Inquiry may alter HCA's IPO plan

An inquiry by the nation's top securities regulator into whether Hospital Corporation of America tampered with payroll records to bill for phantom nursing shifts in London could influence when the hospital chain's private equity owners take the company public again, one stock analyst said. Legal observers, however, said HCA could still go forward with plans for a potential sale of stock to the public while it's being investigated. But the company would have to make required disclosures about the probe in any initial securities filing related to an offering.