NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hospital Corporation of America (NYSE: HCA), a leading healthcare provider with 171 hospitals and 118 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and the United Kingdom, has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company®, a recognition HCA has earned every year since 2010.

HCA is one of only seven companies honored in the healthcare provider category this year.

“HCA’s shared values of honesty, integrity and respect for all people unite us and are vital to our mission to care for and improve human life,” said Milton Johnson, HCA’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Being honored for eight consecutive years is a reflection of HCA’s culture and the good work our people do every day, providing excellent care to our patients and a positive work environment for our colleagues.”

Throughout its history, HCA has invested in its communities. In 2016, HCA donated $23.2 million to charitable organizations and provided charity care, uninsured discounts and other uncompensated care at a cost of $2.8 billion. HCA’s culture of inclusion also supports the delivery of culturally competent care, with affiliates using 250 languages and dialects to communicate with their diverse patient populations. With approximately 5 percent of all hospital services in the U.S. occurring at an HCA facility, the company uses data from its more than 27 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives.

“It’s an honor to be recognized as a World’s Most Ethical Company for eight consecutive years,” said Alan Yuspeh, HCA’s senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer. “HCA’s comprehensive, values-based ethics and compliance program promotes the highest standards of ethical conduct for our 240,000 employees, and supports a culture of treating our patients and communities with dignity and respect.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

In 2017, 124 honorees were named spanning 19 countries and four continents, and representing more than 52 industries. The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

The Ethisphere® Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

All references to “Company” and “HCA” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Holdings, Inc. and its affiliates.

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