NOTE 14 — SEGMENT AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

We operate in one line of business, which is operating hospitals and related health care entities. We operate in two geographically organized groups: the National and American Groups. At December 31, 2017, the National Group included 87 hospitals located in Alaska, California, Florida, southern Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, northern Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia, and the American Group included 86 hospitals located in Colorado, northern Georgia, Kansas, southern Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. We also operate six hospitals in England, and these facilities are included in the Corporate and other group.

Adjusted segment EBITDA is defined as income before depreciation and amortization, interest expense, losses (gains) on sales of facilities, losses on retirement of debt, legal claim costs (benefits), income taxes and net income attributable to noncontrolling interests. We use adjusted segment EBITDA as an analytical indicator for purposes of allocating resources to geographic areas and assessing their performance. Adjusted segment EBITDA is commonly used as an analytical indicator within the health care industry, and also serves as a measure of leverage capacity and debt service ability. Adjusted segment EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles, and the items excluded from adjusted segment EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Because adjusted segment EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and is thus susceptible to varying calculations, adjusted segment EBITDA, as presented, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The geographic distributions of our revenues, equity in earnings of affiliates, adjusted segment EBITDA, depreciation and amortization, assets and goodwill and other intangible assets are summarized in the following table (dollars in millions):


	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Revenues:
National Group	$	20,772		$	19,845		$	18,756
American Group		20,912			19,670			18,875
Corporate and other		1,930			1,975			2,047

	$	43,614		$	41,490		$	39,678

Equity in earnings of affiliates:
National Group	$	(21	)	$	(20	)	$	(7	)
American Group		(37	)		(38	)		(32	)
Corporate and other		13			4			(7	)

	$	(45	)	$	(54	)	$	(46	)

Adjusted segment EBITDA:
National Group	$	4,600		$	4,565		$	4,271
American Group		4,231			4,173			4,207
Corporate and other		(598	)		(520	)		(563	)

	$	8,233		$	8,218		$	7,915

Depreciation and amortization:
National Group	$	867		$	806		$	769
American Group		986			908			885
Corporate and other		278			252			250

	$	2,131		$	1,966		$	1,904


	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Adjusted segment EBITDA	$	8,233		$	8,218		$	7,915
Depreciation and amortization		2,131			1,966			1,904
Interest expense		1,690			1,707			1,665
Losses (gains) on sales of facilities		(8	)		(23	)		5
Losses on retirement of debt		39			4			135
Legal claim costs (benefits)		—			(246	)		249

Income before income taxes	$	4,381		$	4,810		$	3,957


	December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Assets:
National Group	$	13,097		$	12,320		$	11,332
American Group		18,136			16,208			15,240
Corporate and other		5,360			5,230			6,172

	$	36,593		$	33,758		$	32,744


	National Group			American Group			Corporate and Other			Total
Goodwill and other intangible assets:
Balance at December 31, 2014	$	1,170		$	4,614		$	632		$	6,416
Acquisitions		318			27			—			345
Foreign currency translation, amortization and other		(7	)		(3	)		(20	)		(30	)

Balance at December 31, 2015		1,481			4,638			612			6,731
Acquisitions		—			33			8			41
Foreign currency translation, amortization and other		(23	)		(10	)		(35	)		(68	)

Balance at December 31, 2016		1,458			4,661			585			6,704
Acquisitions		19			612			62			693
Foreign currency translation, amortization and other		(3	)		(8	)		8			(3	)

Balance at December 31, 2017	$	1,474		$	5,265		$	655		$	7,394