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HCA Appoints Dr. Michael Cuffe President and CEO of Physician Services for HCA

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^{Published in Health and Fitness on Tuesday, September 13th 2011 at 12:42 GMT by Market Wire}  

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--HCA (NYSE:HCA), which operates 164 hospitals and 111 ambulatory surgery centers, today announced Dr. Michael Cuffe will become President and Chief Executive Officer of Physician Services for HCA, effective October 26. This is a new role created as part of an internal reorganization HCA announced in February.

"Dr. Cuffea™s experience and success in a number of complex leadership roles at the Duke University Health System uniquely prepare him to lead HCA Physician Services"

Cuffe, who currently serves as Vice President for Ambulatory Services and Chief Medical Officer of Duke University Health System, will report to Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, President of HCAa™s Clinical and Physician Services Group and Chief Medical Officer. HCAa™s Physician Services organization provides comprehensive practice management in support of HCAa™s overall clinical operations.

aDr. Cuffea™s experience and success in a number of complex leadership roles at the Duke University Health System uniquely prepare him to lead HCA Physician Services,a Perlin said. aThe arrival of Dr. Cuffe will advance our agenda to provide high quality healthcare services and to support our market-based physician network strategy.a

Prior to his current position with Duke, Cuffe served as Vice President of Medical Affairs at the Duke University Health System from 2005 to 2011. Before that, Cuffe served as Vice Chair of Medical Affairs for the Department of Medicine as well as in various leadership roles in the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Cuffe also served as Vice Dean for Medical Affairs of the Duke University School of Medicine from 2008 to 2011.

Cuffe is a graduate of MIT and received his MD and MBA degrees from Duke University. He also completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at Duke.

HCA was founded in Nashville, Tenn. in 1968 when Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., his father Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Sr., and entrepreneur Jack Massey set out to provide communities with better quality healthcare. Today, HCA is a leading provider of healthcare services, and its 190,000 employees serve approximately 18 million patients each year. The company has developed nationally recognized patient safety initiatives to prevent healthcare-associated infections like MRSA, perinatal safety programs to help protect the health of mothers and babies and bar-code systems to enhance medication safety.

All references to aCompanya and aHCAa as used through this release refer to HCA Holdings, Inc. and its affiliates.