The Nashville-based hospital chain saw its shares drop $3.91, or 4.5%, to $82.18.
Community Health Systems, which has many rural hospitals among its 150 hospitals, saw its shares plunge 10% Tuesday, or 96 cents to $8.71.
Shares of Tenet Healthcare, the nation’s third-largest investor-owned chain, lost $1.59, or 7.5%, to $19.52.
The day started poorly with HCA missing analyst earnings estimates for the second quarter and slightly lowering earnings guidance for 2017.
The 170-hospital chain posted flat net income compared to the year-ago period. And it experienced a 1% drop in outpatient surgeries nationwide and just a 1% increase in admissions and emergency-room visits.
The rest of the hospital sector swooned with HCA on the prospect of their own weak second-quarter admissions. Then, the Senate, by the narrowest of margins 51-50 voted to debate the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
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Dave Barkholz is Modern Healthcare’s Southern Bureau Chief stationed in Nashville. He covers hospitals, doctors, suppliers and governance across the Southeast. A winner of numerous national journalism awards, Barkholz started his career at Modern Healthcare in 1984 covering the investor-owned hospital companies. He spent the past 10 years in Detroit at Automotive News, a sister Crain publication.