Miami Hospital Market Sees Shift in Ownership of Two Area ...( For-Profit HCA and Tenet Healthca...),Health

For-Profit HCA and Tenet Healthcare Each Sell Financially Challenged

Facilities to Local Market Players, According to New Report from

HealthLeaders-InterStudy

NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 9, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of healthcare market intelligence, reports that changes in hospital ownership continue to influence the Miami-area market as for-profit HCA Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. each sell or prepare to sell resource-draining facilities. According to the newly released Miami Market Overview report, by disposing of underperforming hospitals -- Cedars and North Ridge medical centers -- HCA and Tenet are positioning themselves to devote resources to more promising projects.

"The ownership shift creates new opportunities for the purchasers -- the University of Miami and Holy Cross Hospital," states Margaret Dick, HealthLeaders-InterStudy senior market analyst and author of the report. "Both are poised to expand their influence in the marketplace."

With the sale of Cedars Medical Center, local HCA operations are now more focused on Broward County where the hospital system has four of its six remaining hospitals. Cedars Medical Center, which was the largest local HCA hospital, was sold in December 2007 to the University of Miami (UM) for an estimated $260 million. This facility provides UM's medical school with a long-desired hospital of its own.

Meanwhile, pending regulatory approval, Holy Cross Hospital signed a deal in February 2007 to purchase Tenet's North Ridge Medical Center. Holy Cross Hospital, which is located within a few miles of North Ridge, has not announced its plans for the medical center but industry observers expect inpatient services to be consolidated at Holy Cross and for North Ridge to become an outpatient facility.

HCA and Tenet have each nailed down national multiyear agreements with health plans such as Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and
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