Majority voted to oust HMA board

When Glenview Capital Management announced recently that it had enough shareholder votes to replace the board of Health Management Associates, it was vague about the results.

Glenview, which owns 14.6% of the hospital operator's stock, needed a simple majority of shareholders to toss out longtime Chairman William Schoen and eight other board members.

But the exact level of support for Glenview's alternative slate of directors only became clear recently when an Aug. 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that 61% of the shareholders voted to remove the board.

Of the 260 million shares outstanding, shareholders with 158 million shares voted to oust the board, according to the tally. In their place is a new board led by Chairman Steven Shulman, 62, a health care consultant and former chairman and CEO of health-management organization Magellan Health Services.