Hospital owner’s profit soars

Monday, Jan. 13, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s quarterly profit more than tripled, helped by an increase in Medicare payments that sparked a U.S. probe of the second-biggest U.S. hospital chain.

Net income jumped to $315 million, or 64 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30, from $89 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier, Tenet said in statement today. Revenue climbed 12 percent to $3.78 billion from $3.39 billion.

Tenet is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department and faces a U.S. audit of Medicare payments for costly patients that the government calls outliers. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Barbakow scrapped pricing practices that drove those payments higher after the quarter ended and slashed fiscal 2003 and 2004 forecasts.

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