Corporate Accountability International inducted Columbia/HCA into the Corporate Hall of Shame in 1998. The hospital giant, considered the Wal-Mart of health care, was taking over nonprofit and community-owned hospitals, dumping patients without insurance and using its political clout to get away with these abuses.
For three years the organization, its supporters and allies ran a campaign challenging Columbia/HCA’s abusive behavior. In 2000, the corporation responded, altering its policies and practices to limit its political role. It dramatically reduced its lobbying force and halted election contributions.
Today the hospital corporation is no longer the influence-peddling threat to public health it was in the 1990s.
