Tenet Healthcare to Close Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital

Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced plans last week to close Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey, the Los Angeles Times reports. The health system acquired the 166-bed hospital last December from Carondelet Health System, a St. Louis-based company, as part of the $55 million purchase of Daniel Freeman Hospitals, the last not-for-profit facilities in Marina del Rey and Inglewood. Tenet officials said that they would not close the 358-bed Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood and added that they plan to expand services at the Centinela Airport Medical Clinic at Los Angeles International airport (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 5/30). Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D), who has the authority to block acquisitions that would switch not-for-profit hospitals to for-profit facilities, approved the sale of Daniel Freeman after Tenet agreed to 21 conditions to ensure that the hospitals would provide services offered by most not-for-profit facilities (California Healthline, 12/12/01). Although the agreement allows Tenet to close Daniel Freeman Marina, the health system must offer patients transportation to other facilities until June 2005 to "ensure that they have continued access to health services," Sandra Michioku, a Lockyer spokesperson, said. Virginia Hastings, director of the Emergency Medical Services Agency at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said that closing Daniel Freeman Marina will result in "additional waits and longer transfer times for paramedics," but added that Daniel Freeman Memorial "is far more important to the county's emergency network." She said, "We recognize that all these hospitals are not going to stay open. For us, it becomes a matter of prioritizing." Harris Koenig, CEO of Daniel Freeman, said that Tenet plans to put Daniel Freeman Marina up for sale in the next few days and will assist employees with placement at other facilities (Los Angeles Times, 5/30).