TENET: Close to Selling 18 Hospitals Across Country

      Tenet Healthcare Corp. "is set to unload" at least 18 hospitals in coming months, pulling out of communities in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri and Nevada where its market presence is weak and it faces tough competition. The hospital giant is unlikely to reap the same compensation as did Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., which sold 21 hospitals for just over $1 billion last year, partly as a result of "the market reaction to the high price ... not-for-profits paid last year to rid their respective markets of Columbia." Although insiders do not expect one buyer to snatch up all the hospitals, rumors have former Columbia chair R. Clayton McWhorter poised to "bid on a substantial number of the Tenet hospitals, possibly with financial backing from New York private equity capital firm Joseph Littlejohn & Levy." Not-for-profit health systems and for-profit companies alike -- including Columbia -- figure to bid on the remainder. According to Tenet's Harry Anderson, the company has delayed the deadline for bids from the beginning of June to the end of the month. Tenet owns 129 hospitals in 18 states, and posted a net income of $386 million for the nine months ending Feb. 28, down 4% from the year-ago period. Revenues totalled $7.9 billion, up from $7.3 billion (Kircheimer, Modern Healthcare, 6/14 issue).