staff were pressed to get patients into hospice where lifesaving treatments are withdrawn and the incentive is not necessarily patient care but the improvement of hospital performance metrics, this according to six nurses and 27 doctors who practice at 16 hca facilities in seven states and who spoke to nbc news. because if a patient dies in hospice even in the same hospital bed, their death will not be counted in the hospital s mortality statistics, a key factor used by those who rate hospital quality. and the better the rate is, the better for business. i m not afraid of speaking up in what i believe. reporter: dr. desanta bell practices at an hca hospital in california. he was the only physician of the 27 doctors we talked to who agreed to go on camera. dr. dabell says hca is kunsitantly pushing doctors to reduce the time they keep patients in the hospital and threaten to punish those like him who don t conform