Company to Keep Hospital Open
Tenet Healthcare Corp. reversed its decision to close Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital today, acknowledging that widespread community support for the facility had convinced officials to keep it open.
Although the hospital has long been underused -- an average of 44 beds out of 169 are occupied daily -- Daniel Freeman Chief Executive Harris Koenig said he hopes the keen opposition to the closing will develop into higher use of the hospital. Tenet has made an open-ended commitment to running the hospital, which is on Lincoln Boulevard next to Marina del Rey.
Tenet bought the Freeman Marina Hospital and the larger Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood from Carondelet Health System in St. Louis in December 2001. Six months later, the company announced that it would close the Marina hospital, noting that it was losing $2 million a month.
The decision was met with outrage. Community groups, local health officials, labor leaders and elected officials charged that Tenet had made the decision without seeking widespread public input, as was required by the conditions of its purchase of the hospitals.
A lawsuit by the state attorney general’s office blocked Tenet from closing the hospital until it launched an extensive community outreach program. That suit was settled last week, with Tenet agreeing to pay $100,000 to the state for the cost of the suit and donating $400,000 to charity.
The last eight months of public meetings and outreach allowed Tenet to rethink the decision, Koenig said.
“Having some more time to look at this and include the input was helpful,” he said. “I think the circumstances that we were faced with were dire and we needed to make decisions that weren’t accepted well. But having some additional time means we’re in a position now to move forward.”
Some advocates who fought to keep the hospital open greeted Tenet’s decision with a muted sense of victory. “I’m very pleased that they have listened carefully to the many voices in the community that are concerned about the future of the hospital. I only hope they will keep it open,” said Leslie Bennett, staff attorney for Consumers Union. Bennett said there could be questions about whether Tenet had sought community input in good faith before announcing the hospital would close, “but I suppose some might say that’s water under the bridge.”
