Tenet spokesman says new
stock problems won't impact Marina area hospital court process
BY CINDY FRAZIER
Recent troubles at Tenet Healthcare Corporation including a precipitous stock
decline and a federal investigation of two doctors at its hospital in Redding,
California have not affected the court-ordered planning process for the
future of Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital, according to Tenet spokesman David
Langness.
After posting huge gains and a stock split in the spring, Tenet stock plunged
41 percent last week, after a stock analyst's report raised questions about
Medicare billing procedures that may have inflated Tenet profits.
The company was also hit with a federal investigation of two cardiac physicians
based at its
The company defends its record in both counts and is launching an internal
review of the heart program at
On Monday, November 4th, Tenet also issued a public denial of unrelated
allegations of Medi-Cal billing irregularities at its
Members of Save Our Marina Hospital, a community group fighting an earlier
Tenet plan to sell the hospital property on Lincoln Boulevard for development,
has been circulating news articles about the company's fiscal and legal
problems, claiming the negative publicity could boost the drive to keep the
Marina area hospital open.
COMPANY STRONG Langness says the company which owns 113 hospitals nationwide
is in a solid financial position despite an apparent reversal of its fortune,
and active planning is still under way on the future of the
State attorney general Bill Lockyer had filed suit to keep the hospital from
closing without fulfilling a mandate for "community input" on the
closure.
Langness says company problems have had "no effect at all" on the
court-ordered planning process for
"This is only a downturn in the stock price, not in the operating
principal of the company," he said.
But if the company's finances were to falter, this could necessitate a sale of
the
THIRD MEETING PLANNED Two public meetings have been
held to gather community input on the future of the
"That meeting will take place in late November or early December and we
will present alternatives for the hospital that the board has suggested,"
Langness said.
Those alternatives are expected to include a plan to keep the hospital open, he
said.
"We are going through the process as ordered and are meeting with
community groups and the attorney general's office to make sure we are meeting
the [attorney general's] requirements," Langness said.
He added that Tenet plans for a multimillion-dollar upgrade at Daniel Freeman
Memorial Hospital in Inglewood sister hospital to the Marina area facility
are still in force.
Tenet criticized for years for its practice of purchasing and closing
hospitals around the country recently announced that it is acquiring the
USC/Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital in
As for the investigation of the cardiac physicians, Langness said, "We
have to keep in perspective that those doctors are only two at one of 113
[Tenet] hospitals, and they are not Tenet's employees."
Regarding the MediCal billing allegations at
"All billings are now current," a Tenet statement says.
CARDIAC SETTLEMENT In another development related to
the Daniel Freeman hospitals, the U.S. Department of Justice recently settled
for $250,000 a case of Medicare billing irregularities against both hospitals
dating from 1986 to 1995 when the hospitals were owned by the Sisters of St.
Joseph of Carondelet.
Langness said that Tenet, which purchased both hospitals in December from the
Sisters of St. Joseph, is not liable in the cases.