Tenet and WellPoint Extend Agreements in Key Areas

WellPoint is Tenet’s largest contracted health plan

DALLAS .– Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) today announced that it has reached terms on contractual agreements with WellPoint, Inc.’s affiliated health plans in several key markets, including California, Missouri and Georgia, as well as its affiliated UniCare health plan in Texas. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.



Through these agreements, Tenet-affiliated hospitals will remain in and several facilities will be added to WellPoint’s affiliated health plans’ provider networks. The agreements also expand the pay-for-performance provisions that provide Tenet hospitals with enhanced financial incentives for meeting certain quality indicators during the terms of the contracts through WellPoint’s industry leading Quality-In-Sights®: Hospital Incentive Program (Q-HIP).



“We are pleased that WellPoint has added seven more Tenet hospitals to its affiliated health plans’ networks,” said Stephen L. Newman, M.D., Tenet’s chief operating officer. “We look forward to continuing to provide high-quality care to health plan members.”



“Tenet’s commitment to service, patient safety and quality health care are values that WellPoint shares,” said Bob McIntire, WellPoint’s senior vice president of health care management. “Tenet has long been a valued partner, and we’re pleased to have their hospitals in our health plans’ networks.”



Tenet’s acute care hospitals in Dallas and Houston are being added to UniCare’s network. The Dallas-area hospitals being added are Centennial Medical Center (Frisco), Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake and Lake Pointe Medical Center (Rowlett). The Houston-area hospitals are Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center, Houston Northwest Medical Center and Park Plaza Hospital. Together these hospitals represent more than 1,500 beds. Tenet’s newest facility, Sierra Providence East Medical Center (El Paso), will be added to the UniCare network within the next 30 days.



“The expanded agreements with WellPoint’s affiliated health plans enable us to broaden the relationship of our companies in California and Missouri,” said Clint Hailey, Tenet’s chief managed care officer. “Specifically, WellPoint’s affiliates will have the opportunity to administer Tenet’s employee benefits programs in these two states beginning in January 2009.”



Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals and related ancillary health care businesses, which include ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic imaging centers. Tenet is committed to providing high quality care to patients in the communities we serve. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.