Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) announced today that it has entered into a new multi-year agreement with Blue Cross of California, which is Tenet’s second largest managed care payer nationally. The contract will be effective Feb. 1, 2008. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, members of Blue Cross of California’s managed care plans will retain continued access to Tenet’s 16 acute care hospitals, a specialty hospital, and outpatient centers for their in-network health care services.
“The new agreement allows us to continue providing uninterrupted services to our patients who are covered by Blue Cross of California. We are excited by this opportunity to continue providing high-quality care for their members,” said Stephen L. Newman, M.D., Tenet’s chief operating officer.
The following Tenet hospitals are covered by these agreements and will continue to serve the health care needs of Blue Cross members in California:
- Community Hospital of Los Gatos, Los Gatos
- Desert Regional Medical Center, Palm Springs
- Doctors Hospital of Manteca, Manteca
- Doctors Medical Center, Modesto
- Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Fountain Valley
- Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, Garden Grove
- Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Irvine
- John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Indio
- Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Lakewood
- Los Alamitos Medical Center, Los Alamitos
- Placentia-Linda Hospital, Placentia
- San Dimas Community Hospital, San Dimas
- San Ramon Regional Medical Center, San Ramon
- Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, San Luis Obispo
- Twin Cities Community Hospital, Templeton
- USC University Hospital and USC/Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles
Brian A. Sassi, president of Blue Cross of California said, “We are delighted that Tenet Healthcare Corporation and Blue Cross of California will continue working together to provide outstanding access and the highest quality of care for Blue Cross members across the state. At Blue Cross, we strive to empower our members to make the health care choices that are right for them and their families. The broad network of hospitals within the Tenet Corporation provides members the opportunity to select the medical facilities and care to best meet their needs.”
Clint Hailey, Tenet’s chief managed care officer, said, “This agreement provides our hospitals with financial incentives as they meet certain quality criteria under the company’s industry-leading Quality-In-Sights®: Hospital Incentive Program (Q-HIP), which assesses the quality of patient care provided by our hospitals. With Tenet’s emphasis on providing high quality care to our patients, our hospitals fully anticipate receiving incremental benefit from this program.”
Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals and related ancillary health care businesses, which include ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic imaging centers. Tenet is committed to providing high quality care to patients in the communities we serve. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.
About Blue Cross of California:
Blue Cross of California is a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE:WLP). WellPoint’s mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States. WellPoint, Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.
Some of the statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on our current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and periodic reports on Form 8-K. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Media: Steven Campanini,
469-893-6321
Steven.Campanini@tenethealth.com
or
Investors:
Thomas Rice, 469-893-2522
Thomas.Rice@tenethealth.com
