Tenet Directors Quietly Reelected
Stock in Tenet Healthcare Corp. fell 30% last year, the hospital operator has lost nearly $5 billion in three years, and its financial dealings with doctors are under scrutiny by federal officials. But there were no signs of turmoil at Friday’s annual shareholder meeting.
The three shareholders present -- none from the big institutions that hold most of Tenet’s stock -- were outnumbered by about 25 employees and directors of Tenet and its outside audit firm.
Voting almost entirely by proxy, shareholders reelected all nine directors for another year and approved the selection of auditor KPMG. One shareholder, a retired director of a predecessor to Tenet, asked two innocuous questions.
The meeting was over in 10 minutes.
It was a stark difference from raucous meetings of the past, including a 2003 gathering in Los Angeles that featured protesting nurses and stockholders who were unhappy after the shares plunged from $50 to $15 in less than two weeks.
Chief Executive Trevor Fetter said Friday’s meeting in a hotel conference room was quick and quiet because Tenet had explained its financial and legal difficulties at length, most recently on Tuesday, when the Dallas-based company held a conference call with investors after releasing first-quarter results.
The company posted a profit of $70 million in the first quarter, but that rare piece of good news was overshadowed by an announcement that federal officials intended to bar one of Tenet’s hospitals from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Two juries had deadlocked after trials on charges that Tenet’s Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego and its management had paid illegal kickbacks to get doctors to refer patients. The federal officials’ announcement this week dimmed hopes that Tenet might soon settle all its legal problems with the government, including allegations it overbilled Medicare.
Fetter said after Friday’s meeting that the company was still pursuing a settlement of all outstanding issues with the government, including avoiding a third trial in the San Diego case.
Tenet shares rose 24 cents, or 3.3%, to $7.58.
