with similar proportions of dual eligible patients, subject to a cap established by CMS. The reduction in payments to hospitals with excess readmissions can be up to 3% of a hospital’s base payments. Each hospital’s performance is publicly reported by CMS.

In addition, CMS reduces the inpatient PPS payment amount for all discharges by 2.0%. The total amount collected from these reductions is pooled and used to fund payments to reward hospitals that meet certain quality performance standards established by CMS. CMS scores each hospital based on achievement (relative to other hospitals) and improvement ranges (relative to the hospital’s own past performance) for each applicable performance standard. Because the Affordable Care Act provides that the pool will be fully distributed, hospitals that meet or exceed the quality performance standards receive greater reimbursement under the value-based purchasing program than they would have otherwise. Hospitals that do not achieve the necessary quality performance receive reduced Medicare inpatient hospital payments. Hospitals are scored on a number of individual measures that are categorized into four domains: clinical outcomes; efficiency and cost reduction; safety; and person and community engagement. CMS estimates that $1.9 billion will be available to hospitals as incentive payments in federal fiscal year 2021 under the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program.

Outpatient

CMS reimburses hospital outpatient services (and certain Medicare Part B services furnished to hospital inpatients who have no Part A coverage) on a PPS basis. CMS uses fee schedules to pay for physical, occupational and speech therapies, durable medical equipment, clinical diagnostic laboratory services, nonimplantable orthotics and prosthetics, freestanding surgery center services and services provided by independent diagnostic testing facilities. In addition, certain items and services furnished by

off-campus

provider-based departments, subject to certain exceptions, are not covered as outpatient department services under the outpatient PPS, but are reimbursed under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“Physician Fee Schedule”), subject to adjustments as specified by CMS. In calendar year 2019, CMS began a

two-year

phase-in

of an expanded site-neutral policy under which clinic visit services provided at all

off-campus

provider-based departments are reimbursed at the Physician Fee Schedule rate, which is generally lower than the PPS rate. Previously, this rate did not apply to “excepted” provider-based departments. In September 2019, a federal judge invalidated the expansion of the site-neutral payment policy for 2019. CMS appealed this decision and won, but had begun reprocessing the 2019 claims paid at the lower rates. For calendar year 2020, CMS issued a final rule implementing year two of the policy

phase-in.

For calendar year 2021 and beyond, CMS is continuing the payment policy. CMS is considering how to address reprocessed claims from this litigation. In conjunction with these efforts aimed at increasing site neutrality, CMS also finalized a rule in December 2020 that will begin phasing out over three years the Inpatient Only List, which is a list of procedures eligible to be reimbursed by Medicare only if performed in an inpatient setting. As a result, these procedures will also be eligible to be reimbursed by Medicare if performed in outpatient settings.

Hospital outpatient services paid under PPS are classified into groups called ambulatory payment classifications (“APCs”). Services for each APC are similar clinically and in terms of the resources they require. A payment rate is established for each APC. Depending on the services provided, a hospital may be paid for more than one APC for a patient visit. The APC payment rates are updated for each calendar year. Each calendar year, the annual market basket update is further reduced by a productivity adjustment based on the BLS

10-year

moving average of changes in specified economy-wide productivity as required by the Affordable Care Act. For calendar year 2020, CMS increased APC payment rates by an estimated 2.6%. This increase reflected a market basket increase of 3.0% with a negative 0.4 percentage point productivity adjustment. For calendar year 2021, CMS increased APC payment rates by an estimated 2.4%. This increase reflects a market basket increase of 2.4%. Together with other policy changes, CMS estimates that the calendar year 2021 rates will increase Medicare outpatient PPS payments by 2.4%. CMS requires hospitals to submit quality data relating to outpatient care to avoid receiving a 2.0 percentage point reduction in the annual payment update under the outpatient PPS.

The 340B program allows participating hospitals to purchase certain outpatient drugs from manufacturers at discounted rates. These hospitals are reimbursed for the discounted drugs under the same Medicare payment methodology and rates as are applied to

non-340B-discounted

drugs. In a final rule effective January 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) reduced the Medicare payments under the outpatient PPS for most drugs obtained at the 340B-discounted rates. This payment policy has been heavily litigated. In 2020, HHS prevailed at the circuit court level, with the court upholding its authority to implement this policy. Depending upon the remedy and the outcome of any appeal, this case could result in a decrease to the Company’s outpatient Medicare reimbursement. For calendar year 2021, HHS will continue to pay the reduced rates that took effect beginning in 2018.

Rehabilitation

CMS reimburses inpatient rehabilitation facilities (“IRFs”) on a PPS basis. Under the IRF PPS, patients are classified into case mix groups that reflect the relative resource intensity typically associated with the patient’s clinical condition. The case mix groups are based upon impairment, age, functional motor and cognitive scores, and comorbidities (additional diseases or disorders from which the patient suffers). IRFs are paid a predetermined amount per discharge that reflects the patient’s case mix group that is adjusted for facility-specific factors, such as area wage levels, proportion of

low-income

patients, and location in a rural area. Each federal fiscal year, the IRF rates are updated using a market basket index, which is reduced by a productivity adjustment based on the BLS

10-year

moving average of changes in specified economy-wide productivity. For federal fiscal year 2020, CMS increased IRF payment rates by an estimated 2.5%, reflecting an IRF market basket update of 2.9% with a negative 0.4 percentage point productivity adjustment. For federal fiscal year 2021, CMS increased IRF payment rates by an estimated 2.4%, reflecting an IRF market basket update of 2.4%. In addition, CMS requires IRFs to report quality measures to avoid receiving a reduction of 2.0 percentage points to the market basket update. CMS has indicated that it is working toward a unified payment system for post-acute care services, including those provided by IRFs.

In order to qualify for classification as an IRF, at least 60% of a facility’s inpatients during the most recent

12-month

CMS-defined

review period must have required intensive rehabilitation services for one or more of 13 specified conditions. IRFs must also meet additional coverage criteria, including patient selection and care requirements relating to

pre-admission

screenings, post-admission evaluations, ongoing coordination of care and involvement of rehabilitation physicians. A facility that fails to meet the 60% threshold, or other criteria to be classified as an IRF, will be paid under either the acute care hospital inpatient or outpatient PPS, which generally provide for lower payment amounts. As of December 31, 2020, we had two rehabilitation hospitals and 66 hospital rehabilitation units.

Psychiatric

Inpatient hospital services furnished in psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units of general, acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals are reimbursed on a PPS basis. The inpatient psychiatric facility (“IPF”) PPS is based upon a per diem payment, with adjustments to account for certain patient and facility characteristics. The IPF PPS contains an “outlier” policy for extraordinarily costly cases and an adjustment to a facility’s base payment if it maintains a full-service emergency department. CMS has established the IPF PPS payment rate in a manner intended to be budget neutral. Each federal fiscal year, IPF payment rates are updated using a market basket index, which is reduced by a productivity adjustment based on the BLS

10-year

moving average of changes in specified economy-wide productivity. For federal fiscal year 2020, CMS increased IPF payment rates by an estimated 1.75%, which reflects a 2.9% IPF market basket update with a negative 0.4 percentage point productivity adjustment and a negative 0.75 percentage point adjustment required by law. For federal fiscal year 2021, CMS increased IPF payment rates by an estimated 2.2%, which reflects a 2.2% IPF market basket increase. Inpatient psychiatric facilities are required to report quality measures to CMS to avoid receiving a 2.0 percentage point reduction to the market basket update. As of December 31, 2020, we had five psychiatric hospitals and 50 hospital psychiatric units.

Ambulatory Surgery Centers

CMS reimburses ASCs using a predetermined fee schedule. Reimbursements for ASC overhead costs are limited to no more than the overhead costs paid to hospital outpatient departments under the Medicare hospital outpatient PPS for the same procedure. If CMS determines that a procedure is commonly performed in a physician’s office, the ASC reimbursement for that procedure is limited to the reimbursement allowable under the Physician Fee Schedule, with limited exceptions. All surgical procedures, other than those that pose a significant safety risk or generally require an overnight stay, are payable as ASC procedures. From time to time, CMS expands the services that may be performed in ASCs, which may result in more Medicare procedures that historically have been performed in hospitals being moved to ASCs, reducing surgical volume in our hospitals. Also, more Medicare procedures that historically have been performed in ASCs may be moved to physicians’ offices. Some commercial third-party payers have adopted similar policies.

Historically, CMS updated reimbursement rates for ASCs based on changes to the consumer price index. However, for calendar years through 2023, CMS updates to ASC reimbursement rates will be based on the hospital market basket index, partly to promote site-neutrality between hospitals and ASCs. For each federal fiscal year, the ASC payment system update is reduced by a productivity adjustment based on the BLS

10-year

moving average of changes in specified economy-wide productivity. For calendar year 2020, CMS increased ASC payment rates by 2.6%, which reflected a market basket increase of 3.0% and a negative 0.4 percentage point productivity adjustment. For calendar year 2021, CMS increased ASC payment rates by 2.4%, which reflects a market basket increase of 2.4%. In addition, CMS has established a quality reporting program for ASCs under which ASCs that fail to report on specified quality measures receive a 2.0 percentage point reduction to the consumer price index update.

Physician Services

Physician services are reimbursed under the Physician Fee Schedule system, under which CMS has assigned a national relative value unit (“RVU”) to most medical procedures and services that reflects the various resources required by a physician to provide the services, relative to all other services. Each RVU is calculated based on a combination of work required in terms of time and intensity of effort for the service, practice expense (overhead) attributable to the service and malpractice insurance expense attributable to the service. These three elements are each modified by a geographic adjustment factor to account for local practice costs and are then aggregated. While RVUs for various services may change in a given year, any alterations are required by statute to be virtually budget neutral, such that total payments made under the Physician Fee Schedule may not differ by more than $20 million from what payments would have been if adjustments were not made. CMS annually reviews resource inputs for select services as part of the potentially misvalued code initiative. To determine the payment rate for a particular service, the sum of the geographically adjusted RVUs is multiplied by a conversion factor. For 2021, CMS updated the conversion factor based on a budget neutrality adjustment of negative 10.20%. However, the CAA provides for a 3.75% payment increase under the Physician Fee Schedule, which will partially offset this reduction.

Medicare payments are adjusted based on participation in the Quality Payment Program (“QPP”), a payment methodology intended to reward high-quality patient care. Physicians and certain other health care clinicians are required to participate in one of two QPP tracks. Under both tracks, performance data collected in each performance year will affect Medicare payments two years later. CMS expects to transition increasing financial risk to providers as the QPP evolves. The Advanced Alternative Payment Model (“APM”) track makes incentive payments available for participation in specific innovative payment models approved by CMS. Providers may earn a 5% Medicare incentive payment through 2024 and will be exempt from the reporting requirements and payment adjustments imposed under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (“MIPS”) if the provider has sufficient participation (based on percentage of payments or patients) in an Advanced APM. Alternatively, providers may participate in the MIPS track. Currently, providers electing this option may receive payment incentives or be subject to payment reductions based on their performance with respect to clinical quality,

resource use, clinical improvement activities, and meeting Promoting Interoperability standards related to the meaningful use of EHRs. Performance data collected in 2021 will result in payment adjustments of up to 9% in 2023. CMS will continue to offer the Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Policy for 2021 performance data. This policy is an exception providers must apply for, which allows reweighting for any or all MIPS performance categories for providers impacted by the

COVID-19

pandemic. MIPS consolidates components of three previously established physician incentive programs: the Physician Quality Reporting System, the Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier, and the Medicare EHR Incentive Program.

Other

Under PPS, the payment rates are adjusted for area differences in wage levels by a factor (“wage index”) reflecting the relative wage level in the geographic area compared to the national average wage level and taking into account occupational mix. The redistributive impact of wage index changes is not anticipated to have a material financial impact for 2021.

Medicare reimburses hospitals for a portion (65%) of deductible and coinsurance amounts that are uncollectable from Medicare beneficiaries.

CMS has implemented contractor reform whereby CMS competitively bids the Medicare fiscal intermediary and Medicare carrier functions to Medicare Administrative Contractors (“MACs”), which are geographically assigned across 12 jurisdictions to service both Part A and Part B providers. While providers with operations across multiple geographies had the option of having all hospitals use one home office MAC, we chose, in most cases, to use the MACs assigned to the geographic areas in which our hospitals are located. CMS periodically

re-solicits

bids, and the MAC servicing a geographic area can change as a result of the bid competition. MAC transition periods can impact claims processing functions and the resulting cash flows.

CMS contracts with third parties to promote the integrity of the Medicare program through reviews of quality concerns and detections, and corrections of improper payments. Quality Improvement Organizations (“QIOs”), for example, are groups of physicians and other health care quality experts that work on behalf of CMS to ensure that Medicare pays only for goods and services that are reasonable and necessary, and that are provided in the most appropriate setting. Under the Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) program, CMS contracts with RACs on a contingency basis to conduct post-payment reviews to detect and correct improper payments in the

fee-for-service

Medicare program. The compensation for RACs is based on their review of claims submitted to Medicare for billing compliance, including correct coding and medical necessity, and the amount of overpayments and underpayments they identify. CMS limits the number of claims that RACs may audit by limiting the number of records that RACs may request from hospitals based on each provider’s claim denial rate for the previous year. CMS has implemented the RAC program on a permanent, nationwide basis and expanded the RAC program to the Managed Medicare program and Medicare Part D. CMS is transitioning some of its other integrity programs to a consolidated model by engaging Unified Program Integrity Contractors (“UPICs”) to perform audits, investigations and other integrity activities.

We have established policies and procedures to respond to requests from and payment denials by RACs and other Medicare contractors. Payment recoveries resulting from reviews and denials are appealable through administrative and judicial processes, and we pursue reversal of adverse determinations at appropriate appeal levels. We incur additional costs related to responding to requests and denials, including costs associated with responding to requests for records and pursuing the reversal of payment denials and losses associated with overpayments that are not reversed upon appeal. Currently, there are significant delays in the Medicare appeals process. Depending upon changes to and the growth of the RAC program and other Medicare integrity programs and our success in appealing claims in future periods, our cash flows and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

Medicare reimburses teaching hospitals for portions of the direct and indirect costs of graduate medical education (“GME”) through statutory formulas that are generally based on the number of medical residents and

which take into account patient volume or the number of hospital beds. Accrediting organizations review GME programs for compliance with educational standards. Many of our hospitals operate GME or other residency programs to train physicians and other allied health professionals.

Managed Medicare

Under the Managed Medicare program (also known as Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage), the federal government contracts with private health insurers to provide members with Medicare Part A, Part B and Part D benefits. Managed Medicare plans can be structured as HMOs, PPOs or private

fee-for-service

plans. In addition to covering Part A and Part B benefits, the health insurers may choose to offer supplemental benefits and impose higher premiums and plan costs on beneficiaries. CMS makes fee payment adjustments based on service benchmarks and quality ratings and publishes star ratings to assist beneficiaries with plan selection. According to CMS, over

one-third

of all Medicare enrollees participate in managed Medicare plans.

Medicaid

Medicaid programs are funded jointly by the federal government and the states and are administered by states under approved plans. Most state Medicaid program payments are made under a PPS or are based on negotiated payment levels with individual hospitals. Medicaid reimbursement is often less than a hospital’s cost of services. The Affordable Care Act requires states to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals under age 65 with incomes effectively at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. However, states may opt out of the expansion without losing existing federal Medicaid funding. A number of states, including Texas and Florida, have opted out of the Medicaid expansion. Some states use, or have applied to use, waivers granted by CMS to implement expansion, impose different eligibility or enrollment restrictions, or otherwise implement programs that vary from federal standards. Previously, certain members of Congress and the prior presidential administration indicated their intent to increase state flexibility in the administration of Medicaid programs, including allowing states to condition enrollment on work or other community engagement. However, President Biden has issued executive orders directing agencies to re-examine measures that reduce coverage or undermine Medicaid programs, including work requirements.

Because most states must operate with balanced budgets and because the Medicaid program is often the state’s largest program, states can be expected to adopt or consider adopting legislation designed to reduce their Medicaid expenditures. Budgetary pressures have, in recent years, resulted and likely will continue to result in decreased spending, or decreased spending growth, for Medicaid programs in many states. Certain states in which we operate have adopted broad-based provider taxes to fund the

non-federal

share of Medicaid programs. Many states have also adopted, or are considering, legislation designed to reduce coverage, enroll Medicaid recipients in managed care programs and/or impose additional taxes on hospitals to help finance or expand the states’ Medicaid systems.

Federal funds under the Medicaid program may not be used to reimburse providers for medical assistance provided to treat certain provider-preventable conditions. Each state Medicaid program must deny payments to providers for the treatment of health care-acquired conditions designated by CMS as well as other provider-preventable conditions that may be designated by the state.

Congress has expanded the federal government’s involvement in fighting fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicaid program through the Medicaid Integrity Program. CMS employs UPICs to perform post-payment audits of Medicaid claims, identify overpayments, and perform other program integrity activities, many of which were previously performed by Medicaid Integrity Contractors. The UPICs collaborate with states and coordinate provider investigations across the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, state Medicaid agencies are required to establish Medicaid RAC programs. These programs vary by state in design and operation.

Managed Medicaid

Enrollment in managed Medicaid plans has increased in recent years, as state governments seek to control the cost of Medicaid programs. Managed Medicaid programs enable states to contract with one or more entities for patient enrollment, care management and claims adjudication. The states usually do not relinquish program responsibilities for financing, eligibility criteria and core benefit plan design. We generally contract directly with one or more of the designated entities, usually a managed care organization. The provisions of these programs are state-specific. Many states direct managed care plans to pass through supplemental payments to designated providers, independent of services rendered, to ensure consistent funding of providers that serve large numbers of

low-income

patients. However, in an effort to more closely tie funds to delivery and outcomes, CMS began limiting these “pass-through payments” to managed Medicaid plans in 2016 and will ultimately prohibit such payments by 2027.

Accountable Care Organizations and Bundled Payment Initiatives

An Accountable Care Organization (“ACO”) is a network of providers and suppliers that work together to invest in infrastructure and redesign delivery processes to attempt to achieve high quality and efficient delivery of services. Promoting accountability and coordination of care, ACOs are intended to produce savings as a result of improved quality and operational efficiency. ACOs that achieve quality performance standards established by HHS are eligible to share in a portion of the amounts saved by the Medicare program. There are several types of ACO programs, including the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which was established pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, and the Next Generation ACO Model.

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (“CMMI”) is responsible for establishing demonstration projects and other initiatives in order to identify, develop, test and encourage the adoption of new methods of delivering and paying for health care that create savings under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, while improving quality of care. For example, providers participating in bundled payment initiatives agree to receive one payment for services provided to Medicare patients for certain medical conditions or episodes of care, accepting accountability for costs and quality of care. By rewarding providers for increasing quality and reducing costs and penalizing providers if costs exceed a set amount, these models are intended to lead to higher quality, more coordinated care at a lower cost to the Medicare program. Hospitals may receive supplemental Medicare payments or owe repayments to CMS depending on whether overall CMS spending per episode exceeds or falls below a target specified by CMS and whether quality standards are met. The CMMI has implemented bundled payment models, including the Bundled Payment Care Improvement Advanced (“BPCI Advanced”) program, which is voluntary and expected to run through December 2023. Participation in bundled payment programs is generally voluntary, but CMS has required providers in selected geographic areas to participate in a mandatory bundled program for specified orthopedic procedures, which is scheduled to run through September 30, 2021. CMS will require hospitals in selected markets to participate in bundled payment initiatives for end-stage renal disease treatment, which began January 1, 2021, and radiation oncology, beginning as early as January 1, 2022. HHS has indicated that it plans to implement additional bundled payment programs, some of which will be mandatory.

HHS continues to focus on shifting from traditional

fee-for-service

reimbursement models to alternative payment models that tie reimbursement to quality and/or value, including bundled payment and

pay-for-performance

programs. Several private third-party payers are increasingly employing such reimbursement models, which may increasingly shift financial risk to providers.

Disproportionate Share Hospital and Medicaid Supplemental Payments

In addition to making payments for services provided directly to beneficiaries, Medicare makes additional payments to hospitals that treat a disproportionately large number of

low-income

patients (Medicaid and Medicare patients eligible to receive Supplemental Security Income). Disproportionate Share Hospital (“DSH”) payment adjustments are determined annually based on certain statistical information required by HHS and are paid as a percentage addition to

MS-DRG

payments. CMS also distributes a payment to each DSH hospital that is allocated according to the hospital’s proportion of uncompensated care costs relative to the uncompensated care amount of other DSH hospitals.

Some states make additional payments to providers through the Medicaid program for certain specific claims. These supplemental payments may be in the form of Medicaid DSH payments, which help to offset hospital uncompensated care costs, or upper payment limit supplemental payments, which are intended to address the difference between Medicaid

fee-for-service

payments and Medicare reimbursement rates. CMS is considering changes to both types of payments. The federal government distributes federal Medicaid DSH funds to each state based on a statutory formula. The states then distribute the DSH funding among qualifying hospitals. States have broad discretion to define which hospitals qualify for Medicaid DSH payments and the amount of such payments. The Affordable Care Act and subsequent legislation provide for reductions to the Medicaid DSH hospital program. Under the budget bill signed into law in February 2018, Medicaid DSH payments would have been reduced by $4 billion in 2020 and by $8 billion per year from 2021 through 2025. However, Congress has delayed the implementation of these reductions through 2023, but added additional reductions for 2026 and 2027.

TRICARE

TRICARE is the Department of Defense’s health care program for members of the armed forces. For inpatient services, TRICARE reimburses hospitals based on a DRG system modeled on the Medicare inpatient PPS. For outpatient services, TRICARE reimburses hospitals based on a PPS that is similar to that utilized for services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries.

Annual Cost Reports

All hospitals participating in the Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE programs, whether paid on a reasonable cost basis or under a PPS, are required to meet certain financial reporting requirements. Federal and, where applicable, state regulations require the submission of annual cost reports covering the revenues, costs and expenses associated with the services provided by each hospital to Medicare beneficiaries and Medicaid recipients.

Annual cost reports required under the Medicare and Medicaid programs are subject to routine audits, which may result in adjustments to the amounts ultimately determined to be due to us under these reimbursement programs. These audits often require several years to reach the final determination of amounts due to or from us under these programs. Providers also have rights of appeal, and it is common to contest issues raised in audits of cost reports.

Managed Care and Other Discounted Plans

Most of our hospitals offer discounts from established charges to certain large group purchasers of health care services, including managed care plans and private health insurers. Admissions reimbursed by commercial managed care and other insurers were 29%, 28% and 28% of our total admissions for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Managed care contracts are typically negotiated for terms between one and three years. While we generally received contracted annual average increases of approximately 4% from managed care payers during 2020, there can be no assurance that we will continue to receive increases in the future. Price transparency initiatives may impact our ability to obtain or maintain favorable contract terms. Effective January 1, 2022, the No Surprises Act (enacted as part of the CAA) will require providers to send to a patient’s health plan good faith estimates of the expected charges for furnishing scheduled items or services, including any item or service that is reasonably expected to be provided in conjunction with the scheduled item or service or that is reasonably expected to be delivered by another provider, before the services are delivered. The No Surprises Act will also prohibit providers from charging patients an amount beyond the

in-network

cost sharing amount for services rendered by

out-of-network

providers, subject to limited exceptions. It is not clear what impact, if any, these or future health reform efforts at the federal and state levels, consolidation within the third-party payer industry and vertical integration among third-party payers and health care providers will have on our ability to negotiate reimbursement rates.

Uninsured and

Self-Pay

Patients

Self-pay

revenues are derived from providing health care services to patients without health insurance coverage and from the patient responsibility portion of payments for our health care services that are not covered by an individual’s health plan. Collection of amounts due from individuals is typically more difficult than collection of amounts due from government health care programs or private third-party payers. Any increases in uninsured individuals, changes to the payer mix or greater adoption of health plan structures that result in higher patient responsibility amounts could increase amounts due from individuals. Effective January 1, 2022, the No Surprises Act will require providers to send uninsured patients a good faith estimate of the expected charges for furnishing scheduled items or services, including any item or service that is reasonably expected to be provided in conjunction with the scheduled item or service or that is reasonably expected to be delivered by another provider, before the services are delivered. If the actual charges are substantially higher than the estimate, the patient can invoke a dispute resolution process to challenge the higher amount.

A high percentage of our uninsured patients are initially admitted through our emergency rooms. For the year ended December 31, 2020, approximately 87% of our admissions of uninsured patients occurred through our emergency rooms. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (“EMTALA”) requires any hospital that participates in the Medicare program to conduct an appropriate medical screening examination of every person who presents to the hospital’s emergency room for treatment and, if the individual is suffering from an emergency medical condition, to either stabilize that condition or make an appropriate transfer of the individual to a facility that can handle the condition. The obligation to screen and stabilize emergency medical conditions exists regardless of an individual’s ability to pay for treatment. In addition, health insurers are required to reimburse hospitals for emergency services provided to enrollees without prior authorization and without regard to whether a participating provider contract is in place.

Hospital Utilization

We believe the most important factors relating to the overall utilization of a hospital are the quality and market position of the hospital and the number and quality of physicians and other health care professionals providing patient care within the facility. Generally, we believe the ability of a hospital to be a market leader is determined by its breadth of services, level of technology, quality and condition of the facilities, emphasis on quality of care and convenience for patients and physicians. Other factors that impact utilization include the growth in local population, local economic conditions and market penetration of managed care programs.

The following table sets forth certain operating statistics for our health care facilities. Health care facility operations are subject to certain seasonal fluctuations, including decreases in patient utilization during holiday periods and increases in the cold weather months.


	2020			2019			2018
Number of hospitals at end of period		185			184			179
Number of freestanding outpatient surgery centers at end of period(a)		121			123			123
Number of licensed beds at end of period(b)		49,265			49,035			47,199
Weighted average beds in service(c)		42,246			41,510			39,966
Admissions(d)		2,009,909			2,108,927			2,003,753
Equivalent admissions(e)		3,312,330			3,646,335			3,420,406
Average length of stay (days)(f)		5.1			4.9			4.9
Average daily census(g)		27,734			28,134			26,663
Occupancy rate(h)		66	%		68	%		67	%
Emergency room visits(i)		7,450,307			9,161,129			8,764,431
Outpatient surgeries(j)		882,483			1,009,947			971,537
Inpatient surgeries(k)		522,385			566,635			548,220
Days revenues in accounts receivable(l)		45			50			51
Outpatient revenues as a % of patient revenues(m)		35	%		39	%		38	%

(a)	Excludes freestanding endoscopy centers (21 at December 31, 2020; 20 at December 31, 2019 and 19 at December 31, 2018).

(b)	Licensed beds are those beds for which a facility has been granted approval to operate from the applicable state licensing agency.

(c)	Represents the average number of beds in service, weighted based on periods owned.

(d)	Represents the total number of patients admitted to our hospitals and is used by management and certain investors as a general measure of inpatient volume.

(e)

Equivalent admissions are used by management and certain investors as a general measure of combined inpatient and outpatient volume. Equivalent admissions are computed by multiplying admissions (inpatient volume) by the sum of gross inpatient revenue and gross outpatient revenue and then dividing the resulting amount by gross inpatient revenue. The equivalent admissions computation “equates” outpatient revenue to the volume measure (admissions) used to measure inpatient volume, resulting in a general measure of combined inpatient and outpatient volume.

(f)	Represents the average number of days admitted patients stay in our hospitals.

(g)	Represents the average number of patients in our hospital beds each day.

(h)	Represents the percentage of hospital beds in service that are occupied by patients. Both average daily census and occupancy rate provide measures of the utilization of inpatient rooms.

(i)	Represents the number of patients treated in our emergency rooms.

(j)	Represents the number of surgeries performed on patients who were not admitted to our hospitals. Pain management and endoscopy procedures are not included in outpatient surgeries.

(k)	Represents the number of surgeries performed on patients who have been admitted to our hospitals. Pain management and endoscopy procedures are not included in inpatient surgeries.

(l)	Revenues per day is calculated by dividing the revenues for the fourth quarter of each year by the days in the quarter. Days revenues in accounts receivable is then calculated as accounts receivable at the end of the period divided by revenues per day.

(m)	Represents the percentage of patient revenues related to patients who are not admitted to our hospitals.

Competition

Generally, other hospitals in the communities we serve provide services similar to those offered by our hospitals. Additionally, the number of freestanding specialty hospitals, surgery centers, emergency departments, urgent care centers and diagnostic and imaging centers in the geographic areas in which we operate continues to increase. As a result, most of our hospitals operate in a highly competitive environment. In some cases, competing facilities are more established than our hospitals. Some competing facilities are physician-owned or are owned by

tax-supported

government agencies and many others are owned by

not-for-profit

entities that may be supported by endowments, charitable contributions and/or tax revenues and are exempt from sales, property and income taxes. Such exemptions and support are not available to our hospitals and may provide the

tax-supported

not-for-profit

entities an advantage in funding capital expenditures. In certain localities there are large teaching hospitals that provide highly specialized facilities, equipment and services that may not be available at most of our hospitals. We also face competition from specialty hospitals and from both our own and unaffiliated freestanding ASCs for market share in certain high margin services. Psychiatric hospitals frequently attract patients from areas outside their immediate locale and, therefore, our psychiatric hospitals and units compete with both local and regional hospitals, including the psychiatric units of general, acute care hospitals.

Trends toward clinical and pricing transparency may impact our competitive position in ways that are difficult to predict. For example, hospitals are currently required to publish online a list of their standard charges for items and services. In 2019, CMS issued a final rule that, beginning January 2021, requires hospitals to publish additional types of standard charges for all items and services, including discounted cash prices and payer-specific and

de-identified

negotiated charges, in a publicly accessible online file. Hospitals are also required to publish a consumer-friendly list of charges for certain “shoppable” services (i.e., services that can be scheduled by a patient in advance) and associated ancillary services. Court challenges to the 2019 rule in both the District Court for the District of Columbia and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals were unsuccessful. It is not yet known whether the Biden administration will take any action regarding the rule or whether the matter will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. CMS plans to begin auditing hospitals for compliance with transparency requirements and may impose civil monetary penalties for noncompliance. In addition, the No Surprises Act creates additional price transparency requirements beginning on January 1, 2022, including the requirement that providers send patients and health plans a good faith estimate of the expected charges and diagnostic codes prior to a patient’s appointment.

Our strategies are designed to ensure our hospitals are competitive. We believe our hospitals compete within local communities on the basis of many factors, including the quality of care, ability to attract and retain quality physicians, skilled clinical personnel and other health care professionals, location, breadth of services, technology offered, and quality and condition of the facilities. We focus on operating outpatient services with accessibility and convenient service for patients and predictability and efficiency for physicians.

Two of the most significant factors that impact the competitive position of a hospital are the number and quality of physicians affiliated with or employed by the hospital. Although physicians may at any time terminate their relationship with a hospital we operate, our hospitals seek to retain physicians with varied specialties on the hospitals’ medical staffs and to attract other qualified physicians. We believe physicians refer patients to a hospital on the basis of the quality and scope of services it renders to patients and physicians, the quality of physicians on the medical staff, the location of the hospital and the quality of the hospital’s facilities, equipment and employees. Accordingly, we strive to maintain and provide quality facilities, equipment, employees and services for physicians and patients. Our hospitals face competition from competitors that are implementing physician alignment strategies, such as employing physicians, acquiring physician practice groups and participating in ACOs or other clinical integration models.

Another major factor in the competitive position of our hospitals is our ability to negotiate service contracts with group purchasers of health care services. Managed care plans attempt to direct and control the use of hospital services and obtain discounts from hospitals’ established gross charges. Similarly, employers and

traditional health insurers continue to attempt to contain costs through negotiations with hospitals for managed care programs and discounts from established gross charges. Generally, hospitals compete for service contracts with group purchasers of health care services on the basis of price, market reputation, geographic location, quality and range of services, quality of the medical staff and convenience. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to retain and renew our contracts with third-party payers and enter into new contracts on favorable terms. Other health care providers may impact our ability to enter into contracts with third-party payers or negotiate increases in our reimbursement and other favorable terms and conditions. For example, some of our competitors may negotiate exclusivity provisions with managed care plans or otherwise restrict the ability of managed care companies to contract with us. Price transparency initiatives and increasing vertical integration efforts involving third-party payers and health care providers, among other factors, may increase these challenges. Moreover, the trend toward consolidation among private third-party payers tends to increase payer bargaining power over fee structures. In addition, health reform efforts, such as the Affordable Care Act’s limitations on rescissions of coverage and

pre-existing

condition exclusions, may lead to private third-party payers increasingly demanding reduced fees or being unwilling to negotiate reimbursement increases. Health plans increasingly utilize narrow networks that restrict the number of participating providers or tiered networks that impose significantly higher cost sharing obligations on patients that obtain services from providers in a disfavored tier. These trends may continue regardless of potential repeal or replacement of, or changes to, the Affordable Care Act, or other health reform efforts. The importance of obtaining contracts with group purchasers of health care services varies from community to community, depending on the market strength of such organizations.

State certificate of need (“CON”) laws, which place limitations on a health care facility’s ability to expand services and facilities, make capital expenditures and otherwise make changes in operations, may also have the effect of restricting competition. We currently operate health care facilities in a number of states with CON laws or that require other types of approvals for the establishment or expansion of certain facility types or services. Before issuing a CON or other approval, these states consider the need for additional, changes in, or expanded health care facilities or services. Removal of these requirements could reduce barriers to entry and increase competition in our service areas. In those states that do not require state approval or that set relatively high levels of expenditures before they become reviewable by state authorities, competition in the form of new services, facilities and capital spending is more prevalent. See Item 1, “Business — Regulation and Other Factors.”

We and the health care industry as a whole face the challenge of continuing to provide quality patient care while dealing with rising costs and strong competition for patients. Changes in medical technology, existing and future legislation, regulations and interpretations and contracting for provider services by third-party payers remain ongoing challenges.

Admissions, average lengths of stay and reimbursement amounts continue to be negatively affected by third-party payer

pre-admission

authorization requirements, utilization review and pressure to maximize outpatient and alternative health care delivery services for less acutely ill patients. Increased competition, admission constraints and third-party payer pressures are expected to continue. To meet these challenges, we intend to expand and update our facilities or acquire or construct new facilities where appropriate, enhance the provision of a comprehensive array of outpatient services, offer market competitive pricing to group purchasers of health care services, upgrade facilities and equipment and offer new or expanded programs and services.

Regulation and Other Factors

Licensure, Certification and Accreditation

Health care facility construction and operation are subject to numerous federal, state and local regulations relating to the adequacy of medical care, equipment, personnel, operating policies and procedures, maintenance of adequate records, fire prevention, rate-setting, building codes and environmental protection. Facilities are subject to periodic inspection by governmental and other authorities to assure continued compliance with the

various standards necessary for licensing and accreditation. We believe our health care facilities are properly licensed under applicable state laws. Each of our acute care hospitals located in the United States is eligible to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs and is accredited by The Joint Commission. If any facility were to lose its Medicare or Medicaid certification, the facility would be unable to receive reimbursement from federal health care programs. From time to time, we may acquire a facility that is not accredited but for which we will seek accreditation. If any facility were to lose accreditation, the facility would be subject to state surveys, potentially be subject to increased scrutiny by CMS and likely lose payment from private third-party payers. Management believes our facilities are in substantial compliance with current applicable federal, state, local and independent review body regulations and standards. The requirements for licensure, certification and accreditation are subject to change, and, in order to remain qualified, it may become necessary for us to make changes in our facilities, equipment, personnel and services. The requirements for licensure, certification and accreditation also include notification or approval in the event of the transfer or change of ownership or certain other changes. Failure to provide required notifications or obtain necessary approvals in these circumstances can result in the inability to complete an acquisition or change of ownership, loss of licensure, lapses in reimbursement or other penalties.

Certificates of Need

In some states where we operate hospitals and other health care providers, the construction or expansion of health care facilities, the acquisition of existing facilities, the transfer or change of ownership, capital expenditures and the addition of new beds or services may be subject to review by and prior approval of, or notifications to, state regulatory agencies under a CON program. Such laws generally require the reviewing state agency to determine the public need for additional or expanded health care facilities and services or other change. Failure to provide required notifications or obtain necessary state approvals can result in the inability to expand facilities, complete an acquisition or expenditure or change ownership or other penalties.

State Rate Review

Some states have adopted legislation mandating rate or budget review for hospitals or have adopted taxes on hospital revenues, assessments or licensure fees to fund indigent health care within the state. In the aggregate, indigent tax provisions have not materially, adversely affected our results of operations. Although we do not currently operate facilities in states that mandate rate or budget reviews, we cannot predict whether we will operate in such states in the future, or whether the states in which we currently operate may adopt legislation mandating such reviews.

Federal Health Care Program Regulations

Participation in any federal health care program, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, is heavily regulated by statute and regulation. If a hospital or other provider fails to substantially comply with the numerous conditions of participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs or performs certain prohibited acts, the provider’s participation in the federal health care programs may be terminated, or civil and/or criminal penalties may be imposed. Civil monetary penalties are adjusted annually based on updates to the consumer price index and were increased under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

Anti-kickback Statute

A section of the Social Security Act known as the “Anti-kickback Statute” prohibits providers and others from directly or indirectly soliciting, receiving, offering or paying any remuneration with the intent of generating referrals or orders for services or items covered by a federal health care program. Courts have interpreted this statute broadly and held that there is a violation of the Anti-kickback Statute if just one purpose of the remuneration is to generate referrals, even if there are other lawful purposes. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act provides that knowledge of the law or the intent to violate the law is not required. Violations of the Anti-

kickback Statute may be punished by criminal fines of up to $100,000 per violation, imprisonment, substantial civil monetary penalties per violation that are subject to annual adjustment based on updates to the consumer price index and damages of up to three times the total amount of the remuneration and/or exclusion from participation in federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, submission of a claim for services or items generated in violation of the Anti-kickback Statute may be subject to additional penalties under the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) as a false or fraudulent claim.

The HHS Office of Inspector General (the “OIG”), among other regulatory agencies, is responsible for identifying and eliminating fraud, abuse and waste. The OIG carries out this mission through a nationwide program of audits, investigations and inspections. The OIG provides guidance to the industry through various methods, including advisory opinions and “Special Fraud Alerts.” These Special Fraud Alerts do not have the force of law, but identify features of arrangements or transactions that the government believes may cause the arrangements or transactions to violate the Anti-kickback Statute or other federal health care laws. The OIG has identified several incentive arrangements that constitute suspect practices, including: (a) payment of any incentive by a hospital each time a physician refers a patient to the hospital, (b) the use of free or significantly discounted office space or equipment in facilities usually located close to the hospital, (c) provision of free or significantly discounted billing, nursing or other staff services, (d) free training for a physician’s office staff in areas such as management techniques and laboratory techniques, (e) guarantees which provide, if the physician’s income fails to reach a predetermined level, the hospital will pay any portion of the remainder,

(f) low-interest

or interest-free loans, or loans which may be forgiven if a physician refers patients to the hospital, (g) payment of the costs of a physician’s travel and expenses for conferences or payments to a physician for speaking engagements, (h) coverage on the hospital’s group health insurance plans at an inappropriately low cost to the physician, (i) payment for services (which may include consultations at the hospital) which require few, if any, substantive duties by the physician, (j) purchasing goods or services from physicians at prices in excess of their fair market value, (k) rental of space in physician offices, at other than fair market value terms, by persons or entities to which physicians refer, and (l) physician-owned entities (frequently referred to as physician-owned distributorships or PODs) that derive revenue from selling, or arranging for the sale of, implantable medical devices ordered by their physician-owners for use on procedures that physician-owners perform on their own patients at hospitals or ASCs. The OIG has encouraged persons having information about hospitals who offer the above types of incentives to physicians to report such information to the OIG.

The OIG also issues “Special Advisory Bulletins” as a means of providing guidance to health care providers. These bulletins, along with the Special Fraud Alerts, have focused on certain arrangements that could be subject to heightened scrutiny by government enforcement authorities, including: (a) contractual joint venture arrangements and other joint venture arrangements between those in a position to refer business, such as physicians, and those providing items or services for which Medicare or Medicaid pays, and (b) certain “gainsharing” arrangements, i.e., the practice of giving physicians a share of any reduction in a hospital’s costs for patient care attributable in part to the physician’s efforts.

In addition to issuing Special Fraud Alerts and Special Advisory Bulletins, the OIG issues compliance program guidance for certain types of health care providers. The OIG guidance identifies a number of risk areas under federal fraud and abuse statutes and regulations. These areas of risk include compensation arrangements with physicians, recruitment arrangements with physicians and joint venture relationships with physicians.

As authorized by Congress, the OIG has published safe harbor regulations that outline categories of activities deemed protected from prosecution under the Anti-kickback Statute. Currently, there are statutory exceptions and safe harbors for various activities, including the following: certain investment interests, space rental, equipment rental, practitioner recruitment, personnel services and management contracts, sale of practice, referral services, warranties, discounts, employees, group purchasing organizations, waiver of beneficiary coinsurance and deductible amounts, managed care arrangements, obstetrical malpractice insurance subsidies, investments in group practices, freestanding surgery centers, ambulance replenishing, referral agreements for specialty services, care coordination arrangements, arrangements for patient engagement and support,

CMS-sponsored

model arrangements, cybersecurity technology and related services, and value-based arrangements.

The fact that conduct or a business arrangement does not fall within a safe harbor or is identified in a Special Fraud Alert, Special Advisory Bulletin or other guidance does not necessarily render the conduct or business arrangement illegal under the Anti-kickback Statute. However, such conduct and business arrangements may lead to increased scrutiny by government enforcement authorities.

We have a variety of financial relationships with physicians and others who either refer or influence the referral of patients to our hospitals, other health care facilities and employed physicians, including employment contracts, leases, medical director agreements and professional service agreements. We also have similar relationships with physicians and facilities to which patients are referred from our facilities and other providers. In addition, we provide financial incentives, including minimum revenue guarantees, to recruit physicians into the communities served by our hospitals. While we endeavor to comply with the applicable safe harbors, certain of our current arrangements, including joint ventures and financial relationships with physicians and other referral sources and persons and entities to which we refer patients, do not qualify for safe harbor protection.

Although we believe our arrangements with physicians and other referral sources and referral recipients have been structured to comply with current law and available interpretations, there can be no assurance regulatory authorities enforcing these laws will determine these financial arrangements comply with the Anti-kickback Statute or other applicable laws. An adverse determination could subject us to liabilities under the Social Security Act and other laws, including criminal penalties, civil monetary penalties and exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health care programs.

Stark Law

The Social Security Act also includes a provision commonly known as the “Stark Law.” The Stark Law prohibits physicians from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to entities with which they or any of their immediate family members have a financial relationship, if these entities provide certain “designated health services” reimbursable by Medicare or Medicaid unless an exception applies. The Stark Law also prohibits entities that provide designated health services reimbursable by Medicare and Medicaid from billing the Medicare and Medicaid programs for any items or services that result from a prohibited referral and requires the entities to refund amounts received for items or services provided pursuant to the prohibited referral on a timely basis. “Designated health services” include inpatient and outpatient hospital services, clinical laboratory services and radiology services. Sanctions for violating the Stark Law include denial of payment, substantial civil monetary penalties per claim submitted and exclusion from the federal health care programs. Failure to refund amounts received as a result of a prohibited referral on a timely basis may constitute a false or fraudulent claim and may result in civil penalties and additional penalties under the FCA. The statute also provides for a penalty for a circumvention scheme. These penalties are updated annually based on changes to the consumer price index.

There are exceptions to the self-referral prohibition for many of the customary financial arrangements between physicians and providers, including employment contracts, leases, recruitment agreements and personal service arrangements. Unlike safe harbors under the Anti-kickback Statute with which compliance is voluntary, a financial relationship must comply with every requirement of a Stark Law exception or the arrangement is in violation of the Stark Law. Although there is an exception for a physician’s ownership interest in an entire hospital, the Affordable Care Act prohibits physician-owned hospitals established after December 31, 2010 from billing for Medicare or Medicaid patients referred by their physician owners. As a result, the law effectively prevents the formation of new physician-owned hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. While the Affordable Care Act grandfathers existing physician-owned hospitals, it does not allow these hospitals to increase the percentage of physician ownership and significantly restricts their ability to expand services.

Through a series of rulemakings, CMS has issued final regulations implementing the Stark Law. While these regulations were intended to clarify the requirements of the exceptions to the Stark Law, it is unclear how

the government will interpret many of these exceptions for enforcement purposes. Further, we do not always have the benefit of significant regulatory or judicial interpretation of the Stark Law and its implementing regulations. We attempt to structure our relationships to meet an exception to the Stark Law, but the regulations implementing the exceptions are detailed and complex, and are subject to continuing legal and regulatory change. We cannot assure that every relationship complies fully with the Stark Law.

Similar State Laws

Many states in which we operate also have laws similar to the Anti-kickback Statute that prohibit payments to physicians for patient referrals and laws similar to the Stark Law that prohibit certain self-referrals. These state laws often apply regardless of the source of payment for care, and little precedent exists for their interpretation or enforcement. These statutes typically provide for criminal and civil penalties, as well as loss of licensure.

Other Fraud and Abuse Provisions

Certain federal fraud and abuse laws apply to all health benefit programs and provide for criminal penalties. The Social Security Act also imposes criminal and civil penalties for making false claims and statements to Medicare and Medicaid. False claims include, but are not limited to, billing for services not rendered or for misrepresenting actual services rendered in order to obtain higher reimbursement, billing for unnecessary goods and services and cost report fraud. Federal enforcement officials have the ability to exclude from Medicare and Medicaid any business entities and any investors, officers and managing employees associated with business entities that have committed health care fraud, even if the officer or managing employee had no knowledge of the fraud. Criminal and civil penalties may be imposed for a number of other prohibited activities, including failure to return known overpayments, certain gainsharing arrangements, billing Medicare amounts that are substantially in excess of a provider’s usual charges, offering remuneration to influence a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary’s selection of a health care provider, contracting with an individual or entity known to be excluded from a federal health care program, making or accepting a payment to induce a physician to reduce or limit services, and soliciting or receiving any remuneration in return for referring an individual for an item or service payable by a federal health care program. Like the Anti-kickback Statute, these provisions are very broad. Civil penalties may be imposed for the failure to report and return an overpayment within 60 days of identifying the overpayment or by the date a corresponding cost report is due, whichever is later. To avoid liability, providers must, among other things, carefully and accurately code claims for reimbursement, promptly return overpayments and accurately prepare cost reports.

Some of these provisions, including the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Law, require a lower burden of proof than other fraud and abuse laws, including the Anti-kickback Statute. Substantial civil monetary penalties may be imposed under the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Law. These penalties will be updated annually based on changes to the consumer price index. In some cases, violations of the Civil Monetary Penalty Law may result in penalties of up to three times the remuneration offered, paid, solicited or received. In addition, a violator may be subject to exclusion from federal and state health care programs. Federal and state governments increasingly use the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Law, especially where they believe they cannot meet the higher burden of proof requirements under the Anti-kickback Statute. Further, individuals can receive up to $1,000 for providing information on Medicare fraud and abuse that leads to the recovery of at least $100 of Medicare funds under the Medicare Integrity Program.

The Federal False Claims Act and Similar State Laws

We are subject to state and federal laws that govern the submission of claims for reimbursement and prohibit the making of false claims or statements. One of the most prominent of these laws is the FCA, which may be enforced by the federal government directly or by a

qui tam

plaintiff, or whistleblower, on the government’s behalf. The government may use the FCA to prosecute Medicare and other government program fraud in areas such as coding errors, billing for services not provided and submitting false cost reports. In

addition, the FCA covers payments made in connection with the Exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, if those payments include any federal funds. When a private party brings a

qui tam

action under the FCA, the defendant is not made aware of the lawsuit until the government commences its own investigation or makes a determination whether it will intervene. If a defendant is determined by a court of law to be liable under the FCA, the defendant may be required to pay three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus substantial mandatory civil penalties for each separate false claim. These penalties are updated annually based on changes to the consumer price index.

There are many potential bases for liability under the FCA. Liability often arises when an entity knowingly submits a false claim for reimbursement to the federal government. The FCA defines the term “knowingly” broadly. Though simple negligence will not give rise to liability under the FCA, submitting a claim with reckless disregard to its truth or falsity constitutes a “knowing” submission under the FCA and, therefore, may create liability. Submission of claims for services or items generated in violation of the Anti-kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim under the FCA. Whistleblowers and the federal government have taken the position, and some courts have held, that providers who allegedly have violated other statutes, such as the Stark Law, have thereby submitted false claims under the FCA. False claims under the FCA also include the knowing and improper failure to report and refund amounts owed to the government in a timely manner following identification of an overpayment. An overpayment is deemed to be identified when a person has, or should have through reasonable diligence, determined that an overpayment was received and quantified the overpayment.

Every entity that receives at least $5 million annually in Medicaid payments must have written policies for all employees, contractors or agents, providing detailed information about false claims, false statements and whistleblower protections under certain federal laws, including the FCA, and similar state laws. In addition, federal law provides an incentive to states to enact false claims laws comparable to the FCA. A number of states in which we operate have adopted their own false claims provisions as well as their own whistleblower provisions under which a private party may file a civil lawsuit in state court. We have adopted and distributed policies pertaining to the FCA and relevant state laws.

HIPAA Administrative Simplification and Privacy, Security and Interoperability Requirements

The Administrative Simplification Provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and implementing regulations require the use of uniform electronic data transmission standards and code sets for certain health care claims and payment transactions submitted or received electronically. In addition, HIPAA requires that each provider use a National Provider Identifier. These provisions are intended to encourage electronic commerce in the health care industry.

The privacy and security regulations promulgated pursuant to HIPAA extensively regulate the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, known as “protected health information,” and require covered entities, including health plans and most health care providers, to implement administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the security of such information. Certain provisions of the security and privacy regulations apply to business associates (entities that handle protected health information on behalf of covered entities), and business associates are subject to direct liability for violation of these provisions. In addition, a covered entity may be subject to penalties as a result of a business associate violating HIPAA, if the business associate is found to be an agent of the covered entity.

Covered entities must report breaches of unsecured protected health information to affected individuals without unreasonable delay but not to exceed 60 days after discovery of the breach by a covered entity or its agents. Notification must also be made to HHS and, in certain situations involving large breaches, to the media. HHS is required to publish on its website a list of all covered entities that report a breach involving more than 500 individuals. All

non-permitted

uses or disclosures of unsecured protected health information are presumed to be breaches unless the covered entity or business associate establishes that there is a low probability the information has been compromised. Various state laws and regulations may also require us to notify affected individuals in the event of a data breach involving individually identifiable information.

Violations of the HIPAA privacy and security regulations may result in criminal penalties and in substantial civil penalties per violation. These civil penalties are updated annually based on updates to the consumer price index. HHS enforces the regulations and performs compliance audits. In addition to enforcement by HHS, state attorneys general are authorized to bring civil actions seeking either injunction or damages in response to violations that threaten the privacy of state residents. HHS may resolve HIPAA violations through informal means, such as allowing a covered entity to implement a corrective action plan, but HHS has the discretion to move directly to impose monetary penalties and is required to impose penalties for violations resulting from willful neglect. We enforce compliance in accordance with HIPAA privacy and security regulations. The Information Protection and Security Department monitors our compliance with the HIPAA privacy and security regulations. The HIPAA privacy regulations and security regulations have and will continue to impose significant costs on our facilities in order to comply with these standards.

There are numerous other laws and legislative and regulatory initiatives at the federal and state levels addressing privacy and security concerns. Our facilities remain subject to any federal or state privacy-related laws that are more restrictive than the privacy regulations issued under HIPAA. These laws vary and could impose additional penalties. For example, the Federal Trade Commission uses its consumer protection authority to initiate enforcement actions in response to data breaches. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”) affords consumers expanded privacy protections effective January 1, 2020. Moreover, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) takes effect January 1, 2022, and significantly modifies the CCPA. The potential effects of these laws

are far-reaching and

may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses to comply. For example, the CCPA and CPRA give California residents expanded rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA and CPRA provide for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches.

Health care providers and industry participants are also subject to a growing number of requirements intended to promote the interoperability and exchange of patient health information. For example, beginning April 5, 2021, health care providers and certain other entities will be subject to information blocking restrictions pursuant to the 21

Century Cures Act that prohibit practices that are likely to interfere with the access, exchange or use of electronic health information, except as required by law or specified by HHS as a reasonable and necessary activity. Violations may result in penalties or other disincentives.

Many foreign data privacy regulations (including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”)) are more stringent than those in the United States. In the case of

non-compliance

with a material provision of the GDPR (such as

non-adherence

to the core principles of processing personal data), regulators have the authority to levy a fine in an amount that is up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover in the prior year. If it is determined that

non-compliance

is related to a

non-material

provision (such as failure to comply with technical measures), regulators may impose a fine in an amount that is up to the greater of €10 million or 2% of the global annual turnover from the prior year. These administrative fines are discretionary and based, in each case, on a multi-factored approach.

EMTALA

All of our hospitals in the United States are subject to EMTALA. This federal law requires any hospital participating in the Medicare program to conduct an appropriate medical screening examination of every individual who presents to the hospital’s emergency room for treatment and, if the individual is suffering from an emergency medical condition, to either stabilize the condition or make an appropriate transfer of the individual to a facility able to handle the condition. The obligation to screen and stabilize emergency medical conditions exists regardless of an individual’s ability to pay for treatment. There are severe penalties under EMTALA if a hospital fails to screen or appropriately stabilize or transfer an individual or if the hospital delays appropriate treatment in order to first inquire about the individual’s ability to pay. Penalties for violations of EMTALA include exclusion from participation in the Medicare program and civil monetary penalties. These civil monetary penalties are

adjusted annually based on updates to the consumer price index. In addition, an injured individual, the individual’s family or a medical facility that suffers a financial loss as a direct result of a hospital’s violation of the law can bring a civil suit against the hospital.

The government broadly interprets EMTALA to cover situations in which individuals do not actually present to a hospital’s emergency room, but present for emergency examination or treatment to the hospital’s campus, generally, or to a hospital-based clinic that treats emergency medical conditions or are transported in a hospital-owned ambulance, subject to certain exceptions. At least one court has interpreted the law also to apply to a hospital that has been notified of a patient’s pending arrival in a

non-hospital

owned ambulance. EMTALA does not generally apply to individuals admitted for inpatient services. The government has expressed its intent to investigate and enforce EMTALA violations actively.

Corporate Practice of Medicine/Fee Splitting

Some of the states in which we operate have laws prohibiting corporations and other entities from employing physicians, practicing medicine for a profit and making certain direct and indirect payments to, or entering into

fee-splitting

arrangements with, health care providers designed to induce or encourage the referral of patients to, or the recommendation of, particular providers for medical products and services. Possible sanctions for violation of these restrictions include loss of license and civil and criminal penalties. In addition, agreements between the corporation and the physician may be considered void and unenforceable. These statutes vary from state to state, are often vague and have seldom been interpreted by the courts or regulatory agencies.

Health Care Industry Investigations

Significant media and public attention has focused in recent years on the hospital industry. This media and public attention, changes in government personnel and other factors have led to increased scrutiny of the health care industry. Except as may be disclosed in our SEC filings, we are not aware of any material investigations of the Company under federal or state health care laws or regulations. It is possible that governmental entities could initiate investigations or litigation in the future at facilities we operate and that such matters could result in significant penalties, as well as adverse publicity. It is also possible that our executives and managers could be included in governmental investigations or litigation or named as defendants in private litigation.

Our substantial Medicare, Medicaid and other governmental billings result in heightened scrutiny of our operations. We continue to monitor all aspects of our business and have developed a comprehensive ethics and compliance program that is designed to meet or exceed applicable federal guidelines and industry standards.

Because the law in this area is complex and constantly evolving, governmental investigations or litigation may result in interpretations that are inconsistent with our practices or industry practices.

In public statements surrounding current investigations, governmental authorities have taken positions on a number of issues, including some for which little official interpretation previously has been available, that appear to be inconsistent with practices that have been common within the industry and that previously have not been challenged in this manner. In some instances, government investigations that have in the past been conducted under the civil provisions of federal law may now be conducted as criminal investigations.

Both federal and state government agencies have increased their focus on and coordination of civil and criminal enforcement efforts in the health care area. The OIG and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) have, from time to time, established national enforcement initiatives, targeting all hospital providers that focus on specific billing practices or other suspected areas of abuse. The Affordable Care Act included additional federal funding of $350 million over 10 years to fight health care fraud, waste and abuse, which expired in 2020. In addition, governmental agencies and their agents, such as MACs, fiscal intermediaries and carriers, may conduct audits of our health care operations. Private third-party payers may conduct similar post-payment audits, and we also perform internal audits and monitoring.

In addition to national enforcement initiatives, federal and state investigations have addressed a wide variety of routine health care operations such as: cost reporting and billing practices, including for Medicare outliers; financial arrangements with referral sources; physician recruitment activities; physician joint ventures; and hospital charges and collection practices for

self-pay

patients. We engage in many of these routine health care operations and other activities that could be the subject of governmental investigations or inquiries. For example, we have significant Medicare and Medicaid billings, numerous financial arrangements with physicians who are referral sources to our hospitals, and joint venture arrangements involving physician investors. Certain of our individual facilities have received, and other facilities may receive, government inquiries from, and may be subject to investigation by, federal and state agencies. Any additional investigations of the Company, our executives or managers could result in significant liabilities or penalties to us, as well as adverse publicity.

Health Care Reform

The health care industry is subject to changing political, regulatory, and other influences, along with various scientific and technological initiatives. In recent years, the U.S. Congress and certain state legislatures have passed a large number of laws and regulations intended to effect major change within the U.S. health care system, including the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act affects how health care services are covered, delivered and reimbursed through expanded health insurance coverage, reduced growth in Medicare program spending, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid DSH payments, and the establishment of programs that tie reimbursement to quality and integration. However, there is uncertainty regarding the future of the Affordable Care Act. The law has been subject to legislative and regulatory changes and court challenges. For example, final rules issued in 2018 expand the availability of association health plans and allow the sale of short-term, limited-duration health plans, neither of which are required to cover all of the essential health benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act. A number of members of Congress have stated their desire to repeal or make additional significant changes to the Affordable Care Act, its implementation or interpretation. Effective January 1, 2019, the penalty associated with the individual mandate to maintain health insurance was eliminated. As a result of this change, in December 2018, the United States District Court for the North District of Texas found the individual mandate to be unconstitutional and determined that the rest of the Affordable Care Act was, therefore, invalid. In December 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this decision with respect to the individual mandate, but remanded for further consideration of how this affects the rest of the law. On November 10, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding this case, and the law remains in place pending the appeals process. The elimination of the individual mandate penalty and other changes may impact the number of individuals that elect to obtain public or private health insurance or the scope of such coverage, if purchased.

As currently structured, the Affordable Care Act expands coverage through a combination of private sector health insurance requirements, public program expansion and other reforms. Expansion of coverage through the private sector has been driven by requirements applicable to health insurers, employers, and individuals. For example, health insurers are prohibited from imposing annual coverage limits, dropping coverage, excluding persons based upon

pre-existing

conditions or denying coverage for any individual who is willing to pay the premiums for such coverage. Expansion in public program coverage has been driven primarily by expanding the categories of individuals eligible for Medicaid coverage and permitting individuals with relatively higher incomes to qualify. A number of states, including Texas and Florida, have opted out of the Medicaid expansion provisions, which they may do without losing federal funding. For states that have not participated in the Medicaid expansion, the maximum income level required for individuals and families to qualify for Medicaid varies widely from state to state. Some states are using waivers granted by CMS to expand their Medicaid programs, impose different eligibility or enrollment restrictions, or otherwise implement programs that vary from federal standards. In addition, some states are proposing or have implemented various health reform initiatives at the state level. For example, some states have proposed public health insurance options, and some states have passed or are considering legislation to address

out-of-network

billing.

The Affordable Care Act has had a net positive effect on the Company to date, before considering the impact of Medicare reductions that began in 2010, and it is expected that the law, as presently implemented, will

continue to have a positive contribution to the Company’s results of operations. However, there is uncertainty regarding the ongoing net effect of the Affordable Care Act due to efforts to change, repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, court challenges, and the development of agency guidance, among other factors. There is also uncertainty regarding the potential impact of other reform efforts at the federal and state levels. For example, some members of Congress have proposed measures that would expand government-sponsored coverage, including proposals to expand coverage of federally-funded insurance programs as an alternative to private insurance or establish a single-payer system (such reforms often referred to as “Medicare for All”), and some states are considering similar measures. Further, the impact of the 2020 federal election on health reform efforts is unknown, although President Biden has indicated through executive orders that his administration intends to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid programs. Other initiatives and proposals, including those aimed at price transparency and

out-of-network

charges, may impact prices and the relationships between health care providers and insurers. These issues are further discussed in Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

General Economic and Demographic Factors

The health care industry is impacted by the overall United States economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has led, and may continue to lead, to a general worsening of economic conditions. Budget deficits at federal, state and local government entities have had a negative impact on spending for many health and human service programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and similar programs, which represent significant payer sources for our hospitals and other providers. We anticipate that the federal deficit, the growing magnitude of Medicare and Medicaid expenditures and the aging of the United States population will continue to place pressure on government health care programs. Other risks we face during periods of economic weakness and high unemployment include potential declines in the population covered under managed care agreements, increased patient decisions to postpone or cancel elective and nonemergency health care procedures (including delaying surgical procedures), potential increases in the uninsured and underinsured populations, increased adoption of health plan structures that shift financial responsibility to patients and increased difficulties in collecting patient receivables for copayment and deductible amounts.

Compliance Program

We maintain a comprehensive ethics and compliance program that is designed to meet or exceed applicable federal guidelines and industry standards. The program is intended to monitor and raise awareness of various regulatory issues among employees and to emphasize the importance of complying with governmental laws and regulations. As part of the ethics and compliance program, we provide annual ethics and compliance training to our employees and encourage all employees to report any violations to their supervisor, an ethics and compliance officer or to the Company’s ethics line available 24 hours a day by phone and internet portal.

Antitrust Laws

The federal government and most states have enacted antitrust laws that prohibit certain types of conduct deemed to be anti-competitive. These laws prohibit price fixing, market allocation,

bid-rigging,

concerted refusal to deal, market monopolization, price discrimination, tying arrangements, acquisitions of competitors and other practices that have, or may have, an adverse effect on competition. Violations of federal or state antitrust laws can result in various sanctions, including criminal and civil penalties. Antitrust enforcement in the health care industry is currently a priority of the Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ. We believe we are in compliance with such federal and state laws, but courts or regulatory authorities may reach a determination in the future that could adversely affect our operations.

Environmental Matters

We are subject to various federal, state and local statutes and ordinances regulating the discharge of materials into the environment. We do not believe that we will be required to expend any material amounts in order to comply with these laws and regulations.

Insurance

As is typical in the health care industry, we are subject to claims and legal actions by patients in the ordinary course of business. Subject, in most cases, to a $15 million per occurrence self-insured retention, our facilities are insured by our 100% owned insurance subsidiary for losses up to $50 million per occurrence. The insurance subsidiary has obtained reinsurance for professional liability risks generally above a retention level of either $25 million or $35 million per occurrence, depending on the jurisdiction for the related claim. We also maintain professional liability insurance with unrelated commercial carriers for losses in excess of amounts insured by our insurance subsidiary.

We purchase, from unrelated insurance companies, coverage for cyber security incidents, directors and officers liability and property loss in amounts we believe are adequate and subject to terms of coverage we believe to be reasonable.

Human Capital Resources

Our workforce is comprised of approximately 275,000 employees (as of December 31, 2020), including approximately 80,000 part-time employees (references herein to “employees” refer to employees of our affiliates). Our Board of Directors and its committees oversee human capital matters through regular reporting from management and advisors.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion that embraces and supports our patients, colleagues, partners, physicians and communities. Our workforce is comprised of approximately 80% women and 41% people of color. Our policies prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, gender, disability, race, color, ancestry, citizenship, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, payment source or ability, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law.

We are dedicated to being an employer of choice. We seek to recruit diverse candidates at all stages of their careers and through a variety of venues and programs. We recently launched a data-driven diversity, equity and inclusion strategy based on internal and external research to support the advancement of women and people of color into leadership roles. We also partner with national organizations which promote diversity in leadership positions. Our Chief Diversity Officer leads a 20-person team that is responsible for advancing diversity, inclusion, equity and cultural competence initiatives across the Company.

We encourage you to review the “Inclusion, Compassion and Respect” section of our website, as well as the “Excellent People Make Excellence Happen” section of our 2020 Impact Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our diversity, equity, inclusion and pay equity programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website, including our 2020 Impact Report or sections thereof, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this annual report on Form 10-K.

Compensation and Benefits

We provide competitive compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by location) include an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, a 401(k) Plan, health care and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, employee assistance programs, tuition and student loan assistance and on-site services, such as cafeterias and fitness centers, among many others.

Serving the Community

We provide our colleagues with opportunities to learn, serve, lead and give in their communities. By joining forces with other leading organizations, we maximize our ability to provide care for patients and populations.

Through research, partnerships, policies and investments, we are tackling problems in our communities, from disaster relief to environmental sustainability. We also support the HCA Healthcare Foundation, whose mission is to promote health and well-being and strive to make a positive impact in all the communities HCA Healthcare serves by providing leadership, service and financial support to effective non-profit organizations.

Culture and Talent Development

HCA Healthcare’s culture is critical to our success. We seek to instill a culture across our system that includes making a positive impact on our patients, communities and each other. We seek to nurture a collaborative culture built on inclusion, compassion and respect.

To assess and improve employee retention and engagement, we conduct colleague pulse surveys and take action to address areas of concern. During 2020, we hosted routine surveys as well as an innovative pandemic survey to gauge the pulse of our teams as we pivoted to respond to the needs of our communities during the pandemic.

We also seek to support our colleagues throughout their career journey, providing education, training, and opportunities to grow as clinicians and leaders. We also support our colleagues’ development through programs such as tuition reimbursement, clinical training and certification, loan forgiveness and award-winning programs offered through the HCA Healthcare Leadership Institute.

Health, Safety and Wellness

We provide our employees and their families with access to a variety of health and wellness programs. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented changes to address the interests of our patients, employees, medical staff members and contractors, as well as the communities in which we operate, such as providing PPE, COVID-19 screening for patients and certain hospital staff, and scrub laundering. During 2020:

•

Over 36,000 quarantined caregivers unable to work received 100% of base pay through our Quarantine Pay Program;

•

More than 127,000 full-time/part-time care or support facility colleagues with reduced hours due to COVID-19 received 70% of base pay through our Pandemic Pay Program;

•

3,500 caregivers were supported through company-paid hotel stays to protect their families from exposure;

•

More than 25,000 calls were placed to the HCA Nurse Care line, a free, confidential 24-hour phone counseling support program for nurses; and

•

$10.6 million in assistance provided by the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund to HCA Healthcare colleagues, including more than $3 million provided to colleagues to help with the loss of household income, childcare costs or other unexpected financial challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Labor Matters

We are subject to various state and federal laws that regulate wages, hours, benefits and other terms and conditions relating to employment. At December 31, 2020, certain employees at 37 of our domestic hospitals are represented by various labor unions. Two elections were held in January 2020 that resulted in the addition of a number of employees to existing bargaining units at one of our facilities in California and one facility in Missouri. During September 2020, an election was held that resulted in the creation of a new bargaining unit at one of our facilities in North Carolina, and a decertification election was held that resulted in the elimination of a bargaining unit at a facility in Virginia. While no other elections are scheduled in 2021, it is possible that employees at additional hospitals may unionize in the future. We consider our employee relations to be good and have not experienced work stoppages that have materially, adversely affected our business or results of operations. However, it is possible that a material work stoppage at one or more of our hospitals may occur in the

future. Our hospitals, like most hospitals, have experienced rising labor costs. In some markets, nurse and medical support personnel availability has become a significant operating issue to health care providers. To address this challenge, we have implemented several initiatives to improve retention, recruiting, compensation programs and productivity.

Our hospitals are staffed by licensed physicians, including both employed physicians and physicians who are not employees of our hospitals. Some physicians provide services in our hospitals under contracts, which generally describe a term of service, provide and establish the duties and obligations of such physicians, require the maintenance of certain performance criteria and fix compensation for such services. Any licensed physician may apply to be accepted to the medical staff of any of our hospitals, but the hospital’s medical staff and the appropriate governing board of the hospital, in accordance with established credentialing criteria, must approve acceptance to the staff. Members of the medical staffs of our hospitals often also serve on the medical staffs of other hospitals and may terminate their affiliation with one of our hospitals at any time.

We may be required to continue to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain nurses and other medical support personnel or to hire more expensive temporary or contract personnel. As a result, our labor costs could increase. We also depend on the available labor pool of semi-skilled and unskilled employees in each of the markets in which we operate. If there is additional union organizing activity or a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, our costs could increase. In addition, the states in which we operate could adopt mandatory nurse-staffing ratios or could reduce mandatory nurse-staffing ratios already in place. State-mandated nurse-staffing ratios could significantly affect labor costs, and have an adverse impact on revenues if we are required to limit patient admissions in order to meet the required ratios.

Information about our Executive Officers

As of February 1, 2021, our executive officers were as follows:


Name	Age	Position(s)
Samuel N. Hazen	60	Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jennifer L. Berres	50	Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer
Phillip G. Billington	53	Senior Vice President — Internal Audit Services
Jeff E. Cohen	49	Senior Vice President — Government Relations
Michael S. Cuffe, M.D.	55	President — Physician Services Group
Jane D. Englebright	63	Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Jon M. Foster	59	President — American Group
Charles J. Hall	67	President — National Group
A. Bruce Moore, Jr.	60	President — Service Line and Operations Integration
Sandra L. Morgan	58	Senior Vice President — Provider Relations
J. William B. Morrow	50	Senior Vice President — Finance and Treasurer
P. Martin Paslick	61	Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D.	59	President — Clinical Operations Group and Chief Medical Officer
Deborah M. Reiner	59	Senior Vice President — Marketing and Communications
William B. Rutherford	57	Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Joseph A. Sowell, III	64	Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer
Kathryn A. Torres	57	Senior Vice President — Payer Contracting and Alignment
Robert A. Waterman	67	Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Kathleen M. Whalen	57	Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer
Christopher F. Wyatt	43	Senior Vice President and Controller

Samuel N. Hazen

was appointed Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2019 and was appointed as a director in September 2018. From November 2016 through December 2018, Mr. Hazen served as the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer of the Company from January 2015 to November 2016 and as President — Operations of the Company from 2011 to 2015. He also

served as President — Western Group from 2001 to 2011 and as Chief Financial Officer — Western Group of the Company from 1995 to 2001. Prior to that time, Mr. Hazen served in various hospital, regional and division Chief Financial Officer positions with the Company, Humana Inc. and Galen Health Care, Inc.

Jennifer L. Berres

was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer effective November 1, 2019. Ms. Berres joined HCA in 1993 and served in various capacities, including as Vice President — Human Resources from April 2013 through October 2019.

Phillip G. Billington

was appointed Senior Vice President — Internal Audit Services effective January 1, 2019. Mr. Billington previously served as Vice President — Corporate Internal Audit from June 2005 to December 2018. Prior to joining HCA, Mr. Billington worked as a managing director for FTI Consulting, Inc., a director for KPMG LLP and was a senior manager at Arthur Andersen LLP.

Jeff E. Cohen

was appointed Senior Vice President — Government Relations effective October 1, 2019. Prior to joining HCA, Mr. Cohen spent 20 years with the Federation of American Hospitals, most recently as Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, where he managed all advocacy, public affairs and communications for the association.

Dr.

Michael

S. Cuffe

has served as President — Physician Services Group since October 2011. From October 2011 to January 2015, Dr. Cuffe also served as a Vice President of the Company. Prior to that time, Dr. Cuffe served Duke University Health System as Vice President for Ambulatory Services and Chief Medical Officer from March 2011 to October 2011 and Vice President Medical Affairs from June 2005 to March 2011. He also served Duke University School of Medicine as Vice Dean for Medical Affairs from June 2008 to March 2011, Deputy Chair of the Department of Medicine from August 2009 to August 2010 and Associate Professor of Medicine from March 2005 to October 2011. Prior that time, Dr. Cuffe served in various leadership roles with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center and Duke University School of Medicine.

Dr.

Jane

D. Englebright

was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer in January 2015. Dr. Englebright previously served as Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer from 2007 to January 2015. Dr. Englebright joined HCA in 1992 as a critical care nurse at Lewisville Medical Center in Texas and became Chief Nursing Officer of HCA’s San Antonio Community Hospital in 1996. Dr. Englebright currently serves on The Joint Commission’s Board of Commissioners.

Jon M. Foster

was appointed President — American Group in January 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Foster served as President — Southwest Group from February 2011 to January 2013 and as Division President for the Central and West Texas Division from January 2006 to February 2011. Mr. Foster joined HCA in March 2001 as President and CEO of St. David’s HealthCare in Austin, Texas and served in that position until February 2011. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Foster served in various executive capacities within the Baptist Health System in Knoxville, Tennessee and The Methodist Hospital System in Houston, Texas.

Charles J. Hall

was appointed President — National Group in February 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Hall served as President — Eastern Group from October 2006 to February 2011. Mr. Hall had previously served the Company as President — North Florida Division from April 2003 until October 2006, as President of the East Florida Division from January 1999 until April 2003, as a Market President in the East Florida Division from January 1998 until December 1998, as President of the South Florida Division from February 1996 until December 1997, and as President of the Southwest Florida Division from October 1994 until February 1996, and in various other capacities since 1987.

A. Bruce Moore, Jr.

was appointed President — Service Line and Operations Integration in February 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Moore had served as President — Outpatient Services Group since January 2006. Mr. Moore served as Senior Vice President and as Chief Operating Officer — Outpatient Services Group from July 2004 to January 2006 and as Senior Vice President — Operations Administration from July 1999 until July 2004.

Mr. Moore served as Vice President — Operations Administration of the Company from September 1997 to July 1999, as Vice President — Benefits from October 1996 to September 1997, and as Vice President — Compensation from March 1995 until October 1996.

Sandra L. Morgan

was appointed Senior Vice President — Provider Relations in January 2015. Prior to that time, she served as Vice President — National Sales from April 2008 to January 2015. From 2000 to 2008, Ms. Morgan served in various capacities with Pfizer Inc., including Vice President of Managed Care for the Customer Business Unit from 2005 to 2008.

J. William B. Morrow

was appointed Senior Vice President — Finance and Treasurer in February 2017. Mr. Morrow served as Vice President — Finance and Treasurer from July 2016 through January 2017. From 2011 to 2016, Mr. Morrow served the Company as Vice President — Development/Special Assets. Mr. Morrow served as a partner in the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis from 2006 to October 2011. Prior to becoming a partner, Mr. Morrow was an associate at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis and at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

P. Martin Paslick

was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer in June 2012. Prior to that time, he served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Information Technology & Services from March 2010 to May 2012 and Vice President — Information Technology & Services Field Operations from September 2006 to February 2010. From January 1998 to September 2006, he served in various Vice President roles in the Company’s Information Technology & Services department. Mr. Paslick joined the Company in 1985.

Dr.

Jonathan

B. Perlin

was appointed President — Clinical Operations Group (f/k/a Clinical Services Group) and Chief Medical Officer in November 2007. Dr. Perlin had served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President — Quality of the Company from August 2006 to November 2007. Prior to joining the Company, Dr. Perlin served as Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs since April 2004. Dr. Perlin joined the Veterans Health Administration in November 1999 where he served in various capacities, including as Deputy Under Secretary for Health from July 2002 to April 2004, and as Chief Quality and Performance Officer from November 1999 to September 2002. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from July 2014 to September 2014 and as Chairman for the American Hospital Association in 2015.

Deborah M. Reiner

was appointed Senior Vice President — Marketing and Communications in October 2017. Prior to that time, she served as Vice President of Marketing and Customer Relationship Management from August 2017 to October 2017 and Vice President of Customer Relationship Management from January 2012 to August 2017. Ms. Reiner joined the Company in 2000 and served in various roles with the Company’s Mountain Division from 2000 to 2012.

William B. Rutherford

has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since January 2014. Mr. Rutherford previously served as Chief Operating Officer of the Company’s Clinical and Physician Services Group from January 2011 to January 2014 and Chief Financial Officer of the Company’s Outpatient Services Group from November 2008 to January 2011. Prior to that time, Mr. Rutherford was employed by Summit Consulting Group of Tennessee from July 2007 to November 2008 and was Chief Operating Officer of Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. from March 2006 to June 2007. Mr. Rutherford also previously served in various positions with the Company from 1986 to 2005, including Chief Financial Officer of what was then the Company’s Eastern Group, Director of Internal Audit and Director of Operations Support.

Joseph A. Sowell, III

was appointed as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer in December 2009. From 1987 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2009, Mr. Sowell was a partner at the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis where he specialized in the areas of health care law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity financing, tax law and general corporate law. He also

co-managed

the firm’s corporate and commercial transactions practice. From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Sowell served as the head of development, and later as the Chief Operating Officer of Arcon Healthcare.

Kathryn A. Torres

was appointed Senior Vice President — Payer Contracting and Alignment (formerly Senior Vice President — Employer and Payer Engagement) in July 2016. Ms. Torres joined HCA in 1993 and served in various capacities, including as Vice President of Employer and Payer Engagement and Vice President — Strategy.

Robert A. Waterman

has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel since November 1997. Mr. Waterman served as a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins from September 1993 to October 1997; he was Chair of the firm’s health care group during 1997.

Kathleen M. Whalen

was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer effective January 1, 2019. Prior to that time, Ms. Whalen served as Vice President — Ethics and Compliance from August 2013 through December 2018 and Assistant Vice President — Ethics and Compliance Program Development from March 2000 through July 2013. Prior to joining HCA in January 1998, Ms. Whalen served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton with responsibility for the White House’s ethics program. She began her government service in the ethics division of the General Counsel’s Office at the U.S. Commerce Department. Prior to that, she practiced labor and employment law in Dayton, Ohio.

Christopher F.

Wyatt was appointed Senior Vice President and Controller in April 2016. Prior to that time, Mr. Wyatt served the Company as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer — IT&S from January 2013 to April 2016 and Chief Financial Officer — Clinical Services Group from October 2010 until January 2013. From 2000 to 2010, Mr. Wyatt served in various capacities with Ernst & Young LLP.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

If any of the events discussed in the following risk factors were to occur, our business, financial position, results of operations, cash flows or prospects could be materially, adversely affected. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect us. Our business is subject to the following principal risks and uncertainties.

Risks related to the

COVID-19

pandemic and other potential pandemics:

The COVID-19 pandemic

is significantly affecting our operations, business and financial condition. Our liquidity could also be negatively impacted by the

COVID-19

pandemic, particularly if the U.S. economy remains unstable for a significant amount of time.

On January 31, 2020, HHS declared a national public health emergency (“PHE”) due to a novel coronavirus. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak

of COVID-19,

a disease caused by this novel coronavirus, a pandemic. This disease continues to spread throughout the United States and other parts of the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic

is significantly affecting our employees, patients, hospitals, communities and business operations, as well as the U.S. economy and financial markets. As

the COVID-19 crisis

continues to evolve, the full extent to which

the COVID-19 outbreak

will impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted. For example, we are not able to predict or control the severity or duration of the pandemic, including whether there will be additional periods of increases in the number of

COVID-19

cases in areas in which we operate, the rollout and availability of effective medical treatments and vaccines, the efficacy of public health controls, including vaccines, or the impact of any mutations of the virus. Florida and Texas, our two largest markets, have been and may in the future be “hot spots” of the

COVID-19

pandemic. Due to the concentration of our hospitals in Texas and Florida, we are particularly sensitive to the increase in

COVID-19

cases in those states where the pandemic could have a disproportionate effect on our business.

We have been working with federal, state and local health authorities to respond

to COVID-19 cases

in the markets we serve and continue to take and support measures to try to limit the spread of the virus and to mitigate

the burden on the health care system. For example, we are subject to

COVID-19

data reporting requirements, and some states are requiring hospitals to maintain a reserve of PPE and mandating

COVID-19

screening for new patients and certain hospital staff. CMS has made

COVID-19

data reporting requirements a Medicare condition of participation for hospitals, such that noncompliance with these requirements could result in termination from the Medicare program. We have incurred and will continue to incur additional costs related to protecting the health and well-being and meeting the needs of our patients, employees, medical staff members and contractors, including pandemic pay programs, hoteling our staff and additional scrub laundering. We expect to continue to incur additional costs, which may be significant, as we continue to implement operational changes in response to this pandemic. Further, our management is focused on mitigating the impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic, which has required and will continue to require a substantial investment of time and resources across our enterprise, which may impact our ability to properly prioritize and successfully execute on the Company’s other strategic initiatives.

As a front line provider of health care services, we have been and will continue to be impacted by the health and economic effects

of COVID-19.

Although we are implementing considerable safety measures, treatment

of COVID-19 patients

has associated risks to our employees, patients and physicians. These risks, and how clinical staff perceive and respond to them, may adversely affect our operating capacity. Despite considerable efforts to source vital supplies, we have experienced and may continue to experience supply chain disruptions, including delays and price increases in equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, particularly PPE, and we may experience shortages. Our current PPE inventory is satisfactory, but we cannot be certain that our supplies will remain sufficient in the future. In addition, restrictive measures taken to address the

COVID-19

pandemic may impact the availability of employed and contract labor staffing for corporate support services, including, but not limited to, coding, billing, collection and other business office functions, which could adversely affect our execution of established control procedures that may not be sufficiently mitigated through execution of our business continuity plans. Staffing, equipment, laboratory resources and pharmaceutical and medical supplies shortages may impact our ability to schedule, admit and treat patients. The

COVID-19

pandemic has also resulted in an increased number of early retirements in our workforce and resulted in fewer graduate nurses being able to enter the workforce. The combined impact of these factors, despite our efforts to mitigate their effect, could result in reduced employee morale and increased exposure to labor unrest, work stoppages or other workforce disruptions.

Restrictions on elective procedures, travel bans, social distancing, quarantines and

stay-at-home

and

shelter-in-place

orders, and other restrictive measures have reduced, and may in the future reduce, the volume of procedures performed at our facilities, as well as the volume of emergency room and physician office visits unrelated

to COVID-19.

In the last two weeks of March 2020 and in the second quarter of 2020, we cancelled a substantial amount of elective procedures at our facilities and closed or reduced operating hours at a significant number of our surgery centers that specialize in elective procedures, resulting in significantly reduced patient volumes and operating revenues. We may continue to cancel elective procedures and close or reduce operating hours at our facilities in the future. Some state and local governments are limiting hospital volume by requiring a minimum percentage of vacant beds in case of a surge in

COVID-19

patients. Although some social contact restrictions have eased across the U.S. and most states have lifted moratoriums on

non-emergent

procedures, some restrictions remain in place. Further closings and restrictions on hours and services may be imposed or

re-imposed

for an unpredictable amount of time in connection with increasing or fluctuating

COVID-19

cases. We are currently selectively suspending elective procedures at certain facilities based upon local

COVID-19

volume trends, bed capacity and staffing levels. It is unclear whether certain markets, such as Florida and Texas, will continue to experience periods of increases or spikes in the number of

COVID-19

cases. During the second half of 2020, we believe

COVID-19

cases at our hospitals contributed to an increase in patient acuity and led to an increase in reimbursements. However, the impacts of

COVID-19

in future periods may vary, could exert unpredictable and potentially negative effects on clinical performance metrics that impact reimbursement levels and could adversely affect our results of operations.

Some individuals may choose to postpone medical care (including long-term care) for an undetermined period of time even in the absence of government or industry-adopted restrictions. At this time, we believe that certain of the patient volume declines we are experiencing reflect a deferral of health care services utilization to a later period, rather than a permanent reduction in demand for our services; however, we cannot provide assurances as to the recovery

of pre-pandemic patient

volumes or the ultimate impact on demand. Further, our patient volumes may be adversely impacted by the expanded use of telehealth services from other providers as a result of reduced regulatory barriers on the use and reimbursement of telehealth services and individuals becoming more comfortable with receiving remote care. The Company may not be able to timely innovate its strategies and technologies to meet changing consumer demands as a result of the

COVID-19

pandemic.

Broad economic factors resulting from the

current COVID-19 pandemic,

including high unemployment and underemployment rates and reduced consumer spending and confidence, also affect our service mix, revenue mix, payer mix and patient volumes, as well as our ability to collect outstanding receivables. Business closings and layoffs in the areas where we operate may lead to increases in the uninsured and underinsured populations and adversely affect demand for our services, as well as the ability of patients and other payers to pay for services rendered. Any increase in the amount or deterioration in the collectability of patient accounts receivable will adversely affect our cash flows and results of operations, requiring an increased level of working capital. In addition, our results and financial condition may be adversely affected by federal, state or local laws, regulations, orders, or other governmental or regulatory actions addressing the

current COVID-19 pandemic

or the U.S. health care system, which could result in direct or indirect restrictions to our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow. We may also be subject to claims from patients, employees and others exposed

to COVID-19 at

our facilities. Such actions may involve large demands, as well as substantial defense costs, though there is no certainty at this time whether any such claims will be filed or the outcome of such claims if filed. Our professional and general liability insurance, a portion of which is provided through a 100% owned insurance subsidiary, may not cover all claims against us.

If general economic conditions continue to deteriorate or remain uncertain for an extended period of time, our liquidity and ability to repay our outstanding debt may be harmed and the trading price of our common stock could decline. Furthermore, the

current COVID-19 pandemic

may cause disruption in the financial markets and banking industry. These factors may affect the availability, terms or timing on which we may obtain any additional funding and our ability to access our cash. There can be no assurance that we will be able to raise additional funds on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

The foregoing and other continued disruptions to our business as a result of

the COVID-19 pandemic

could heighten the risks in certain of the other risk factors described in this annual report on

Form 10-K,

any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.

The CARES Act is a $2 trillion economic stimulus package signed into law on March 27, 2020, in response to

the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an effort to stabilize the U.S. economy, the CARES Act provides for cash payments to individuals and loans and grants to small businesses, among other measures. The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement (“PPPHCE”) Act and the CAA, both expansions of the CARES Act that include additional emergency appropriations, were signed into law on April 24, 2020 and December 27, 2020, respectively. In total, the CARES Act, the PPPHCE Act, and the CAA authorize $178 billion in funding to be distributed to hospitals and other health care providers through the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (“PHSSEF”), also known as the Provider Relief Fund. These funds are intended to reimburse eligible providers and suppliers for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenues attributable

to COVID-19.

Recipients are not required to repay PHSSEF funds, provided that they attest to and comply with certain terms and conditions, including limitations on balance billing and not using PHSSEF funds to reimburse expenses or losses that other sources are obligated to reimburse. HHS allocated $50 billion of the CARES Act provider relief funding for general distribution to Medicare providers impacted

by COVID-19,

to be distributed proportional to providers’ share of 2018 net patient revenue. HHS distributed $18 billion to eligible Medicaid and CHIP providers that did not receive a payment from the general distribution allocation and $14.4 billion to safety net hospitals. In addition, HHS has made targeted distributions for providers in areas particularly impacted by

COVID-19,

rural providers, providers of services with lower shares of Medicare reimbursement or who predominantly serve the Medicaid population, and providers requesting reimbursement for treatment of uninsured Americans, among others. A portion of the available funding is being distributed to reimburse health care providers that submit claims requests for

COVID-19-related treatment

of uninsured patients at Medicare rates. HHS has not yet announced the precise method by which all future payments from the PHSSEF will be determined or allocated, so the potential impact to us is not currently known.

The CARES Act also makes other forms of financial assistance available to health care providers, including Medicare and Medicaid payment adjustments and an expansion of the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, which makes available advance payments of Medicare funds in order to increase cash flow to providers. CMS is no longer accepting applications from hospitals and other Medicare Part A providers for accelerated payments and has suspended the advance payment program for physicians and other Medicare Part B providers. Recoupment of accelerated payments was due to begin in August 2020, but CMS has delayed the recoupment process for these payments, based on amended repayment terms imposed by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, enacted October 1, 2020, until one year after payment was issued. However, repayments can be made at any time.

In addition to financial assistance, the CARES Act and related legislation include provisions intended to increase access to medical supplies and equipment and ease financial, legal and regulatory burdens on health care providers. For example, the CARES Act, the CAA and related legislation suspend the Medicare sequestration payment adjustment from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 (but extend sequestration through 2030), provide for a 20%

add-on

payment under the hospital inpatient PPS for care provided to patients with

COVID-19,

expand access to and payment for telehealth services under Medicare, prioritize review of drug applications to help with shortages of emergency drugs, delay Medicaid DSH reductions, and provide funding to reimburse providers for conducting

COVID-19

testing for the uninsured. HHS and CMS have announced other flexibilities for health care providers in response to

COVID-19,

such as extensions for and relief from data submission requirements for providers participating in certain quality reporting programs. It is unclear how changes to these and other value-based programs will affect our financial condition.

Due to the recent enactment of the CARES Act, the PPPHCE Act, the CAA and other enacted legislation, there is still a high degree of uncertainty surrounding their implementation, and the

COVID-19

pandemic continues to evolve. Some of the measures allowing for flexibility in delivery of care and various financial supports for health care providers are available only for the duration of the PHE, and it is unclear whether or for how long the PHE declaration will be extended. The current PHE determination expires April 21, 2021. The HHS Secretary may choose to renew the PHE declaration for successive

90-day

periods for as long as the emergency continues to exist and may terminate the declaration whenever he determines that the PHE no longer exists. The federal government may consider additional stimulus and relief efforts, but we are unable to predict whether additional stimulus measures will be enacted or their impact. There can be no assurance as to the total amount of financial and other types of assistance we will receive under the CARES Act, PPPHCE Act, the CAA or future

legislation, if any, or whether we shall retain, return or repay any future assistance, and it is difficult to predict the impact of such legislation on our operations. Further, there can be no assurance that the terms and conditions of provider relief funding or other relief programs will not change or be interpreted in ways that affect our ability to comply with such terms and conditions in the future (which could affect our ability or willingness to retain assistance), the amount of total stimulus funding we will receive or our eligibility to participate in such stimulus funding. For time periods prior to returning Provider Relief Funds, with respect to future assistance, if any, we do not return, and in those cases where our partners retain such assistance, we will continue to monitor our compliance with the terms and conditions of the Provider Relief Fund, including demonstrating that the distributions received have been used for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to

COVID-19.

If we are unable to attest to or comply with current or future terms and conditions with respect to any assistance not voluntarily returned for our less-than-wholly owned partnerships, our ability to retain some or all of the distributions received may be impacted. We will continue to assess the potential impact

of COVID-19 and

government responses to the pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

The emergence and effects related to a potential future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease could adversely affect our operations.

If a pandemic, epidemic, outbreak of an infectious disease or other public health crisis were to occur in an area in which we operate, our operations could be adversely affected. Such a crisis could diminish the public trust in health care facilities, especially hospitals that fail to accurately or timely diagnose, or are treating (or have treated) patients affected by infectious diseases. If any of our facilities were involved, or perceived as being involved, in treating patients from such an infectious disease, patients might cancel elective procedures or fail to seek needed care at our facilities, and our reputation may be negatively affected. Patient volumes may decline or volumes of uninsured and underinsured patients may increase, depending on the economic circumstances surrounding the pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak. Further, a pandemic, epidemic or outbreak might adversely affect our operations by causing a temporary shutdown or diversion of patients, disrupting or delaying production and delivery of materials and products in the supply chain or causing staffing shortages in our facilities. We have disaster plans in place and operate pursuant to infectious disease protocols, but the potential emergence of a pandemic, epidemic or outbreak, as well as the public’s and the government’s response to the pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak, is difficult to predict and could adversely affect our operations.

Risks related to our indebtedness:

We are highly leveraged. As of December 31, 2020, our total indebtedness was $31.004 billion. As of December 31, 2020, we had availability of $1.962 billion under our senior secured revolving credit facility, $3.750 billion under our senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility, after giving effect to letters of credit and borrowing base limitations and $2.000 billion under our senior secured

364-day

term loan facility (which was terminated during January 2021). Our high degree of leverage could have important consequences, some of which may be exacerbated by the impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic, including:

•

increasing our vulnerability to downturns or adverse changes in general economic, industry or competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulations;

•

requiring a substantial portion of cash flows from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, therefore reducing our ability to use our cash flows to fund our operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities;

•

exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates to the extent that our existing unhedged borrowings are at variable rates of interest or we seek to refinance our debt in a rising rate environment;

•

limiting our ability to make strategic acquisitions or causing us to make nonstrategic divestitures;

•

limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, share repurchases, dividends, product or service line development, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes; and

•

limiting our ability to adjust to changing market conditions and placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors who are less highly leveraged.

We and our subsidiaries have the ability to incur additional indebtedness in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our outstanding notes. If new indebtedness is added to our current debt levels, interest rates and the related risks that we now face could intensify.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions, including the impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic, and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot assure you we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

In addition, we conduct our operations through our subsidiaries. Accordingly, repayment of our indebtedness is dependent on the generation of cash flows by our subsidiaries and their ability to make such cash available to us by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Our subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make distributions to enable us to make payments in respect of our indebtedness. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity, and, under certain circumstances, legal and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries.

We may find it necessary or prudent to refinance our outstanding indebtedness, the terms of which may not be favorable to us. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms, or at all, is directly affected by the then current global economic and financial conditions which affect the availability of debt financing and the rates at which such financing is available. In addition, our ability to incur secured indebtedness (which would generally enable us to achieve better pricing than the incurrence of unsecured indebtedness) depends in part on the value of our assets, which depends, in turn, on the strength of our cash flows and results of operations, and on economic and market conditions and other factors.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations or we are unable to refinance our indebtedness, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. If our operating results and available cash are insufficient to meet our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions, or the proceeds from the dispositions may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

Our senior secured credit facilities and, to a lesser extent, the indentures governing our outstanding notes contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:

•

incur additional indebtedness or issue certain preferred shares;

•

pay dividends on, repurchase or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make other restricted payments;

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make certain investments;

•

sell or transfer assets;

•

create liens;

•

consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; and

•

enter into certain transactions with our affiliates.

Under our asset-based revolving credit facility, borrowing availability is subject to a borrowing base of 85% of eligible accounts receivable less customary reserves, with any reduction in the borrowing base commensurately reducing our ability to access this facility as a source of liquidity. In addition, under the asset-based revolving credit facility, when (and for as long as) the combined availability under our asset-based revolving credit facility and our senior secured revolving credit facility is less than a specified amount for a certain period of time or, if a payment or bankruptcy event of default has occurred and is continuing, funds deposited into any of our depository accounts will be transferred on a daily basis into a blocked account with the administrative agent and applied to prepay loans under the asset-based revolving credit facility and to collateralize letters of credit issued thereunder.

Under our senior secured credit facilities, we are required to satisfy and maintain specified financial ratios. Our ability to meet those financial ratios may be affected by events beyond our control, and there can be no assurance we will continue to meet those ratios. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under both the cash flow credit facility and the asset-based revolving credit facility. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under these senior secured credit facilities, the lenders thereunder could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the senior secured credit facilities to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit, which would also result in an event of default under a significant portion of our other outstanding indebtedness. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such indebtedness. We have pledged a significant portion of our assets under our senior secured credit facilities and that collateral is also pledged as collateral under our first lien notes. If any of the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities accelerate the repayment of borrowings, there can be no assurance there will be sufficient assets to repay the senior secured credit facilities, the first lien notes and our other indebtedness.

Discontinuation, reform or replacement of LIBOR may adversely affect our business.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $3.671 billion of borrowings under our senior secured credit facilities that bore interest at a floating rate based on LIBOR and $7.712 billion of unfunded commitments under those facilities. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced in 2017 that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. However, the ICE Benchmark Administration, in its capacity as administrator of LIBOR, has published a consultation regarding its intention to continue publication of certain LIBOR tenors by 18 months to June 2023. Notwithstanding this possible extension, a joint statement by key regulatory authorities called on banks to cease entering into new contracts that use LIBOR as a reference rate by no later than December 31, 2021, and it is impossible to predict whether LIBOR rates will continue to be published or supported after the end of 2021. If LIBOR becomes unavailable, the interest rate applicable to our floating rate debt will be calculated based on an alternative, comparable or successor rate, which may have a material adverse impact on the cost of the floating rate portion of our indebtedness. The timing and result of the phase out of LIBOR are unclear, and efforts of industry groups to develop a suitable successor are not guaranteed to result in a viable or widely adopted replacement for LIBOR. If LIBOR becomes unavailable before a suitable replacement is widely adopted, it could have a material adverse impact on the availability of floating rate financing.

As of December 31, 2020, we also had $2.500 billion of interest rate swap agreements based on LIBOR. If LIBOR becomes unavailable, it is unclear how payments under those agreements would be calculated. The

International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a standard protocol addressing the expected discontinuation of LIBOR, but there can be no assurance that such a protocol will be implemented with respect to our swap agreements.

Risks related to governmental regulation and other legal matters:

In recent years, the U.S. Congress and certain state legislatures have passed a large number of laws and regulations intended to effect major change within the U.S. health care system, including the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act affects how health care services are covered, delivered and reimbursed through expanded health insurance coverage, reduced growth in Medicare program spending, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid DSH payments, and the establishment of programs that tie reimbursement to quality and integration. However, there is uncertainty regarding the future of the Affordable Care Act. The law has been subject to legislative and regulatory changes and court challenges. For example, final rules issued in 2018 expand the availability of association health plans and allow the sale of short-term, limited-duration health plans, neither of which are required to cover all of the essential health benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act. A number of members of Congress have stated their desire to repeal or make additional significant changes to the Affordable Care Act, its implementation or interpretation. Effective January 1, 2019, the penalty associated with the individual mandate to maintain health insurance was eliminated. As a result of this change, in December 2018, the United States District Court for the North District of Texas found the individual mandate to be unconstitutional and determined that the rest of the Affordable Care Act was, therefore, invalid. In December 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this decision with respect to the individual mandate, but remanded for further consideration of how this affects the rest of the law. On November 10, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding this case, and the law remains in place pending the appeals process. The elimination of the individual mandate penalty and other changes may impact the number of individuals that elect to obtain public or private health insurance or the scope of such coverage, if purchased, either of which may have an adverse effect on our business.

There is uncertainty regarding whether, when, and how the Affordable Care Act may be further changed, the ultimate outcome of court challenges and how the law will be interpreted and implemented. Changes by Congress or government agencies could eliminate or alter provisions beneficial to us, while leaving in place provisions reducing our reimbursement or otherwise negatively impacting our business. There is also uncertainty regarding whether, when, and what other health reform initiatives will be adopted and the impact of such efforts on providers and other health care industry participants. Further, the potential impact of the 2020 federal election on health reform efforts is unknown. Some members of Congress have proposed measures that would expand government-sponsored coverage, including proposals to expand coverage of federally-funded insurance programs as an alternative to private insurance or establish a single-payer system (such reforms often referred to as “Medicare for All”), and some states are considering similar measures. CMS has indicated that it intends to increase flexibility in state Medicaid programs, including by expanding the scope of waivers under which states may implement Medicaid expansion provisions, impose different eligibility or enrollment restrictions, or otherwise implement programs that vary from federal standards. CMS administrators have also signaled interest in changing Medicaid payment models. Other health reform initiatives and proposals, such as the limitations and prohibitions on surprise billing imposed by the No Surprises Act, enacted as part of the CAA, may impact prices, our relationships with patients, payers or ancillary providers (such as anesthesiologists, radiologists, and pathologists), and our competitive position. Other industry participants, such as private payers and large employer groups and their affiliates, may also introduce financial or delivery system reforms. We are unable to predict the nature and success of such initiatives. Health care reform initiatives, including changes to or repeal or invalidation of the Affordable Care Act, may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flow, capital resources, and liquidity.

Changes in government health care programs may adversely affect our revenues.

A significant portion of our patient volume is derived from government health care programs, principally Medicare and Medicaid. Specifically, we derived 42.7% of our revenues from the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 2020. Changes in government health care programs, including Medicaid waiver programs, may reduce the reimbursement we receive and could adversely affect our business and results of operations. The Affordable Care Act has made significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid, and future health reform efforts or further efforts to repeal or significantly change the Affordable Care Act may impact these programs.

In recent years, legislative and regulatory changes have resulted in limitations on and, in some cases, reductions in levels of payments to health care providers for certain services under the Medicare program. Congress has established automatic spending reductions that extend through 2030. However, the percentage reduction for Medicare may not be more than 2% for a fiscal year, with a uniform percentage reduction across all Medicare programs. While this reduction has been suspended by the CARES Act and related legislation, it is scheduled to be reinstated April 1, 2021. We are unable to predict what other deficit reduction initiatives may be proposed by Congress. These reductions are in addition to reductions mandated by the Affordable Care Act and other laws. Further, from time to time, CMS revises the reimbursement systems used to reimburse health care providers, including changes to the

MS-DRG

system and other payment systems, which may result in reduced Medicare payments. For example, CMS plans to use data that hospitals are required to report to CMS for cost reports ending on or after January 1, 2021 regarding their median negotiated charges by

MS-DRG

for Medicare Advantage payers to determine

MS-DRG

relative weights beginning in 2024. We cannot predict how this change might impact Medicare payment in the future, but the scope and magnitude have the potential to be material to our business. Further, under a site neutrality policy, clinic visit services provided by

off-campus

provider-based departments that were formerly paid under the outpatient PPS are now paid under the Physician Fee Schedule, subject to certain exceptions that were phased out through calendar years 2019 and 2020. CMS has also issued final rules reducing Medicare payment rates under the outpatient PPS for drugs obtained under the 340B Drug Pricing Program. CMS is also considering proposals to reduce drug costs such as the most-favored nation drug pricing model that would align payment for the 50 Medicare Part B drugs with the highest expenditures to the payment amounts for those drugs in international markets. CMS may implement further changes to how items or services are reimbursed that result in payment reductions for other services.

Because most states must operate with balanced budgets and the Medicaid program is often a state’s largest program, some states have enacted or may consider enacting legislation designed to reduce their Medicaid expenditures. Further, many states have also adopted, or are considering, legislation designed to reduce coverage, enroll Medicaid recipients in managed care programs,

dis-enroll

Medicaid recipients who fail to meet work requirements and/or impose additional taxes on hospitals to help finance or expand the states’ Medicaid systems. Periods of economic weakness may increase the budgetary pressures on many states, and these budgetary pressures may result in decreased spending, or decreased spending growth, for Medicaid programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in many states. Some states that provide Medicaid supplemental payments are reviewing these programs or have filed waiver requests with CMS to replace these programs, and CMS has performed and continues to perform compliance reviews of some states’ programs and is considering changes to the requirements for such programs, which could result in Medicaid supplemental payments being reduced or eliminated. Further, legislation and administrative actions at the federal level may significantly alter the funding for, or structure of, the Medicaid program. For example, from time to time, Congress considers proposals to restructure the Medicaid program to involve block grants that would be administered by the states. CMS has announced its intent to introduce additional flexibilities for Medicaid program operation, including block grants and increased use of value-based care models.

In some cases, private third-party payers rely on all or portions of Medicare payment systems to determine payment rates. Changes to government health care programs that reduce payments under these programs may negatively impact payments from private third-party payers.

Current or future health care reform and deficit reduction efforts, changes in laws or regulations regarding government health care programs, other changes in the administration of government health care programs and changes by private third-party payers in response to health care reform and other changes to government health care programs could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

If we fail to comply with extensive laws and government regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations.

The health care industry is required to comply with extensive and complex laws and regulations at the federal, state and local government levels relating to, among other things:

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billing and coding for services and properly handling overpayments;

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appropriateness and classification of level of care provided, including proper classification of inpatient admissions, observation services and outpatient care;

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relationships with physicians and other referral sources and referral recipients;

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necessity and adequacy of medical care;

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quality of medical equipment and services;

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qualifications of medical and support personnel;

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issues associated with the confidentiality, maintenance, interoperability, exchange, data breach, identity theft and security of health-related and personal information and medical records;

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screening, stabilization and transfer of individuals who have emergency medical conditions;

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licensure, certification and enrollment with government programs;

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hospital rate or budget review;

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debt collection, limits or prohibitions on balance billing and billing for out of network services;

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communications with patients and consumers;

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preparing and filing of cost reports;

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operating policies and procedures;

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activities regarding competitors;

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addition of facilities and services; and

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environmental protection.

Among these laws are the federal Anti-kickback Statute, the federal Stark Law, the FCA and similar state laws. We have a variety of financial relationships with physicians and others who either refer or influence the referral of patients to our hospitals, other health care facilities and employed physicians or who are the recipients of referrals, and these laws govern those relationships. The OIG has enacted safe harbor regulations that outline practices deemed protected from prosecution under the Anti-kickback Statute. While we endeavor to comply with the applicable safe harbors, certain of our current arrangements, including joint ventures and financial relationships with physicians and other referral sources and persons and entities to which we refer patients, do not qualify for safe harbor protection. Failure to qualify for a safe harbor does not mean the arrangement necessarily violates the Anti-kickback Statute but may subject the arrangement to greater scrutiny. However, we cannot offer assurance that practices outside of a safe harbor will not be found to violate the Anti-kickback Statute. Allegations of violations of the Anti-kickback Statute may be brought under the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Law, which requires a lower burden of proof than other fraud and abuse laws, including the Anti-kickback Statute.

Our financial relationships with referring physicians and their immediate family members must comply with the Stark Law by meeting an exception. We attempt to structure our relationships to meet an exception to the Stark Law, but the regulations implementing the exceptions are detailed and complex and are subject to continuing legal and regulatory change. Thus, we cannot provide assurance that every relationship complies fully with the Stark Law. Unlike the Anti-kickback Statute, failure to meet an exception under the Stark Law results in a violation of the Stark Law, even if such violation is technical in nature.

Additionally, if we violate the Anti-kickback Statute or Stark Law, or if we improperly bill for our services, we may be found to violate the FCA, either under a suit brought by the government or by a private person under a

qui tam

, or “whistleblower,” suit. See Item 1, “Business — Regulation and Other Factors.”

We also operate health care facilities in the United Kingdom and have operations and commercial relationships with companies in other foreign jurisdictions and, as a result, are subject to certain U.S. and foreign laws applicable to businesses generally, including anti-corruption laws. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act regulates U.S. companies in their dealings with foreign officials, prohibiting bribes and similar practices, and requires that they maintain records that fairly and accurately reflect transactions and appropriate internal accounting controls. In addition, the United Kingdom Bribery Act has wide jurisdiction over certain activities that affect the United Kingdom.

A variety of state, national, foreign and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, security, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal data. For example, the CCPA, which affords consumers expanded privacy protections such as the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, went into effect on January 1, 2020 and was recently significantly amended by the CPRA, which will go into effect on January 1, 2022. California residents also have the right to request that a business delete their personal information unless it is necessary for the business to maintain for certain purposes, to direct a business to correct errors in their personal information, and to restrict the use and disclosure of sensitive information. They have the right to know if their personal information is being sold or shared and the right to

opt-out

of the sale or disclosure. Failure to comply with the CCPA and CPRA may result in regulator enforcement action and damage to our reputation. The CPRA creates a new regulator responsible for enforcement of the CPRA, and enforcement priorities of this new regulatory body have yet to be determined. The CCPA and CPRA also provide for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. The potential effects of this legislation are

far-reaching

and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses to comply. The GDPR contains stricter privacy restrictions than laws and regulations in the United States and provides for significant fines in the event of violations. These administrative fines are based on a multi-factored approach. Moreover, rules for data transfers outside of the United Kingdom and European Economic Area have changed significantly with Brexit and a recent Court of European Justice decision, and are subject to further revision and updated regulator guidance, making necessary compliance measures challenging to ascertain and implement with respect to our United Kingdom operations. We expect that there will continue to be new laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security proposed and enacted in various jurisdictions, which could impact our operations and cause us to incur substantial costs.

We send short message service, or SMS, text messages to patients. While we obtain consent from these individuals to send text messages, federal or state regulatory authorities or private litigants may claim that the notices and disclosures we provide, form of consents we obtain or our SMS texting practices are not adequate or violate applicable law. In addition, we must ensure that our SMS texting practices comply with regulations and agency guidance under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the “TCPA”), a federal statute that protects consumers from unwanted telephone calls, faxes and text messages. While we strive to adhere to strict policies and procedures that comply with the TCPA, the Federal Communications Commission, as the agency that implements and enforces the TCPA, may disagree with our interpretation of the TCPA and subject us to penalties and other consequences for noncompliance. Determination by a court or regulatory agency that our SMS texting practices violate the TCPA could subject us to civil penalties and could require us to change some portions of our

business. Even an unsuccessful challenge by patients or regulatory authorities of our activities could result in adverse publicity and could require a costly response from and defense by us.

We engage in consumer debt collection for HCA-affiliated hospitals and certain non-affiliated hospitals. We also engage in credit reporting for certain non-affiliated hospitals. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the TCPA restrict the methods that companies may use to contact and seek payment from consumer debtors regarding past due accounts and to report to consumer reporting agencies on the status of those accounts. Many states impose additional requirements on debt collection and credit reporting practices, and some of those requirements may be more stringent than the federal requirements.

If we fail to comply with these or other applicable laws and regulations, which are subject to change, we could be subject to liabilities, including civil penalties, money damages, the loss of our licenses to operate one or more facilities, exclusion of one or more facilities from participation in the Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health care programs, civil lawsuits and criminal penalties. The costs of compliance with, and the other burdens imposed by, these and other laws or regulatory actions may increase our operational costs, result in interruptions or delays in the availability of systems and/or result in a patient volume decline. We may also face audits or investigations by one or more domestic or foreign government agencies relating to our compliance with these regulations. An adverse outcome under any such investigation or audit could result in liability, result in adverse publicity, and adversely affect our business.

We do not always have the benefit of significant regulatory or judicial interpretation of these laws and regulations. In the future, different interpretations or enforcement of, or amendments to, these or other laws and regulations could subject our current or past practices to allegations of impropriety or illegality or could require us to make changes in our facilities, equipment, personnel, services, capital expenditure programs and operating expenses. A determination that we have violated these or other laws, or the public announcement that we are being investigated for possible violations of these or other laws, could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects, and our business reputation could suffer significantly. In addition, other legislation or regulations at the federal or state level may be adopted that adversely affect our business.

State efforts to regulate the construction or expansion of health care facilities could impair our ability to operate and expand our operations.

Some states, particularly in the eastern part of the country, require health care providers to obtain prior approval, often known as a CON, for the purchase, construction or expansion of health care facilities, to make certain capital expenditures or to make changes in services or bed capacity. In giving approval, these states consider the need for additional or expanded health care facilities or services. We currently operate health care facilities in a number of states with CON laws or that require other types of approvals for the establishment or expansion of certain facility types or services. The failure to obtain any required CON or other required approval could impair our ability to operate or expand operations. Any such failure could, in turn, adversely affect our ability to attract patients and physicians to our facilities and grow our revenues, which would have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may incur additional tax liabilities.

We are subject to tax in the United States as well as those states and foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. Changes in tax laws, including increases in tax rates, or interpretations of tax laws by taxing authorities or other standard setting bodies could increase our tax obligations and have a material, adverse impact on our results of operations.

We are also subject to examination by federal, state and foreign taxing authorities. Management believes HCA Healthcare, Inc., its predecessors, subsidiaries and affiliates properly reported taxable income and paid

taxes in accordance with applicable laws and agreements established with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), state and foreign taxing authorities and final resolution of any disputes will not have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations or financial position. However, if payments due upon final resolution of any issues exceed our recorded estimates, such resolutions could have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations or financial position.

We have been and could become the subject of government investigations, claims and litigation.

Health care companies are subject to numerous investigations by various government agencies. Further, under the FCA, private parties have the right to bring

qui tam

, or “whistleblower,” suits against companies that submit false claims for payments to, or improperly retain overpayments from, the government. Some states have adopted similar state whistleblower and false claims provisions. Certain of our individual facilities and/or affiliates have received, and other facilities and/or affiliates may receive, government inquiries from, and may be subject to investigation by, federal and state agencies. Depending on whether the underlying conduct in these or future inquiries or investigations could be considered systemic, their resolution could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

Government agencies and their agents, such as the MACs, fiscal intermediaries and carriers, as well as the OIG, CMS and state Medicaid programs, conduct audits of our health care operations. CMS and state Medicaid agencies contract with RACs and other contractors on a contingency fee basis to conduct post-payment reviews to detect and correct improper payments in the Medicare program, including managed Medicare plans, and the Medicaid programs. RAC denials are appealable; however, there are currently significant delays in the Medicare appeals process, which negatively impacts our ability to appeal RAC payment denials. Private third-party payers may conduct similar post-payment audits, and we also perform internal audits and monitoring. Depending on the nature of the conduct found in such audits and whether the underlying conduct could be considered systemic, the resolution of these audits could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

Should we be found out of compliance with applicable laws, regulations or programs, depending on the nature of the findings, our business, our financial position and our results of operations could be negatively impacted.

We may be subject to liabilities from claims brought against our facilities.

We are subject to litigation relating to our business practices, including claims and legal actions by patients and others in the ordinary course of business alleging malpractice, product liability or other legal theories. Many of these actions seek large sums of money as damages and involve significant defense costs. We insure a portion of our professional liability risks through a 100% owned insurance subsidiary. Management believes our reserves for self-insured retentions and insurance coverage are sufficient to cover insured claims arising out of the operation of our facilities. Our 100% owned insurance subsidiary has entered into certain reinsurance contracts; however, the subsidiary remains liable to the extent that the reinsurers do not meet their obligations under the reinsurance contracts. If payments for claims exceed actuarially determined estimates, are not covered by insurance, or reinsurers, if any, fail to meet their obligations, our results of operations and financial position could be adversely affected.

Risks related to human capital:

Our labor costs may be adversely affected by competition for staffing, the shortage of experienced nurses and labor union activity.

Our operations are dependent on the efforts, abilities and experience of our management and medical support personnel, such as nurses, pharmacists and lab technicians, as well as our physicians. We compete with

other health care providers in recruiting and retaining qualified management and support personnel responsible for the daily operations of each of our hospitals, including nurses and other nonphysician health care professionals. In some markets, the availability of nurses and other medical support personnel has been a significant operating issue to health care providers. The

COVID-19

pandemic has exacerbated workforce competition and shortages. We may be required to continue to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain nurses and other medical support personnel or to hire more expensive temporary or contract personnel. As a result, our labor costs could increase. We also depend on the available labor pool of semi-skilled and unskilled employees in each of the markets in which we operate. If there is additional union organizing activity or a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, it is possible our labor costs could increase. When negotiating collective bargaining agreements with unions, whether such agreements are renewals or first contracts, there is the possibility that strikes could occur during the negotiation process, and our continued operation during any strikes could increase our labor costs. In addition, the states in which we operate could adopt mandatory nurse-staffing ratios or could reduce mandatory nurse staffing ratios already in place. State-mandated nurse-staffing ratios could significantly affect labor costs and have an adverse impact on revenues if we are required to limit admissions in order to meet the required ratios. If our labor costs increase, we may not be able to offset these increased costs as a significant percentage of our revenues consists of fixed, prospective payments. Our failure to recruit and retain qualified management, nurses and other medical support personnel, or to control labor costs, could have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may be unable to attract, hire, and retain a highly qualified and diverse workforce, including key management.

The talents and efforts of our employees, particularly our key management, are vital to our success. Our management team has significant industry experience and would be difficult to replace. In addition, institutional knowledge may be lost in any potential managerial transition. We may be unable to retain them or to attract other highly qualified employees, particularly if we do not offer employment terms that are competitive with the rest of the labor market. Failure to attract, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly qualified and diverse employee talent, or failure to develop and implement an adequate succession plan for the management team, could disrupt our operations and adversely affect our business and our future success.

Our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain quality physicians.

The success of our hospitals depends in part on the number and quality of the physicians on the medical staffs of our hospitals, the admitting and utilization practices of those physicians, maintaining good relations with those physicians and controlling costs related to the employment of physicians. Although we employ some physicians, physicians are often not employees of the hospitals at which they practice, and, in many of the markets we serve, most physicians have admitting privileges at other hospitals in addition to our hospitals. We continue to face increasing competition to recruit physicians. Such physicians may terminate their affiliation with our hospitals at any time. We may face increased challenges in this area as the physician population reaches retirement age, especially if there is a shortage of physicians willing and able to provide comparable services. If we are unable to provide adequate support personnel or technologically advanced equipment and hospital facilities that meet the needs of those physicians and their patients, they may be discouraged from referring patients to our facilities, admissions may decrease and our operating performance may decline.

Risks related to technology, data privacy and cybersecurity:

We may not be reimbursed for the cost of expensive, new technology.

As health care technology continues to advance, the price of purchasing such new technology has significantly increased for providers. Some payers have not adapted their payment systems to adequately cover the cost of these technologies for providers and patients. If payers do not adequately reimburse us for these new technologies, we may be unable to acquire such technologies or we may nevertheless determine to acquire or utilize these technologies in order to treat our patients. In either case, our results of operations and financial position could be adversely affected.

We, directly and through third-party vendors, collect and store on our networks and devices sensitive information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personally identifiable information of our patients and employees. We have made significant investments in technology to adopt and meaningfully use EHR and in the use of medical devices that store sensitive data and are integral to the provision of patient care. In addition, medical devices manufactured by third parties that are used within our facilities are increasingly connected to the internet, hospital networks and other medical devices. The secure maintenance of this information and technology is critical to our business operations. We have implemented multiple layers of security measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data and the systems and devices that store and transmit such data. We utilize current security technologies, and our defenses are monitored and routinely tested internally and by external parties. Despite these efforts, threats from malicious persons and groups, new vulnerabilities and advanced new attacks against information systems and devices against us or our third-party vendors create risk of cybersecurity incidents, including ransomware, malware and phishing incidents. The volume and intensity of cyberattacks on hospitals and health systems continues to increase. We are regularly the target of attempted cybersecurity and other threats that could have a security impact, and we expect to continue to experience an increase in cybersecurity threats in the future. There can be no assurance that we or our third-party vendors will not be subject to cybersecurity incidents that bypass our security measures, impact the integrity, availability or privacy of personal health information or other data subject to privacy laws or disrupt our information systems, devices or business, including our ability to provide various health care services. As a result, cybersecurity, physical security and the continued development and enhancement of our controls, processes and practices designed to protect our facilities, information systems and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access remain a priority for us. As cyber threats continue to evolve, along with their increased volume and sophistication, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any cybersecurity vulnerabilities or incidents. The occurrence of any of these events could result in (i) harm to patients; (ii) business interruptions and delays; (iii) the loss, misappropriation, corruption or unauthorized access of data; (iv) litigation and potential liability under privacy, security, breach notification and consumer protection laws, common law theories or other applicable laws; (v) reputational damage; and (vi) foreign, federal and state governmental inquiries, any of which could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations and harm our business reputation.

Our operations could be impaired by a failure of our information systems.

The performance of our information systems is critical to our business operations. In addition to our shared services initiatives, our information systems are essential to a number of critical areas of our operations, including:

•

accounting and financial reporting;

•

billing and collecting accounts;

•

coding and compliance;

•

clinical systems and medical devices;

•

medical records and document storage;

•

inventory management;

•

negotiating, pricing and administering managed care contracts and supply contracts; and

•

monitoring quality of care and collecting data on quality measures necessary for full Medicare payment updates.

Information systems may be vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including telecommunications or network failures, human acts and natural disasters. We have taken precautionary measures to prevent unanticipated problems that could affect our information systems. Nevertheless, we or our third-party vendors that we rely upon may experience system failures. The occurrence of any system failure could result in interruptions, delays, the loss or corruption of data and cessations or interruptions in the availability of systems, all of which could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations and harm our business reputation.

Health care technology initiatives, particularly those related to patient data and interoperability, may adversely affect our operations.

The federal government is working to promote the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care. For example, HHS incentivizes the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHR technology through its Promoting Interoperability Programs. Eligible hospitals and eligible professionals, including our hospitals and employed professionals, are subject to reduced payments from Medicare if they fail to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. As these technologies have become widespread, the focus has shifted to increasing patient access to health care data and interoperability. The 21

Century Cures Act prohibits information blocking by health care providers and certain other entities, which is defined as engaging in activities likely to interfere with the access, exchange or use of electronic health information, except as required by law or specified by HHS as a reasonable and necessary activity. Current and future initiatives related to health care technology and interoperability may require changes to our operations, impose new and complex compliance obligations and require investments in infrastructure. We may be subject to financial penalties or other disincentives or experience reputational damage for failure to comply. It is difficult to predict how these initiatives will affect our relationships with providers and vendors, participation in health care information exchanges or networks, the exchange of patient data, and patient engagement.

Risks related to operations, strategy, demand and competition:

Our hospitals face competition for patients from other hospitals and health care providers.

The health care business is highly competitive, and competition among hospitals and other health care providers for patients has intensified in recent years. Generally, other hospitals in the communities we serve provide services similar to those offered by our hospitals. CMS publicizes on its Hospital Compare website performance data related to quality measures and data on patient satisfaction surveys that hospitals submit in connection with their Medicare reimbursement. The Hospital Compare website provides an overall rating that synthesizes various quality measures into a single star rating for each hospital. Federal law provides for the future expansion of the number of quality measures that must be reported. Further, hospitals are currently required by law to publish online a list of their standard charges for items and services. A CMS final rule implements expanded transparency requirements beginning in 2021. The rule was recently upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. It is unclear whether the final rule will be subject to further court challenges or other changes under the Biden administration. If any of our hospitals achieve poor results (or results that are lower than our competitors) on quality measures or on patient satisfaction surveys, or if our standard charges are higher or are perceived to be higher than our competitors, our competitive position could be negatively affected.

The number of freestanding specialty hospitals, surgery centers, emergency departments, urgent care centers and diagnostic and imaging centers in the geographic areas in which we operate has increased. Many individuals are seeking a broader range of services at outpatient facilities as a result of the growing availability of stand-alone outpatient health care facilities, the increase in payer reimbursement policies that restrict inpatient coverage and the increase in the services that can be provided on an outpatient basis, including high margin services. Consequently, most of our hospitals operate in a highly competitive environment, which may put pressure on our pricing, ability to contract with third-party payers and the Company’s strategy for volume growth. Some of the

facilities that compete with our hospitals are physician-owned or are owned by governmental agencies or

not-for-profit

corporations supported by endowments, charitable contributions and/or tax revenues and can finance capital expenditures and operations on a

tax-exempt

basis. Recent consolidations of

not-for-profit

hospital entities may intensify this competitive pressure. There is also increasing consolidation in the third-party payer industry, including vertical integration efforts among third-party payers and health care providers, and increasing efforts by payers to influence or direct the patient’s choice of provider by the use of narrow networks or other strategies. Health care industry participants are increasingly implementing physician alignment strategies, such as employing physicians, acquiring physician practice groups and participating in ACOs or other clinical integration models. Other industry participants, such as large employer groups and their affiliates, may intensify competitive pressure and affect the industry in ways that are difficult to predict.

Our hospitals compete with specialty hospitals and with both our own and unaffiliated freestanding ASCs and other outpatient providers for market share in certain high margin services and for quality physicians and personnel. If ASCs and other outpatient providers are better able to compete in this environment than our hospitals, our hospitals may experience a decline in patient volume, and we may experience a decrease in margin, even if those patients use our providers. In states that do not require a CON or other type of approval for the purchase, construction or expansion of health care facilities or services, competition in the form of new services, facilities and capital spending is more prevalent. Some states that have historically imposed CON or similar prior approval requirements have removed or are considering removing these requirements, which may reduce barriers to entry and increase competition in our service areas. If our competitors are better able to attract patients, make capital expenditures and maintain modern and technologically upgraded facilities and equipment, recruit physicians, expand services or obtain favorable third-party payer contracts at their facilities than our hospitals and other providers, we may experience an overall decline in patient volume. See Item 1, “Business — Competition.”

A deterioration in the collectability of uninsured and patient due accounts could adversely affect our results of operations.

The primary collection risks for our accounts receivable relate to the uninsured patient accounts and patient accounts for which the primary third-party payer has paid the amounts covered by the applicable agreement, but patient responsibility amounts (exclusions, deductibles and copayments) remain outstanding. Medicare reimburses hospitals for 65% of eligible Medicare bad debts. To be eligible for reimbursement, the amounts claimed must meet certain criteria, including that the debt is related to unpaid deductible or coinsurance amounts and that the hospital first attempted to collect the fees from the Medicare beneficiary.

The estimates for implicit price concessions are based upon management’s assessment of historical write-offs and expected net collections, business and economic conditions, trends in federal and state governmental and private employer health care coverage, the rate of growth in uninsured patient admissions and other collection indicators. At December 31, 2020, estimated implicit price concessions of $6.108 billion had been recorded to adjust our revenues and accounts receivable to the estimated amounts we expect to collect. The estimated cost of total uncompensated care was $3.483 billion for 2020, $3.733 billion for 2019 and $3.318 billion for 2018.

Any increase in the amount or deterioration in the collectability of uninsured accounts receivable will adversely affect our cash flows and results of operations. Our facilities may experience growth in total uncompensated care as a result of a number of factors, including conditions impacting the overall economy and high unemployment, both of which have been, and may continue to be, negatively impacted by the

COVID-19

pandemic. Effective January 2019, Congress eliminated the financial penalty associated with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. Further, final rules issued in 2018 expand the availability of association health plans and allow the sale of short-term, limited-duration health plans, neither of which are required to cover all of the essential health benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act. These changes may impact the number of individuals that elect to obtain public or private health insurance or the scope of such coverage, if purchased. We are unable to predict what, if any, and when such changes will be made in the future.

We provide uninsured discounts and charity care for individuals, including for those residing in states that choose not to implement the Medicaid expansion or that modify the terms of the program, for undocumented aliens who are not permitted to enroll in an Exchange or government health care programs and for certain others who may not have insurance. Some patients may choose to enroll in lower cost Medicaid plans or other health insurance plans with lower reimbursement levels. We may also be adversely affected by the growth in patient responsibility accounts as a result of increases in the adoption of health plan structures that shift greater payment responsibility for care to individuals through greater exclusions and copayment and deductible amounts.

Broad economic factors resulting from the

COVID-19

pandemic, including increased unemployment rates and reduced consumer spending, the continued shift to an outpatient setting and the aging population may impact our revenue mix. Private third-party payers, including HMOs, PPOs and other managed care plans, typically reimburse health care providers at a higher rate than Medicare, Medicaid or other government health care programs. Reimbursement rates are set forth by contract when our facilities are

in-network,

and payers utilize plan structures to encourage or require the use of

in-network

providers. Revenues derived from private third-party payers (domestic only) accounted for 51.5%, 51.6% and 52.4% of our revenues for 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As a result, our ability to maintain or increase patient volumes covered by private third-party payers and to maintain and obtain favorable contracts with private third-party payers significantly affects the revenues and operating results of our facilities.

Private third-party payers, including managed care plans, continue to demand discounted fee structures, and the ongoing trend toward consolidation among payers tends to increase their bargaining power over fee structures. Payers may utilize plan structures such as narrow networks and tiered networks that limit beneficiary provider choices or impose significantly higher cost sharing obligations when care is obtained from providers in a disfavored tier. Other health care providers may impact our ability to enter into managed care contracts or negotiate increases in our reimbursement and other favorable terms and conditions. For example, some of our competitors may negotiate exclusivity provisions with managed care plans or otherwise restrict the ability of managed care plans to contract with us. In addition to increasing negotiating leverage of private third-party payers, alignment efforts between third-party payers and health care providers may result in other competitive advantages, such as greater access to performance and pricing data. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to retain and renew our third-party payer contracts and enter into new contracts on terms favorable to us, which may be impacted by price transparency initiatives. Cost-reduction strategies by large employer groups and their affiliates, such as directly contracting with a limited number of providers, may also limit our ability to negotiate favorable terms in our contracts and otherwise intensify competitive pressure. It is not clear what impact, if any, future health reform efforts or the repeal of, or further changes to, the Affordable Care Act will have on our ability to negotiate reimbursement increases and participate in third-party payer networks on favorable terms. If we are unable to retain and negotiate favorable contracts with third-party payers or experience reductions in payment increases or amounts received from third-party payers, our revenues may be reduced.

Controls imposed by Medicare, managed Medicare, Medicaid, managed Medicaid and private third-party payers designed to reduce admissions, intensity of services, surgical volumes and lengths of stay, in some instances referred to as “utilization review,” have affected and are expected to increasingly affect our facilities. Utilization review entails the review of the admission and course of treatment of a patient by third-party payers, and may involve prior authorization requirements. The Medicare program also issues national or local coverage determinations that restrict the circumstances under which Medicare pays for certain services. Inpatient

utilization, average lengths of stay and occupancy rates continue to be negatively affected by third-party payers’ preadmission authorization requirements, coverage restrictions, utilization review and by pressure to maximize outpatient and alternative health care delivery services for less acutely ill patients. Efforts to impose more stringent cost controls are expected to continue. Additionally, trends in physician treatment protocols and health plan design, such as health plans that shift increased costs and accountability for care to patients, could reduce our surgical volumes and admissions in favor of lower intensity and lower cost treatment methodologies.

Volume, admission and

case-mix

trends may be impacted by other factors beyond our control, such as changes in volume of certain high acuity services, variations in the prevalence and severity of outbreaks of influenza and other illnesses, such as

COVID-19,

and medical conditions, seasonal and severe weather conditions, changes in treatment regimens and medical technology and other advances. Further, the Medicare program’s three-year phase out and eventual elimination of the Inpatient Only List, a list of surgeries and procedures that are only covered by Medicare when provided in an inpatient setting, may reduce inpatient volumes. These factors may reduce the demand for services we offer and decrease the reimbursement that we receive. Significant limits on the scope of services reimbursed, cost controls, changes to physician utilization practices, treatment methodologies, reimbursement rates and fees and other factors beyond our control could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

A component of our business strategy is acquiring hospitals and other health care businesses. We may encounter difficulty acquiring new facilities or other businesses as a result of competition from other purchasers that may be willing to pay purchase prices that are higher than we believe are reasonable. Some states require CONs in order to acquire a hospital or other facility, or to expand facilities or services. In addition, the acquisition of health care facilities often involves licensure approvals or reviews and complex change of ownership processes for Medicare and other payers. Further, many states have laws that restrict the conversion or sale of

not-for-profit

hospitals to

for-profit

entities. These laws may require prior approval from the state attorney general, advance notification of the attorney general or other regulators and community involvement. Attorneys general in states without specific requirements may exercise broad discretionary authority over transactions involving the sale of

not-for-profits

under their general obligations to protect the use of charitable assets. These legislative and administrative efforts often focus on the appropriate valuation of the assets divested and the use of the proceeds of the sale by the

non-profit

seller and may include consideration of commitments for capital improvements and charity care by the purchaser. Also, the increasingly challenging regulatory and enforcement environment may negatively impact our ability to acquire health care businesses if they are found to have material unresolved compliance issues, such as repayment obligations. Resolving compliance issues as well as completion of oversight, review or approval processes could seriously delay or even prevent our ability to acquire hospitals or other businesses and increase our acquisition costs.

We may be unable to timely and effectively integrate hospitals and other businesses that we acquire with our ongoing operations, or we may experience delays implementing operating procedures and systems. Hospitals and other health care businesses that we acquire may have unknown or contingent liabilities, including liabilities for failure to comply with health care and other laws and regulations, medical and general professional liabilities, workers’ compensation liabilities and tax liabilities. Although we typically exclude significant liabilities from our acquisition transactions and seek indemnification from the sellers for these matters, we could experience difficulty enforcing those obligations, experience liability in excess of any indemnification obtained or otherwise incur material liabilities for the

pre-acquisition

conduct of acquired businesses. Such liabilities and related legal or other costs could harm our business and results of operations.

Our facilities are heavily concentrated in Florida and Texas, which makes us sensitive to regulatory, economic, public health, environmental and competitive conditions and changes in those states.

We operated 185 hospitals at December 31, 2020, and 91 of those hospitals are located in Florida and Texas. Our Florida and Texas facilities’ combined revenues represented 49% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020. This concentration makes us particularly sensitive to regulatory, economic, public health, environmental and competitive conditions and changes in those states. Any material change in the current payment programs or regulatory, economic, public health, environmental or competitive conditions in those states could have a disproportionate effect on our overall business results.

In addition, our hospitals in Florida, Texas and other coastal states are located in hurricane-prone areas. In the past, hurricanes have had a disruptive effect on the operations of our hospitals in Florida, Texas and other coastal states and the patient populations in those states. Our business activities could be harmed by a particularly active hurricane season or even a single storm, either of which may be intensified by climate change, and the property insurance we obtain may not be adequate to cover losses from future hurricanes or other natural disasters.

The industry trend toward value-based purchasing may negatively impact our revenues.

There is a trend in the health care industry toward value-based purchasing of health care services. These value-based purchasing programs include both public reporting of quality data and preventable adverse events tied to the quality and efficiency of care provided by facilities. Governmental programs including Medicare currently require hospitals to report certain quality data to receive full reimbursement updates. In addition, Medicare does not reimburse for care related to certain preventable adverse events (also called “never events”). The Affordable Care Act also prohibits the use of federal funds under the Medicaid program to reimburse providers for medical assistance provided to treat HACs. The 25% of hospitals with the worst risk-adjusted HAC scores in the designated performance period receive a 1% reduction in their inpatient PPS Medicare payments.

Hospitals with excess readmission rates for conditions designated by HHS receive a reduction in their inpatient PPS operating Medicare payments for all Medicare inpatient discharges, not just discharges relating to the conditions subject to the excess readmission standard. The reduction in payments to hospitals with excess readmissions can be up to 3% of a hospital’s base payments.

HHS has implemented a value-based purchasing program for inpatient hospital services that reduces inpatient hospital payments for all discharges by 2% in each federal fiscal year. HHS pools the amount collected from these reductions to fund payments to reward hospitals that meet or exceed certain quality performance standards established by HHS. HHS estimates that $1.9 billion in value-based incentive payments will be available to hospitals in federal fiscal year 2021 based on achievement (relative to other hospitals) and improvement (relative to the hospital’s own past performance). Hospitals that meet or exceed the quality performance standards will receive greater reimbursement under the value-based purchasing program than they would have otherwise.

CMS has developed several alternative payment models that are intended to reduce costs and improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries and has signaled its intent to have states apply similar strategies in the Medicaid context. Examples of alternative payment models include bundled payment models in which, depending on whether overall CMS spending per episode exceeds or falls below a target specified by CMS and whether quality standards are met, hospitals may receive supplemental Medicare payments or owe repayments to CMS. Generally, participation in bundled payment programs is voluntary, but CMS has required hospitals in selected markets to participate in a bundled payment initiative for specified orthopedic procedures, which is scheduled to run through September 30, 2021. CMS will require hospitals in selected markets to participate in bundled payment initiatives for end-stage renal disease treatment, which began January 1, 2021, and radiation oncology, beginning as early as January 1, 2022. CMS has indicated that it is developing more voluntary and mandatory bundled payment models. Participation in mandatory or voluntary demonstration projects, particularly demonstrations with the potential to affect payment, may negatively impact our results of operations.

Some private third-party payers are also transitioning toward alternative payment models or implementing other value-based care strategies. For example, many large private third-party payers currently require hospitals to report quality data, and several private third-party payers do not reimburse hospitals for certain preventable adverse events. Further, we have implemented a policy pursuant to which we do not bill patients or third-party payers for fees or expenses incurred due to certain preventable adverse events.

We expect value-based purchasing programs, including programs that condition reimbursement on patient outcome measures, to become more common and to involve a higher percentage of reimbursement amounts. It is unclear whether these and other alternative payment models will successfully coordinate care and reduce costs or whether they will decrease aggregate reimbursement. We are unable at this time to predict our future payments or whether we will be subject to payment reductions under these programs or how this trend will affect our results of operations. If we are unable to meet or exceed the quality performance standards under any applicable value-based purchasing program, perform at a level below the outcomes demonstrated by our competitors, or otherwise fail to effectively provide or coordinate the efficient delivery of quality health care services, our reputation in the industry may be negatively impacted, we may receive reduced reimbursement amounts and we may owe repayments to payers, causing our revenues to decline.

Risks related to macroeconomic conditions:

Our overall business results may suffer during periods of general economic weakness.

Budget deficits at federal, state and local government entities have had a negative impact on spending, and may continue to negatively impact spending for health and human service programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and similar programs, which represent significant third-party payer sources for our hospitals. The

COVID-19

pandemic has led, and may continue to lead, to a general worsening of economic conditions. In addition, we anticipate that the federal deficit, the growing magnitude of Medicare and Medicaid expenditures and the aging of the United States population will continue to place pressure on government health care programs. Other risks we face during periods of economic weakness and high unemployment include potential declines in the population covered under managed care agreements, increased patient decisions to postpone or cancel elective and nonemergency health care procedures (including delaying surgical procedures), which may lead to poorer health and higher acuity interventions, potential increases in the uninsured and underinsured populations, increased adoption of health plan structures that shift financial responsibility to patients and further difficulties in collecting patient receivables for copayment and deductible receivables.

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in the market values of securities and interest rates.

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in market values of securities. The

COVID-19

pandemic has increased volatility of the capital and credit markets and has led to a general worsening of economic conditions. The investments of our 100% owned insurance subsidiaries were $504 million at December 31, 2020. These investments are carried at fair value, with changes in unrealized gains and losses being recorded as adjustments to other comprehensive income. At December 31, 2020, we had a net unrealized gain of $32 million on the insurance subsidiaries’ investment securities.

We are exposed to market risk related to market illiquidity. Investment securities of our insurance subsidiaries could be impaired by the inability to access the capital markets. Should the insurance subsidiaries require significant amounts of cash in excess of normal cash requirements to pay claims and other expenses on short notice, we may have difficulty selling these investments in a timely manner or be forced to sell them at a price less than what we might otherwise have been able to in a normal market environment. We may be required to recognize credit-related impairments on long-term investments in future periods should issuers default on interest payments or should the fair market valuations of the securities deteriorate due to ratings downgrades or other issue specific factors.

We are also exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates that impact the amount of the interest expense we incur with respect to our floating rate obligations as well as the value of certain investments. We

periodically enter into interest rate swap agreements to manage our exposure to these fluctuations. Our interest rate swap agreements involve the exchange of fixed and variable rate interest payments between two parties, based on common notional principal amounts and maturity dates.

Risks related to ownership of our common stock:

There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends.

In January 2018, the Board of Directors initiated a cash dividend program under which the Company commenced a regular quarterly cash dividend. However, in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, the Company took the precautionary step to enhance its financial flexibility by suspending its quarterly dividend program in the second quarter of 2020. In February 2021, the Board of Directors approved the resumption of the Company’s quarterly cash dividend program following evaluation of the Company’s financial position.

The declaration, amount and timing of such dividends are subject to capital availability and determinations by our Board of Directors that cash dividends are in the best interest of our stockholders and are in compliance with all respective laws and our agreements applicable to the declaration and payment of cash dividends. Our ability to pay dividends will depend upon, among other factors, our cash flows from operations, our available capital and potential future capital requirements for strategic transactions, including acquisitions, debt service requirements, share repurchases and investing in our existing markets as well as our results of operations, financial condition and other factors beyond our control that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. A reduction in or elimination of our dividend payments could have a negative effect on our stock price.

Certain of our investors may continue to have influence over us.

On November 17, 2006, HCA Inc. was acquired by a private investor group, including affiliates of HCA founder, Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr. and certain other investors. Through their investment in Hercules Holding II and other holdings, certain of the Frist-affiliated investors continue to hold a significant interest in our outstanding common stock (approximately 21% as of January 31, 2021). In addition, pursuant to a shareholders agreement we entered into with Hercules Holding II and the Frist-affiliated investors, certain representatives of these investors have the continued right to nominate certain of the members of our Board of Directors. As a result, certain of these investors potentially have the ability to influence our decisions to enter into corporate transactions (and the terms thereof) and prevent changes in the composition of our Board of Directors and any transaction that requires stockholder approval.

Item 1B.

Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2.

Properties

The following table lists, by state, the number of hospitals (general, acute care, psychiatric and rehabilitation) directly or indirectly owned and operated by us as of December 31, 2020:


State	Hospitals		Beds
Alaska		1		250
California		5		1,852
Colorado		7		2,451
Florida		45		12,491
Georgia		9		2,477
Idaho		2		454
Indiana		1		278
Kansas		4		1,374
Kentucky		2		384
Louisiana		3		923
Missouri		5		1,058
Nevada		3		1,452
New Hampshire		3		418
North Carolina		7		1,181
South Carolina		3		951
Tennessee		13		2,632
Texas		46		13,456
Utah		8		1,011
Virginia		11		3,284

International
England		7		888

		185		49,265

In addition to the hospitals listed in the above table, we directly or indirectly operate 121 freestanding surgery centers and 21 freestanding endoscopy centers. We also operate medical office buildings in conjunction with some of our hospitals. These office buildings are primarily occupied by physicians who practice at our hospitals. Fourteen of our general, acute care hospitals and two of our other properties have been mortgaged to support our obligations under our senior secured cash flow credit facility and first lien secured notes.

We maintain our headquarters in approximately 2,072,000 square feet of space in the Nashville, Tennessee area. In addition to the headquarters in Nashville, we maintain regional service centers related to our shared services initiatives. These service centers are located in markets in which we operate hospitals.

We believe our headquarters, hospitals and other facilities are suitable for their respective uses and are, in general, adequate for our present needs. Our properties are subject to various federal, state and local statutes and ordinances regulating their operation. Management does not believe that compliance with such statutes and ordinances will materially affect our financial position or results of operations.

Item 3.

Legal Proceedings

The information set forth in Note 11 – Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 4.

Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

PART II

Item 5.

Market for Registrant

’

s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

During January 2020 and 2019, our Board of Directors authorized share repurchase programs for up to $4 billion ($2 billion for each authorization) of our outstanding common stock. During March 2020 in response to the risks the

COVID-19

pandemic presents to our business, we announced the suspension of our share repurchase programs. There were no share repurchases of our outstanding common stock during the second through fourth quarters of 2020. At December 31, 2020, we had $2.800 billion of repurchase authorization available under the January 2019 and 2020 authorizations. During February 2021, our Board of Directors authorized the resumption of the share repurchase program, and an additional $6 billion was authorized for repurchases of the Company’s outstanding common stock ($8.8 billion of total repurchase authorization including the February 2021 authorization).

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (symbol “HCA”). During January 2020, our Board of Directors declared one quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share on our common stock. In response to the

COVID-19

pandemic concerns, the Company suspended its quarterly dividend program for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020. On February 1, 2021, our Board of Directors reinstated the quarterly dividend program and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share on our common stock payable on March 31, 2021 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 17, 2021. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to the final determination of our Board of Directors. Our ability to declare future dividends may also from time to time be limited by the terms of our debt agreements. At the close of business on February 8, 2021, there were approximately 400 holders of record of our common stock.

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Item 7.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The accompanying consolidated financial statements present certain information with respect to the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of HCA Healthcare, Inc. which should be read in conjunction with the following discussion and analysis. The terms “HCA,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us,” as used herein, refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates. The term “affiliates” means direct and indirect subsidiaries of HCA Healthcare, Inc. and partnerships and joint ventures in which such subsidiaries are partners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This annual report on Form

10-K

includes certain disclosures which contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding expected share-based compensation expense, expected capital expenditures, expected dividends, expected share repurchases, expected net claim payments and all other statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can be identified by the use of words like “may,” “believe,” “will,” “expect,” “project,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “initiative” or “continue.” These forward-looking statements are based on our current plans and expectations and are subject to a number of known and unknown uncertainties and risks, many of which are beyond our control, which could significantly affect current plans and expectations and our future financial position and results of operations. These factors include, but are not limited to, (1) developments related to

COVID-19,

including, without limitation, the length and severity of the pandemic; the volume of canceled or rescheduled procedures and the volume of

COVID-19

patients cared for across our health systems; measures we are taking to respond to the

COVID-19

pandemic; the impact and terms of government and administrative regulation and stimulus (including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and other enacted and potential future legislation); changes in revenues due to declining patient volumes, changes in payer mix and deteriorating macroeconomic conditions (including increases in uninsured and underinsured patients); potential increased expenses related to labor, supply chain or other expenditures; workforce disruptions; supply shortages and disruptions; and the timing and availability of effective medical treatments and vaccines, (2) the impact of our substantial indebtedness and the ability to refinance such indebtedness on acceptable terms, as well as risks associated with disruptions in the financial markets and the business of financial institutions as the result of the

COVID-19

pandemic which could impact us from a financial perspective, (3) the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”), including the effects of court challenges to, any repeal of, or changes to, the Affordable Care Act or additional changes to its implementation, the possible enactment of additional federal or state health care reforms and possible changes to other federal, state or local laws or regulations affecting the health care industry, including proposals to expand coverage of federally-funded insurance programs as an alternative to private insurance or establish a single-payer system (such reforms often referred to as “Medicare for All”), and also including any such laws or governmental regulations which are adopted in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, (4) the effects related to the continued implementation of the sequestration spending reductions required under the Budget Control Act of 2011, and related legislation extending these reductions, and the potential for future deficit reduction legislation that may alter these spending reductions, which include cuts to Medicare payments, or create additional spending reductions, (5) increases in the amount and risk of collectability of uninsured accounts and deductibles and copayment amounts for insured accounts, (6) the ability to achieve operating and financial targets, and attain expected levels of patient volumes and control the costs of providing services, (7) possible changes in Medicare, Medicaid and other state programs, including Medicaid supplemental payment programs or Medicaid waiver programs, that may impact reimbursements to health care providers and insurers and the size of the uninsured or

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Forward-Looking Statements (continued)

underinsured population, (8) the highly competitive nature of the health care business, (9) changes in service mix, revenue mix and surgical volumes, including potential declines in the population covered under third-party payer agreements, the ability to enter into and renew third-party payer provider agreements on acceptable terms and the impact of consumer-driven health plans and physician utilization trends and practices, (10) the efforts of health insurers, health care providers, large employer groups and others to contain health care costs, (11) the outcome of our continuing efforts to monitor, maintain and comply with appropriate laws, regulations, policies and procedures, (12) increases in wages and the ability to attract and retain qualified management and personnel, including affiliated physicians, nurses and medical and technical support personnel, (13) the availability and terms of capital to fund the expansion of our business and improvements to our existing facilities, (14) changes in accounting practices, (15) changes in general economic conditions nationally and regionally in our markets, including economic and business conditions (and the impact thereof on the economy, financial markets and banking industry) resulting from the

COVID-19

pandemic, (16) the emergence of and effects related to other pandemics, epidemics and infectious diseases, (17) future divestitures which may result in charges and possible impairments of long-lived assets, (18) changes in business strategy or development plans, (19) delays in receiving payments for services provided, (20) the outcome of pending and any future tax audits, disputes and litigation associated with our tax positions, (21) potential adverse impact of known and unknown government investigations, litigation and other claims that may be made against us, (22) the impact of potential cybersecurity incidents or security breaches, (23) our ongoing ability to demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (“EHR”) technology and the impact of interoperability requirements, (24) the impact of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods, or similar events beyond our control, (25) changes in the U.S. federal, state, or foreign tax laws including interpretive guidance that may be issued by taxing authorities or other standard setting bodies, and (26) other risk factors described in this annual report on Form

10-K.

As a consequence, current plans, anticipated actions and future financial position and results of operations may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of HCA. You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements when evaluating the information presented in this report, which forward-looking statements reflect management’s views only as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

COVID-19

Pandemic and CARES Act Funding

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization designated

COVID-19

pandemic, including policies that have caused many people to remain at home, forced the closure of or limitations on certain businesses, and suspended elective surgical procedures by health care facilities. While many of these restrictions have been eased across the U.S. and most states have lifted moratoriums on

non-emergent

procedures, restrictions remain in place or may be adopted or

re-imposed,

we announced our decision to return, or repay early, all of our share of the Provider Relief Fund distributions and all of the Medicare accelerated payments. During the

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

COVID-19

Pandemic and CARES Act Funding (continued)

fourth quarter of 2020, we returned, or repaid early, approximately $6.1 billion of these funds. The unreturned Provider Relief Funds of $83 million, related to amounts received by certain of our partnership entities, are recorded under the caption “other accrued expenses” in our consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2020. Our share of these funds will be returned in 2021 after final determination of amounts earned and distributable to the members of each respective partnership.

We believe the extent of the

COVID-19

stay-at-home

practices and business closures and restrictions; recommended or required suspensions of elective procedures, continued declines in patient volumes for an indeterminable length of time; increases in the number of uninsured and underinsured patients as a result of higher sustained rates of unemployment; incremental expenses required for supplies and personal protective equipment; and changes in professional and general liability exposure. Because of these and other uncertainties, we cannot estimate how long or how severely the pandemic will impact our business. If we experience declines in cash flows and results of operations, such declines could have an impact on the inputs and assumptions used in significant accounting estimates, including estimated implicit price concessions related to uninsured patient accounts, professional and general liability reserves, and potential impairments of goodwill and long-lived assets.

2020 Operations Summary

Net income attributable to HCA Healthcare, Inc. totaled $3.754 billion, or $10.93 per diluted share, for 2020, compared to $3.505 billion, or $10.07 per diluted share, for 2019. The 2020 results included $60 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, of employee retention payroll tax credits, as provided for by the CARES Act. The 2020 results also include losses on sales of facilities of $7 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, and losses on retirement of debt of $295 million, or $0.66 per diluted share. The 2019 results include gains on sales of facilities of $18 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, and losses on retirement of debt of $211 million, or $0.47 per diluted share. Revenues for 2020 include $55 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, related to the settlement of Medicare outlier calculations for prior periods and $69 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, related to the resolution of transaction price differences regarding certain services performed in prior periods. Revenues for 2019 include $86 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, related to the resolution of transaction price differences regarding certain services performed in prior periods. During 2020 and 2019, we recorded reductions to the provision for professional liability risks of $112 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, and $50 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes for 2020 and 2019 included tax benefits of $92 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, and $65 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, respectively, related to employee equity award settlements. All “per diluted share” disclosures are based upon amounts net of the applicable income taxes. Shares used for diluted earnings per share were 343.605 million shares and 348.226 million shares for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Revenues increased to $51.533 billion for 2020 from $51.336 billion for 2019. Revenues increased 0.4% and declined 0.1%, respectively, on a consolidated basis and on a same facility basis for 2020, compared to 2019. The consolidated revenues increase can be primarily attributed to the net impact of a 10.5% increase in revenue per equivalent admission offset by a 9.2% decline in equivalent admissions. The same facility revenues decline

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

2020 Operations Summary (continued)

resulted primarily from the net impact of a 9.3% decline in same facility equivalent admissions offset by a 10.1% increase in same facility revenue per equivalent admission.

During 2020, consolidated admissions declined 4.7% and same facility admissions declined 4.8%, compared to 2019. Inpatient surgical volumes declined 7.8% on both a consolidated basis and on a same facility basis during 2020, compared to 2019. Outpatient surgical volumes declined 12.6% on a consolidated basis and declined 12.4% on a same facility basis during 2020, compared to 2019. Emergency room visits declined 18.7% on a consolidated basis and declined 18.8% on a same facility basis during 2020, compared to 2019.

The estimated cost of total uncompensated care declined $250 million for 2020, compared to 2019. Consolidated and same facility uninsured admissions both declined 7.0%, and consolidated and same facility uninsured emergency room visits declined 20.9% and 21.0%, respectively, for 2020, compared to 2019.

Interest expense totaled $1.584 billion for 2020, compared to $1.824 billion for 2019. The $240 million decline in interest expense for 2020 was due to declines in both the average debt balance and the effective interest rate.

Cash flows from operating activities increased $1.630 billion, from $7.602 billion for 2019 to $9.232 billion for 2020. The increase in cash flows from operating activities was primarily related to the increase in net income, excluding losses and gains on sales of facilities and losses on retirement of debt, of $330 million and positive changes in working capital items of $1.366 billion, primarily from the increases in accounts payable and accrued expenses and the collection of accounts receivable.

Business Strategy

Grow Our Presence in Existing Markets.

We believe we are well positioned in a number of large and growing markets that will allow us the opportunity to generate long-term, attractive growth through the expansion of our presence in these markets. We plan to continue recruiting and strategically collaborating with the physician community and developing comprehensive service lines such as cardiology, neurology, oncology, orthopedics and women’s services. Additional components of our growth strategy include providing access and convenience through developing various outpatient facilities, including, but not limited to surgery centers, urgent care clinics, freestanding emergency care facilities and imaging centers, as well as seeking to improve coordination of care and patient retention across our markets.

Achieve Industry-Leading Performance in Clinical, Operational and Satisfaction Measures.

Achieving high levels of patient safety, patient satisfaction and clinical quality are central goals of our business. To achieve these goals, we have implemented a number of initiatives including infection reduction initiatives, hospitalist programs, advanced health information technology and evidence-based medicine programs. We routinely analyze operational practices from our best-performing hospitals to identify ways to implement organization-wide performance improvements and reduce clinical variation. We believe these initiatives will continue to improve

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Business Strategy (continued)

patient care, help us achieve cost efficiencies and favorably position us in an environment where our constituents are increasingly focused on quality, efficacy and efficiency.

Recruit and Employ Physicians to Meet the Needs for High Quality Health Services.

We depend on the quality and dedication of the health care providers and other team members who serve at our facilities. We believe a critical component of our growth strategy is our ability to successfully recruit and strategically collaborate with physicians and other professionals to provide high quality care. We attract and retain physicians by providing high quality, convenient facilities with advanced technology, by expanding our specialty services and by building our outpatient operations. We believe our continued investment in the employment, recruitment and retention of physicians will improve the quality of care at our facilities.

Continue to Leverage Our Scale and Market Positions to Grow the Company.

We believe there is significant opportunity to continue to grow our company by fully leveraging the scale and scope of our organization. We continue to invest in initiatives such as care navigators, clinical data exchange and centralized patient transfer operations, which will enable us to improve coordination of care and patient retention across our markets. We believe our centrally managed business processes and ability to leverage cost-saving practices across our extensive network will enable us to continue to manage costs effectively. We continue to invest in our Parallon subsidiary group to leverage key components of our support infrastructure, including revenue cycle management, health care group purchasing, supply chain management and staffing functions.

Pursue a Disciplined Development Strategy.

We continue to believe there are significant growth opportunities in our markets. We will continue to provide financial and operational resources to analyze and develop our

in-market

opportunities. To complement our

in-market

growth agenda, we intend to focus on selectively developing and acquiring new hospitals, outpatient facilities and other health care service providers. We believe the challenges faced by the hospital industry may continue to spur consolidation and we believe our size, scale, national presence and access to capital will position us well to participate in any such consolidation.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent liabilities and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. We evaluate our estimates on an ongoing basis and make changes to the estimates and related disclosures as experience develops or new information becomes known. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenues

Revenues are recorded during the period the health care services are provided, based upon the estimated amounts due from payers. Estimates of contractual allowances under managed care health plans are based upon the payment terms specified in the related contractual agreements. Laws and regulations governing the Medicare and Medicaid programs are complex and subject to interpretation. The estimated reimbursement amounts are made on a payer-specific basis and are recorded based on the best information available regarding management’s

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates (continued)

Revenues (continued)

interpretation of the applicable laws, regulations and contract terms. Management continually reviews the contractual estimation process to consider and incorporate updates to laws and regulations and the frequent changes in managed care contractual terms resulting from contract renegotiations and renewals. We have invested significant resources to refine and improve our billing systems and the information system data used to make contractual allowance estimates. We have developed standardized calculation processes and related employee training programs to improve the utility of our patient accounting systems.

Patients treated at hospitals for

non-elective

care, who have income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, were eligible for charity care, and we limit the patient responsibility amounts for these patients to a percentage of their annual household income, computed on a sliding scale based upon their annual income and the applicable percentage of the federal poverty level. Patients treated at hospitals for non-elective care, who have income above 400% of the federal poverty level, were eligible for certain other discounts which limit the patient responsibility amounts for these patients to a percentage of their annual household income, computed on a sliding scale based upon their annual income and the applicable percentage of the federal poverty level. We apply additional discounts to limit patient responsibility for certain emergency services. The federal poverty level is established by the federal government and is based on income and family size. Because we do not pursue collection of amounts determined to qualify as charity care, they are not reported in revenues. We provide discounts to uninsured patients who do not qualify for Medicaid or charity care. We may attempt to provide assistance to uninsured patients to help determine whether they may qualify for Medicaid, other federal or state assistance, or charity care. If an uninsured patient does not qualify for these programs, the uninsured discount is applied.

Due to the complexities involved in the classification and documentation of health care services authorized and provided, the estimation of revenues earned and the related reimbursement are often subject to interpretations that could result in payments that are different from our estimates. The adjustments to estimated Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement amounts and disproportionate-share funds related primarily to cost reports filed during the respective year resulted in net increases to revenues of $70 million, $51 million and $29 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The adjustments to estimated reimbursement amounts related primarily to cost reports filed during previous years resulted in a net reduction to revenues of $5 million in 2020 and net increases to revenues of $13 million and $51 million in 2019 and 2018, respectively. We expect adjustments during the next 12 months related to Medicare and Medicaid cost report filings and settlements will result in net increases to revenues generally similar to the amounts recorded during these years.

Implicit price concessions relate primarily to amounts due directly from patients. Estimated implicit price concessions are recorded for all uninsured accounts, regardless of the age of those accounts. Accounts are written off when all reasonable collection efforts have been performed. The estimates for implicit price concessions are based upon management’s assessment of historical writeoffs and expected net collections, business and economic conditions, trends in federal, state and private employer health care coverage and other collection indicators. Management relies on the results of detailed reviews of historical writeoffs and collections at facilities that represent a majority of our revenues and accounts receivable (the “hindsight analysis”) as a primary source of information in estimating the collectability of our accounts receivable. We perform the hindsight analysis quarterly, utilizing rolling twelve-months accounts receivable collection and writeoff data. We believe our quarterly updates to the estimated implicit price concession amounts at each of our hospital facilities provide reasonable estimates of our revenues and valuations of our accounts receivable. These routine, quarterly changes

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates (continued)

Revenues (continued)

in estimates have not resulted in material adjustments to the valuations of our accounts receivable or

period-to-period

comparisons of our revenues. At December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, estimated implicit price concessions of $6.108 billion and $6.953 billion, respectively, had been recorded to adjust our revenues and accounts receivable to the estimated amounts we expect to collect.

To quantify the total impact of and trends related to uninsured patient accounts, we believe it is beneficial to view total uncompensated care, which is comprised of charity care, uninsured discounts and implicit price concessions. A summary of the estimated cost of total uncompensated care for the years ended December 31, follows (dollars in millions):


	2020			2019			2018
Patient care costs (salaries and benefits, supplies, other operating expenses and depreciation and amortization)	$	44,271		$	44,118		$	40,035

Cost-to-charges ratio (patient care costs as percentage of gross patient charges)		12.0	%		12.0	%		12.4	%

Total uncompensated care	$	29,029		$	31,105		$	26,757
Multiply by the cost-to-charges ratio		12.0	%		12.0	%		12.4	%

Estimated cost of total uncompensated care	$	3,483		$	3,733		$	3,318

Management expects a continuation of the challenges related to the collection of the patient due accounts. Adverse changes in the percentage of our patients having adequate health care coverage, increases in patient responsibility amounts under certain health care coverages, general economic conditions, patient accounting service center operations, payer mix, or trends in federal, state, and private employer health care coverage could affect the collection of accounts receivable, cash flows and results of operations.

Professional Liability Claims

We, along with virtually all health care providers, operate in an environment with professional liability risks. Our facilities are insured by our 100% owned insurance subsidiary for losses up to $50 million per occurrence, subject, in most cases, to a $15 million per occurrence self-insured retention. The insurance subsidiary has obtained reinsurance for professional liability risks generally above a retention level of either $25 million or $35 million per occurrence, depending on the jurisdiction for the related claim. We purchase excess insurance on an occurrence reported basis for losses in excess of $50 million per occurrence. Provisions for losses related to professional liability risks were $435 million, $497 million and $447 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. During 2020, 2019 and 2018, we recorded reductions to the provision for professional liability risks of $112 million, $50 million and $70 million, respectively, due to the receipt of updated actuarial information.

Reserves for professional liability risks represent the estimated ultimate cost of all reported and unreported losses incurred through the respective consolidated balance sheet dates. The estimated ultimate cost includes estimates of direct expenses and fees paid to outside counsel and experts, but does not include the general overhead costs of our insurance subsidiary or corporate office. Individual case reserves are established based upon the particular circumstances of each reported claim and represent our estimates of the future costs that will be paid on reported claims. Case reserves are reduced as claim payments are made and are adjusted upward or downward as our estimates regarding the amounts of future losses are revised. Once the case reserves for known

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates (continued)

Professional Liability Claims (continued)

claims are determined, information is stratified by loss layers and retentions, accident years, reported years, and geographic location of our hospitals. Several actuarial methods are employed to utilize this data to produce estimates of ultimate losses and reserves for incurred but not reported claims, including: paid and incurred extrapolation methods utilizing paid and incurred loss development to estimate ultimate losses; frequency and severity methods utilizing paid and incurred claims development to estimate ultimate average frequency (number of claims) and ultimate average severity (cost per claim); and Bornhuetter-Ferguson methods which add expected development to actual paid or incurred experience to estimate ultimate losses. These methods use our company-specific historical claims data and other information. Company-specific claim reporting and payment data collected over an approximate

20-year

period is used in our reserve estimation process. This company-specific data includes information regarding our business, including historical paid losses and loss adjustment expenses, historical and current case loss reserves, actual and projected hospital statistical data, professional liability retentions for each policy year, geographic information and other data.

Reserves and provisions for professional liability risks are based upon actuarially determined estimates. The estimated reserve ranges, net of amounts receivable under reinsurance contracts, were $1.710 billion to $2.050 billion at December 31, 2020 and $1.589 billion to $1.903 billion at December 31, 2019. Our estimated reserves for professional liability claims may change significantly if future claims differ from expected trends. We perform sensitivity analyses which model the volatility of key actuarial assumptions and monitor our reserves for adequacy relative to all our assumptions in the aggregate. Based on our analysis, we believe the estimated professional liability reserve ranges represent the reasonably likely outcomes for ultimate losses. We consider the number and severity of claims to be the most significant assumptions in estimating reserves for professional liabilities. A 2.5% change in the expected frequency trend could be reasonably likely and would increase the reserve estimate by $26 million or reduce the reserve estimate by $25 million. A 2.5% change in the expected claim severity trend could be reasonably likely and would increase the reserve estimate by $126 million or reduce the reserve estimate by $116 million. We believe adequate reserves have been recorded for our professional liability claims; however, due to the complexity of the claims, the extended period of time to resolve the claims and the wide range of potential outcomes, our ultimate liability for professional liability claims could change by more than the estimated sensitivity amounts and could change materially from our current estimates.

The reserves for professional liability risks cover approximately 2,300 individual claims at both December 31, 2020 and 2019 and estimates for unreported potential claims. The time period required to resolve these claims can vary depending upon the jurisdiction and whether the claim is settled or litigated. The average time period between the occurrence and final resolution for our professional liability claims is approximately four years, although the facts and circumstances of each individual claim can result in an

occurrence-to-resolution

timeframe that varies from this average. The estimation of the timing of payments beyond a year can vary significantly.

Reserves for professional liability risks were $1.963 billion and $1.827 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The current portion of these reserves, $477 million and $457 million at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, is included in “other accrued expenses.” Obligations covered by reinsurance and excess insurance contracts are included in the reserves for professional liability risks, as we remain liable to the extent reinsurers and excess insurance carriers do not meet their obligations. Reserves for professional liability risks (net of $39 million and $46 million receivable under reinsurance and excess insurance contracts at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively) were $1.924 billion and $1.781 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The estimated total net reserves for professional liability risks at December 31, 2020 and 2019 are

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates (continued)

Professional Liability Claims (continued)

comprised of $833 million and $695 million, respectively, of case reserves for known claims and $1.091 billion and $1.086 billion, respectively, of reserves for incurred but not reported claims.

Changes in our professional liability reserves, net of reinsurance recoverable, for the years ended December 31, are summarized in the following table (dollars in millions):


	2020			2019			2018
Net reserves for professional liability claims, January 1	$	1,781		$	1,692		$	1,603
Provision for current year claims		519			499			486
Favorable development related to prior years’ claims		(84	)		(2	)		(39	)

Total provision		435			497			447

Payments for current year claims		5			8			3
Payments for prior years’ claims		287			400			355

Total claim payments		292			408			358

Net reserves for professional liability claims, December 31	$	1,924		$	1,781		$	1,692

Income Taxes

We calculate our provision for income taxes using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized by identifying the temporary differences that arise from the recognition of items in different periods for tax and accounting purposes. Deferred tax assets generally represent the tax effects of amounts expensed in our income statement for which tax deductions will be claimed in future periods. Interest and penalties payable to taxing authorities are included as a component of our provision for income taxes. We have elected to treat taxes incurred on global intangible

low-taxed

income as a period expense.

Although we believe we have properly reported taxable income and paid taxes in accordance with applicable laws, federal, state or foreign taxing authorities may challenge our tax positions upon audit. Significant judgment is required in determining and assessing the impact of uncertain tax positions. We report a liability for unrecognized tax benefits from uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in our income tax returns. During each reporting period, we assess the facts and circumstances related to uncertain tax positions. If the realization of unrecognized tax benefits is deemed probable based upon new facts and circumstances, the estimated liability and the provision for income taxes are reduced in the current period. Final audit results may vary from our estimates.

Results of Operations

Revenue/Volume Trends

Our revenues depend upon inpatient occupancy levels, the ancillary services and therapy programs ordered by physicians and provided to patients, the volume of outpatient procedures and the charge and negotiated payment rates for such services. Gross charges typically do not reflect what our facilities are actually paid. Our facilities have entered into agreements with third-party payers, including government programs and managed care health plans, under which the facilities are paid based upon the cost of providing services, predetermined rates per diagnosis, fixed per diem rates or discounts from gross charges. We do not pursue collection of amounts

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Results of Operations (continued)

Revenue/Volume Trends (continued)

related to patients who meet our guidelines to qualify for charity care; therefore, they are not reported in revenues. We provide discounts to uninsured patients who do not qualify for Medicaid or charity care.

Revenues increased 0.4% to $51.533 billion for 2020 from $51.336 billion for 2019 and increased 10.0% for 2019 from $46.677 billion for 2018. The increase in revenues in 2020 can be primarily attributed to the net impact of a 10.5% increase in revenue per equivalent admission offset by a 9.2% decline in equivalent admissions compared to the prior year. The increase in revenues in 2019 can be primarily attributed to the combined impact of a 3.2% increase in revenue per equivalent admission and a 6.6% increase in equivalent admissions compared to the prior year.

Same facility revenues declined 0.1% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 and increased 5.9% for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to the year ended December 31, 2018. The 0.1% decline for 2020 can be primarily attributed to the net impact of a 9.3% decline in same facility equivalent admissions offset by a 10.1% increase in same facility revenue per equivalent admission and. The 5.9% increase for 2019 can be primarily attributed to the combined impact of a 2.3% increase in same facility revenue per equivalent admission and a 3.5% increase in same facility equivalent admissions.

Consolidated admissions declined 4.7% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 5.2% during 2019 compared to 2018. Consolidated surgeries declined 10.9% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 3.7% during 2019 compared to 2018. Consolidated emergency room visits declined 18.7% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 4.5% during 2019 compared to 2018.

Same facility admissions declined 4.8% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 2.8% during 2019 compared to 2018. Same facility surgeries declined 10.7% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 1.4% during 2019 compared to 2018. Same facility emergency room visits declined 18.8% during 2020 compared to 2019 and increased 2.8% during 2019 compared to 2018.

Same facility uninsured emergency room visits declined 21.0% and same facility uninsured admissions declined 7.0% during 2020 compared to 2019. Same facility uninsured emergency room visits increased 3.9% and same facility uninsured admissions increased 3.7% during 2019 compared to 2018.

The approximate percentages of our admissions related to Medicare, managed Medicare, Medicaid, managed Medicaid, managed care and insurers and the uninsured for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 are set forth below.


	Years Ended December 31,
	2020			2019			2018
Medicare		26	%		29	%		30	%
Managed Medicare		20			18			17
Medicaid		5			5			5
Managed Medicaid		12			12			12
Managed care and insurers		29			28			28
Uninsured		8			8			8

		100	%		100	%		100	%

HCA HEALTHCARE, INC.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Results of Operations (continued)

Revenue/Volume Trends (continued)

The approximate percentages of our inpatient revenues related to Medicare, managed Medicare, Medicaid, managed Medicaid, and managed care and insurers for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 are set forth below.


	Years Ended December 31,
	2020			2019			2018
Medicare		27	%		28	%		28	%
Managed Medicare		15			15			14
Medicaid		5			5			4
Managed Medicaid		6			5			6
Managed care and insurers		47			47			48

		100	%		100	%		100	%

At December 31, 2020, we owned and operated 45 hospitals and 31 surgery centers in the state of Florida. Our Florida facilities’ revenues totaled $11.442 billion, $11.494 billion and $10.892 billion for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. At December 31, 2020, we owned and operated 46 hospitals and 32 surgery centers in the state of Texas. Our Texas facilities’ revenues totaled $13.528 billion, $13.101 billion and $12.023 billion for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. During 2020, 2019 and 2018, 56%, 56% and 57% of our admissions and 49%, 48% and 49%, respectively, of our revenues were generated by our Florida and Texas facilities. Uninsured admissions in Florida and Texas represented 72%, 72% and 70% of our uninsured admissions during 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

We receive a significant portion of our revenues from government health programs, principally Medicare and Medicaid, which are highly regulated and subject to frequent and substantial changes. In December 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that it will phase out federal matching funds for Designated State Health Programs under waivers granted under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. Texas currently operates its Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program pursuant to a Medicaid waiver. In December 2017, CMS approved an extension of this waiver through September 30, 2022, but indicated that it will phase out some of the federal funding. Our Texas Medicaid revenues included Medicaid supplemental waiver payments of $599 million, $416 million and $450 million during 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

In addition, we receive supplemental payments in several other states. We are aware these supplemental payment programs are currently being reviewed by CMS and certain state agencies, and that some states have made waiver requests to CMS to replace their existing supplemental payment programs. It is possible these reviews and waiver requests will result in the restructuring of such supplemental payment programs and could result in the payment programs being reduced or eliminated. Because deliberations about these programs are ongoing, we are unable to estimate the financial impact the program structure modifications, if any, may have on our results of operations.


	12/31/2015		12/31/2016		12/31/2017		12/31/2018		12/31/2019		12/31/2020
HCA Healthcare, Inc.	$	100.00	$	109.45	$	129.88	$	186.23	$	223.94	$	250.01
S&P 500		100.00		111.96		136.40		130.42		171.49		203.04
S&P Health Care		100.00		97.31		118.79		126.47		152.81		173.36


	2020						2019						2018
	Amount			Ratio			Amount			Ratio			Amount			Ratio
Revenues	$	51,533			100.0		$	51,336			100.0		$	46,677			100.0

Salaries and benefits		23,874			46.3			23,560			45.9			21,425			45.9
Supplies		8,369			16.2			8,481			16.5			7,724			16.5
Other operating expenses		9,307			18.1			9,481			18.5			8,608			18.5
Equity in earnings of affiliates		(54	)		(0.1	)		(43	)		(0.1	)		(29	)		(0.1	)
Depreciation and amortization		2,721			5.3			2,596			5.0			2,278			4.9
Interest expense		1,584			3.1			1,824			3.6			1,755			3.8
Losses (gains) on sales of facilities		7			—			(18	)		—			(428	)		(0.9	)
Losses on retirement of debt		295			0.6			211			0.4			9			—

		46,103			89.5			46,092			89.8			41,342			88.6


		Page Reference

Part I

Item 1.	Business		3

Item 1A.	Risk Factors		35

Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments		56

Item 2.	Properties		57

Item 3.	Legal Proceedings		57

Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures		57

Part II

Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities		58

Item 6.	Selected Financial Data		59

Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations		60

Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk		82

Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data		82

Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure		82

Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures		82

Item 9B.	Other Information		84

Part III

Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance		84

Item 11.	Executive Compensation		84

Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters		85

Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence		85

Item 14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services		85

Part IV

Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules		86

Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary		99

	Signatures		100