Philip Patton; HCA executive
Hyfler/Rosner
By KEITH RUSSELL
Tennesean Staff Writer
It was a week ago this past Monday when Philip R. Patton gave Nancy West,
executive director of the Siloam Family Health Center, a phone call she
won't soon forget.
''Well, Nancy,'' said Mr. Patton, senior vice president of human resources
at HCA Inc. and member of Siloam's advisory board, ''what do you think you
could you do with $1.5 million?''
The amount was how much HCA and the Nashville-based hospital company's
charitable foundation had decided to give to Siloam, a medical clinic on
12th Avenue South which serves uninsured and underserved patients. The
donation will help Siloam purchase or build an expanded clinic building that
will allow it serve more patients.
''I just remember him laughing,'' West recalled of the conversation
yesterday. ''He'll be a real loss to this community.''
It was a sentiment expressed by many yesterday following news of Mr.
Patton's death in a plane crash late Wednesday.
At HCA, Mr. Patton, 50, was remembered as an unassuming but gifted executive
who returned to the company at one of its darkest hours. At his church, a
man of faith and a leader. And to those closest to him, a loving friend,
father and husband.
''He was just about the best friend a guy could ever have,'' said Ken Capps,
a lifelong friend who met Mr. Patton when the two were in grade school. ''He
didn't have any enemies. He was loyal to a fault. Very high integrity, very
honorable. I just can't say enough about the guy.''
In a written statement, HCA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack
Bovender Jr. called Mr. Patton's death a ''devastating event'' for the
company, which operates 190 hospitals and 82 surgery centers in the United
States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
''Phil was not only greatly respected, but much loved by everyone,''
Bovender said. ''He has been a best friend to me since the 1980s. I have
never known a kinder, more caring and loving individual.
''All of us will miss him more than we can say.''
Tragically, Mr. Patton is now the second local health-care executive to lose
his life while flying. Former HCA executive and LifePoint Hospitals Inc. CEO
Scott Mercy was killed in June 2000 while practicing routine maneuvers in a
Beechcraft plane near the Smyrna airport.
Born on Jan. 5, 1953, Mr. Patton grew up in east Nashville and graduated
from Stratford High School. From there he went to the University of Memphis,
graduating cum laude in 1975 with a degree in business administration. He
received his master's in business administration in 1979 from the University
of Tennessee.
That same year Mr. Patton was hired by HCA, now the nation's largest
for-profit hospital chain. By 1992, he had risen to become the company's
senior vice president in charge of human resources, a position he would hold
until HCA's merger with Columbia Healthcare Corp. in 1994. After spending
two years as a consultant, Mr. Patton in 1996 joined Quorum Health Group
Inc., a Brentwood-based hospital operator, as its vice president for human
resources.
Mr. Patton would rejoin HCA in 1998 during one of its most difficult
periods. The company the previous summer had ousted Richard Scott, its chief
executive, in the midst of a widespread federal investigation into its
billing and business practices. HCA would eventually pay $1.7 billion in the
largest health-care fraud settlement in U.S. history.
Mr. Patton was among a handful of old HCA executives called upon by Scott's
replacement, HCA co-founder Thomas Frist Jr., to help the company
restructure and weather the storm of the government investigation. Others
included Bovender and Richard Bracken, HCA's president and chief operating
officer.
''He was the second or third person I called after Jack,'' Frist said of Mr.
Patton. ''They knew the corporate culture from the past and what I and my
Dad believed in. I needed someone like Phil who had real integrity, real
warmth and compassion.''
The choice was a hard one for Mr. Patton, an elder at Christ Presbyterian
Church who at the time was considering devoting himself full-time to
missionary work. Friends say his high respect for Frist eventually won out.
''Phil was loyal and when Dr. Frist asked him to come back, he couldn't say
no,'' said Tom Price, a friend who met Mr. Patton at church some 25 years
ago.
Mr. Patton's faith seemed to fuel his civic activities. Besides Siloam,
where his wife, Susan, and daughter, Elisabeth, volunteered, Mr. Patton sat
on the board of the Salvation Army/Nashville and was a past board member of
the Center for Non-Profit Management. He was also a past chairman of both
the Christ Presbyterian Academy and Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau.
Away from work, Mr. Patton joined several other local health-care
executives, including Frist and Bovender, in developing a love of flying.
Price said his friend often liked to get away for a few hours to pilot the
Piper Saratoga plane co-owned with his brother, David.
Mr. Patton is survived by his wife, Susan, son, Ben, 25, and daughters
Elisabeth, 22, and Julia, 21.
Hyfler/Rosner
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:bne01g$cnr$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
> HCA executive Philip Patton's death 'a real loss' to community
>
>
> Mr. Patton was among a handful of old HCA executives called upon by
Scott's
> replacement, HCA co-founder Thomas Frist Jr., to help the company
> restructure and weather the storm of the government investigation. Others
> included Bovender and Richard Bracken, HCA's president and chief operating
> officer.
>
> ''He was the second or third person I called after Jack,'' Frist said of
Mr.
> Patton. ''They knew the corporate culture from the past and what I and my
> Dad believed in. I needed someone like Phil who had real integrity, real
> warmth and compassion.''
Second or third? I think I may have done a little editing in this obituary.
Helped the company 'weather' the government investigation, then dies in a
plane crash. Convenient.