San Diego Hospital Sold as Part of Settlement
Texas-based Tenet Healthcare on Monday announced that it has completed the sale of a San Diego hospital to settle charges that the hospital paid kickbacks to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, the AP/Boston Herald reports. Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego was sold by Tenet to Plymouth Health of Los Angeles for pretax proceeds totaling $22.5 million.
In May 2006, Tenet announced that it would sell the hospital as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors to pay $21 million to settle the kickback charges (AP/Boston Herald, 1/1). In the settlement, Tenet acknowledged that Alvarado made "excessive payments" to some physicians but did not admit any wrongdoing.
Tenet agreed to the settlement despite the failure of two federal juries to convict Alvarado on criminal charges filed by U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego (California Healthline, 5/18/06).
The company also announced on Monday that it completed the sale of seven of the 13 hospitals it planned to sell as part of the company's restructuring. Tenet said negotiations will continue over the remaining six hospitals (AP/Boston Herald, 1/1).