Business
Tenet sells 4 hospitals
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 23, 2006
Tenet Healthcare recently sold four hospitals in two separate transactions as part of ongoing efforts to streamline its operations.
The Dallas-based hospital chain announced on Oct. 2 that it had completed the sale of three hospitals in the New Orleans area to Ochsner Health System, which operates several hospitals and clinics in Southeast Louisiana. The hospitals were Kenner Regional Medical Center in Kenner, La.; Meadowcrest Hospital in Gretna, La.; and Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans.
Tenet expected pretax proceeds of $48.5 million, plus another $8 million that Ochsner agreed to pay for reconstruction of a Memorial Medical Center facility that was one of five Tenet hospitals damaged when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
In a separate deal, Tenet said it sold its 51% ownership stake in The Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Weston, Fla., to The Cleveland Clinic. That makes the Ohio-based academic medical center the hospital's sole owner. Tenet estimated pretax proceeds from the transaction at about $90 million.
The sales were part of a larger plan to divest 11 hospitals announced by Tenet last June. Company executives said they were in discussions with potential bidders for the remaining seven hospitals, and for two of its other hospitals that have been up for sale since early 2004.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/10/23/bibf1023.htm.
