HCA buying three Florida hospital from Iasis

HCA Holdings Inc. has agreed to buy three hospitals in the Tampa Bay area from fellow Nashville area hospital chain Iasis Healthcare LLC. A final deal would expand HCA’s footprint in that part of Florida, which is becoming a growing strategy under health care reform. “This fills in some potential holes in their network and builds further density of services in an important geographic market for HCA,” said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Conn. Carl Whitmer, CEO of Franklin-based Iasis, said an assessment of that chain’s strategic growth plans in new and existing markets and HCA’s scale in Florida made it an appropriate time to sell Memorial Hospital of Tampa, Palms of Pasadena Hospital and Town & Country Hospital.