Our history
HM Hospitales was incorporated in 1989, when doctors Juan Abarca Campal and Carmen Cidón Tamargo decided to create a private healthcare model accessible to all with the best technology, aimed at providing doctors the means to guarantee the practice of medicine in freedom; with comprehensive care; and with the possibility of addressing any healthcare process, however complex it might be.
Dr. Juan Abarca Campal, a prominent surgeon, along with his wife, Dr. Carmen Cidón Tamargo, a specialist in Clinical Analysis, shared a common vision of private medicine, which combined clinical excellence with an unwavering vocation for serving others. Their objective was to provide patients with a highly specialized and complex healthcare service, gradually dismantling the hospitality and charitable nature that characterized this sector at that time.
In 1990, they both led a group of doctors to develop a new model for private medicine in Spain, which materialized in the remodeling and commissioning of the former Hospital San Pedro, now Hospital Universitario HM Madrid. This was how Hospitales de Madrid was established, giving rise to the initials ‘HM’ that identify the Group. As the organization expanded its presence beyond the Community of Madrid, it changed its name to HM Hospitales.
After years of growth and the creation of a disruptive private healthcare model, which elevated HM Hospitales to the position of an essential player in the sector in Madrid, the second generation of the family saga took up the mantle from the founding doctors and gradually, but actively, participated in the corporate philosophy, driving the company’s consolidation in Madrid and organic growth towards other territories. This new leadership guides the Group towards a deeply active professionalization and expansion, which leads to the successful and benchmark corporation it is today, with deep respect for the founding values and purpose, which will always be part of the company’s DNA.
Today, the Abarca Cidón family continues to provide strategic direction to HM Hospitales, ensuring that the Group maintains its founding values of medical excellence, commitment to patients and constant innovation, which have been key factors in its differentiation and positioning. This has led it to become a benchmark in private healthcare and a model for our competitors to emulate.
On these foundations, we are building the future of HM Hospitales with the aim of achieving the set corporate objectives, which cover areas such as sustainability, quality, people and talent, and training, without losing sight of healthcare and economic results.
This reinforcement and enhancement of healthcare and business excellence, together with the implementation of a profound digital transformation in all the company’s processes, are key elements that will help us improve care and further strengthen the safety of our patients. Furthermore, we continue to firmly support teaching and research, occupying leading positions in the healthcare and scientific ecosystem in Spain and Europe.
All this without losing sight of the economic and financial strength that guarantees the sustainability of the Group, which will undoubtedly enable the simultaneous and constant improvement of the working and professional conditions of HM Hospitales, who are ultimately the key driver that makes the company work and enables us to take better care of our patients’ and their families’ health every day.
The basic ideas of the founding project, which are still relevant today, are as follows:
- In order for any well-trained doctor to practice their profession and achieve the best possible results, they must have the freedom to carry out the diagnostic studies and treatments they deem necessary, without interference, pressure or limitations unrelated to the doctor-patient relationship.
- A private hospital is a very complex business, but fundamentally and primarily healthcare-oriented, so it can only be properly managed by clinical doctors who, as such, have spent many years in hospitals. However, it is also necessary that these doctors be good managers, which is not common.
- Physicians should be co-owners of the private center where they work, but hospital ownership must be balanced. It must belong to the doctors who work there, but also to other people and entities, professionals, businesspeople, etc., who analyze and consider the center from other points of view, as potential users and as shareholders who expect good management and a return on their investment.
This way of working has allowed us to continue growing to the present day, with 50 healthcare centers spread across the Community of Madrid, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Castilla y León, and Castilla La Mancha: 23 hospitals; 3 comprehensive centers highly specialized in Oncology, Cardiology and Neurosciences and 5 centers specialized in Reproductive Medicine, Eye Health, Oral Health, Aesthetics and Prevention; and 18 polyclinics, either owned or operating as a collaborative effort. This evolution positions HM Hospitales as one of the largest hospital groups in the country, not only for its size, but also for its pioneering spirit in always being at the forefront of private medicine in Spain.