Martin Feldstein Joins Columbia/HCA Board of Directors

Martin S. Feldstein '61, Baker Professor of Economics, can add another line to his already lengthy resume as he was one of four people recently appointed to Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation's board of directors.

"Martin Feldstein, along with the other three distinguished leaders we recently elected to our Board, bring a great deal of talent and leadership to the company," said Thomas F. Frist, Jr., M.D., the chair and chief executive officer of the corporation.

Columbia/HCA, which owns and operates 330 hospitals, 150 surgery centers, and a variety of ancillary service centers, is the nation's largest for-profit health care provider with revenues of $19 billion.

With more than 285,000 employees, Columbia/HCA is among the top 10 largest employers in the country, according to company spokesperson Jeff Prescott.

According to Feldstein, his interests in health care go back to his undergraduate and graduate thesis work on the topic.

"It's a chance to get inside the system [again]," Feldstein said. "Curiosity played a strong part."

Feldstein previously served on the board of directors for HCA, until the company was made private in the early 1990's

Columbia, which was founded in 1989, attained its current status after a merger with HCA in 1995.

Columbia/HCA has recently come under scrutiny by the federal government which is investigating the corporation on numerous counts of health care fraud.

According to an affidavit disclosed this summer, federal investigators are attempting to determine whether the company cheated federal health care programs by misreporting costs to Medicare, improperly portrayed certain non-reimbursable costs as reimbursable, submitted false bills for services, and maintained improper relationships with physicians.

At this juncture there have been three employees indicted as a result of the investigations, according to Prescott.

Feldstein acknowledged that Columbia's "past management did some things that were very wrong," but hopes that the current management is not engaged in similar actions.

"My sense was when I was associated with HCA was that they... delivered high quality care," he said. "They are determined to put it back to the first-rate company it was before."

The term for a member of Columbia's board lasts three years, with the "uncommon possibility of being reelected," said Prescott. Feldstein will receive $40,000 paid in stock each year as a member of the board, in addition to $1200 per meeting attended.

Feldstein, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, is currently a director of J.P. Morgan, American International Group, and TRW. He also serves as an economic adviser to several businesses on both the domestic and international level.