HCA Midwest becomes KC's biggest hospital system after $2.5B investment

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Source: Kansas City Business Journal
Author: Grace Mayer
Date: May 28, 2024

HCA Healthcare, the largest health care system in the U.S., pushed into the Kansas City market in 2003, when it acquired the 12-hospital system Health Midwest for $1.13 billion and created HCA Midwest Health division.

Since then, the for-profit system has grown into Kansas City's largest private-sector employer and established itself as the largest health care provider by investing $2.5 billion in health care services and building an expansive local real estate footprint.

We'll continue to be the health care leader in serving the most number of patients, but really being viewed by the community and employers as a trusted source for health care,” Keith Zimmerman, who became president of HCA Midwest Health in Kansas City in June 2022.

Patients

HCA Midwest has the most hospitals in Kansas City, including six located in the metro and one in Lexington, Missouri. Combined, those HCA Midwest hospitals also treat the most patients in Kansas City compared to its local peers.

In 2022, HCA’s six metro hospitals treated 66,116 patients, according to Kansas City Business Journal data.

The University of Kansas Health System and its acquired hospital, Olathe Medical Center, treated 54,754 patients, while Saint Luke’s Health System’s four hospitals treated 46,299 patients.

Real estate

HCA has regularly opened urgent care centers across the metro each year and introduced newer concepts, like HCA’s medical plazas in Prairie Village and Corbin Park. The medical plazas are a one-stop-shop for patients for urgent care, primary care and specialty services, such as women’s health and gynecological care.

“The whole Kansas City metro area is growing, so we don't really limit ourselves or necessarily have a preconceived notion where we want to grow more.” Zimmerman said. “We just continuously track (how many patients we’re serving). Then when we see that there are certain areas that may need additional services, then we go ahead and put assets in that particular part of town.”

The health system has built 11 urgent care operations. HCA will have nine local surgery centers by the end of the year, once construction finishes on two facilities. There are dedicated cancer centers on each of the hospital’s seven campuses.

It invested $34.5 million for The Research College of Nursing, capital that will go to constructing a new building on HCA’s Research Medical Center campus. The project is expected to double the college’s enrollment, Zimmerman said. He sees the investment as a way to bolster the health care workforce at its HCA hospitals and for other area hospitals.

“We really see a need to expand the number of enrollees and the number of graduates in nursing,” Zimmerman said. “We're training the next generation of physicians for the workplace.”

Employment

The health care system has added more than 700 employees since 2014, when it employed 9,349 local employees. HCA is now the largest local private-sector employer, with 10,051 employees. The health care system jumped to the top of KCBJ's List after layoffs dethroned Oracle from the top spot.

HCA Healthcare, which HCA Midwest is under, is often the dominant health care player across the 18 states where it operates, including in Texas, Florida and Tennessee, where HCA is headquartered.

It's part of a trend of mergers and consolidations in U.S. health care. Saint Luke’s Health System merged with BJC HealthCare in St. Louis. The University of Kansas Health System has also increased its local presence by acquiring Liberty Hospital and Olathe Health.

When Zimmerman moved from leading HCA Dallas operations to head the operation in Kansas City, he wanted to ensure the health system was maintaining exceptional service quality, and patient and employee experiences.

Those goals are the driving force behind its expansion over the years.

“If we're doing those two things well, then we grow our business," Zimmerman said. Quoting one of HCA Healthcare’s founders, Zimmerman said: “Bricks and mortar don’t make a hospital. People do.”