Founding and Early Years (1985-2010)
- E. Thomas Chaney, David Steffy, and Richard Ragsdale formed Community Health Systems in 1985.
- The company went public in 1991 and was later purchased by private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company in 1996.
- Community Health Systems went public again in 2000.
- In 2003, the company acquired Southside Regional Medical Center.
- Grandview Medical Center began operating in Birmingham, Alabama in 2015.
Recent Developments (2011-present)
- Community Health Systems was accused of overbilling Medicare in 2011.
- In 2013, the company entered into an agreement to purchase Health Management Associates (HMA).
- The merger with HMA made Community Health Systems the largest for-profit hospital operator at the time.
- The company settled lawsuits and criminal charges related to fraudulent claims against Medicare and other federal programs.
- Community Health Systems experienced a data breach in 2014, impacting 4.5 million patients.
Decline in Hospital Numbers
- In 2014, Community Health Systems had around 200 hospitals.
- The number of hospitals declined to around 85 in 2021.
- The company spun off 38 hospitals and its management subsidiary, Quorum Health Resources, in 2015.
- Quorum Health Corporation, the spinoff company, declared bankruptcy in 2020.
- CHS was removed from the S&P Midcap 400 and added to the S&P Smallcap 600 in 2016.
Legal Issues and Settlements
- In 2000, Community Health Systems paid $31 million to settle a review of its billing practices.
- The company paid $95.14 million in 2014 to resolve allegations of billing government health care programs improperly.
- Community Health Systems settled allegations related to illegal donations and false claims for $75 million in 2015.
- In 2015, the company paid $13 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act.
- CHS settled lawsuits and criminal charges related to fraudulent claims against Medicare for $262 million in 2018.
Financial Challenges and Sales
- Chinese billionaire Tianqiao Chen had a 22.2 percent stake in Community Health Systems in 2017.
- The company hired financial advisory firm Lazard in 2018 to address long-term debt.
- CHS sold Munroe Regional Medical Center in 2018 and Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center and Lake Wales Medical Center in 2019.
- Subsidiaries of CHS completed the sale of three Virginia hospitals in 2020.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, CHS received around a quarter-billion in federal relief funds and filed over 19,000 lawsuits against patients for unpaid medical bills.
This article needs to be updated. (August 2023) |
Community Health Systems (CHS) is a Fortune 500 company based in Franklin, Tennessee. It was the largest provider of general hospital healthcare services in the United States in terms of number of acute care facilities. In 2014, CHS had around 200 hospitals, but the number had declined to around 85 in 2021.
 | |
| Type | For-profit corporation |
|---|---|
| NYSE: CYH | |
| Industry | Health care |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Founders | Richard Ragsdale David Steffy |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Wayne T. Smith (Chairman) Tim Hingtgen (CEO) Kevin Hammons (CFO) |
| Revenue |  $18.438 billion (2016) |
| $(860 million) (2016) | |
| $(1.71 billion) (2016) | |
| Total assets | $(21.9 billion) (2016) |
| Total equity | $(1.615 billion) (2016) |
Number of employees | 120,000 |
| Website | http://www.chs.net/ |
In August 2015, the company announced plans to spin off 38 hospitals and its management and consulting subsidiary, Quorum Health Resources, into a new publicly traded company called Quorum Health Corporation. The company completed the spinoff of Quorum Health Corporation on April 29, 2016. Quorum owns or leases hospitals across 16 states, primarily in cities or counties with populations of 50,000 or less. In April 2020 Quorum declared bankruptcy and is no longer trading on the NYSE.
On October 3, 2016, CHS was removed from the S&P Midcap 400 and added to the S&P Smallcap 600. Under CEO Wayne T. Smith, the company's stock has lost over 76% of its value since the year 2000.[citation needed]
Chinese billionaire Tianqiao Chen had a 22.2 percent stake in Community Health Systems in 2017.
