HCA International
HCA International is a private hospital group, which in the UK operates 6 hospitals and 4 outpatient medical centres in London.[1] It is owned by HCA Inc., a US private hospital giant with a turnover of $26 billion.
Contents
US private healthcare
HCA International is the overseas wing of HCA Inc., also known as Hospital Corporation of America. It describes itself as "the world’s leading independent hospital company" with a turnover of $26bn, 173 hospitals and 108 outpatient centres, servicing 14 million patients a year.[2]
Lobbying
Party funding
HCA International donated £8,500 to the Conservative Party in 2010.[3]
UK lobbying
HCA International is a member of the H5 lobby group, which represents the interests of private hospitals in the UK.
HCA International were listed as a lobbying client of Hanover until 2009.[4]
Former CEO's campaign to derail US healthcare reform
The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2009 that the former CEO of HCA Inc., Rick Scott, had formed an anti-health care reform group called Conservatives for Patients Rights and launched a $20 million campaign to derail President Obama's healthcare reforms.[5] The campaign included television ads featuring "horror stories" of Canadian and British residents who "allegedly suffered long waits for surgeries, couldn't get the drugs they needed, or had to come to the United States for treatment".[6]
PRWatch notes that "the public relations firm promoting Scott and his front group is a usual suspect. CRC Public Relations - the conservative PR firm previously known as Creative Response Concepts - is the firm "that masterminded the 'Swift boat' attacks against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry."[7]
Scott was elected governor of Florida in November 2010. According to the New York Times he spent more than $50 million in the record-breaking primary, which he won, and another $23 million on the general election.[8]
"The US's biggest ever healthcare fraud scandal"
Ex-CEO Rick Scott was ousted as head of Columbia/HCA healthcare, as HCA Inc was formerly known, in 1997 amid the US's biggest healthcare fraud scandal. The enormous company was embroiled in a scandal over overbilling government healthcare programs. Scott was not directly implicated in the fraud scandal.[9]
Contacts
242 Marylebone Road
London, NW1 6JL
Website: http://www.hcainternational.com
References
- ↑ HCA website, accessed Nov 2010
- ↑ HCA website, Key facts and figures
- ↑ Electoral Commission Register of donations to political parties, accessed Dec 2010
- ↑ APPC register to Feb 2009
- ↑ Lobbyists Line Up to Torpedo Speech, Wall Street Journal, 26 Feb 2009
- ↑ Swiftboating Healthcare Solutions, PR Watch, 11 May 2009
- ↑ Swiftboating Healthcare Solutions, PR Watch, 11 May 2009
- ↑ Rick Scott profile, New York Times, 3 Nov 2010
- ↑ Lobbyists Line Up to Torpedo Speech, Wall Street Journal, 26 Feb 2009
