He is also co-founder of the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). In his early years, Frist graduated from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee and received an MD from Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently worked as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force. In 1968, he co-founded the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) with his father, Thomas F. Frist, Sr. and Jack C. Massey. In 1977, Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr. became President of HCA and in 1987 he became Chairman, President and CEO. He served as Chairman of the Board in 1994, after the merger with Columbia. After the merger with HealthTrust Inc. in April 1995, he served as Vice Chairman. He returned as Chairman and CEO of the company in 1997. He was Chairman and CEO until January 2001 and Chairman until January 2002. In 2009, he stepped down from the Board of Directors and his son, Billy Frist, joined the Board.
Frist was replaced as Chairman by Jack Bovender. Frist's fortune jumped when shares of HCA Holding, the hospital conglomerate he and his father founded in 1968, spiked with the healthcare overhaul in 2014. Dr. Frist and his family own a 15% share in HCA. He took the company public for the third time in 2011 after two management buyouts. HCA bought three hospitals in Tampa Bay, FL, in 2013. HCA also reportedly paid over $7 million to the U.S. government to settle allegations that 23 of its hospitals attempted to get larger Medicare payouts by using high-priced inpatient procedures instead of less expensive outpatient surgeries. The Frist family is building a 500-bed hospital in China through a joint venture with the Chinese government.
Thomas Frist Jr Net Worth
