The Argonaut -- April 10, 2003

Tenet will keep Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital open

BY CINDY FRAZIER

Nearly a year after announcing that it would close down Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital, Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced Tuesday, April 8th, that it would keep the hospital open indefinitely.

The decision not to close the 166-bed hospital was made after the hospital's governing board unanimously recommended last week that the facility remain open.

That decision came after state attorney general Bill Lockyer announced Tuesday, April 1st, that he would seek a dismissal of an eight-month-old court injunction blocking the closure and agreed to a monetary settlement with Tenet.

Tenet officials warned that the hospital needs community "support" to remain in operation.

In May last year, Tenet announced that the hospital would close down in July and began preparing the hospital for closure.

The hospital psychiatric and drug dependency clinics were moved to another facility and the hospital began turning away elective patients.

At the time, area emergency room physicians expressed concern about the impending loss of an emergency room in the Marina area.

After the closure was announced, local activists formed a group, Save Our Marina Hospital, (SOMH) and mounted a public campaign against the closure, with rallies, picketing and demands to public officials that the facility be retained.

REHAB PLANNED — Tenet officials say they plan to invest $4 million on new equipment at the Marina facility, rehabilitation of the hospital physical plant and revamping of its emergency department.

A new chief operating officer, Peter Aprato, has been appointed for the Marina hospital.

Aprato, described as a "veteran health care executive," served most recently as chief executive at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne.

Aprato will report directly to Harris F. Koenig, the chief executive officer of Tenet's Inglewood and Marina area hospitals.

‘WILLING TO RISK' — Tenet officials say they need support from the local community if the Marina hospital is to remain open.

"We're counting on the community to help us make this hospital viable in the future," said Dr. Stephen L. Newman, chief executive officer of Tenet California. "We are willing to take the risk that the passionate voices of support we've heard will now translate into greater utilization of this facility going forward.

"Tenet has clearly demonstrated its ability to develop clinical services that respond to community needs.

"Our confidence in that ability — coupled with great support from our physicians and the community — is what made possible our decision to keep Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital open.

"We suggest that all those who worked so hard to ‘Save Our Marina Hospital' now update their slogan to ‘Support Our Marina Hospital.'

"We need everyone's support to continue meeting the health care needs of the area's growing and diverse population for many years to come."

‘ENCOURAGED' — Hospital supporters are pleased that the hospital will remain open, but wary of Tenet's long-term plans.

Julie Inouye of Save Our Marina Hospital said she is "encouraged" by the announcement, but believes that the hospital's best hope of long-term stability is if another group affiliated with SOMH takes over the hospital.

"We still believe they [Tenet] should donate the hospital and property to us," she said. "We do not trust them.

"We want to know how many years they plan to keep the [Marina] hospital open."

Inouye's group believes the Marina hospital can support itself if operated properly.

LOSING MONEY — Tenet bought the Marina hospital and its sister facility, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, in December 2001, after the two facilities reportedly were losing millions of dollars a year under the operation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, an order of Catholic nuns.

Tenet said the Marina hospital was not financially viable, but that the Inglewood facility would be kept in operation.

Lockyer allowed the closure on the condition that a "community planning process" be conducted prior to the decision.

After a court injunction was imposed in August keeping the hospital open, Tenet embarked on a six-month process of community meetings and group meetings which convinced Lockyer that the "community planning process" requirement had been met.

Tenet California is the largest private hospital operator in the state, with 40 hospitals and more than 30,000 employees, according to Tenet.

A Fortune 500 company, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates a total of 114 acute care hospitals with 27,882 beds.