Atlanta Medical Center Recognized as Get With The Guidelines Hospital

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.  – As part of its company-wide commitment to quality patient care, Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced today that many Tenet affiliated hospitals nationwide will implement within the next year the American Heart Association's guidelines to help reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks among hospital patients. 

Fifty-eight Tenet hospitals already participate in an American Heart Association program to improve the implementation of secondary prevention guidelines and have been recognized by the association as Get With The Guidelines^SM – Coronary Artery Disease program hospitals.  The association's program is designed to help health care professionals follow proven treatments and procedures to reduce recurrent heart attacks.  These treatments and procedures are initiated while patients are in the hospital.  Thirty-nine of the Tenet hospitals recognized by the American Heart Association as Get With The Guidelines^SM – Coronary Artery Disease program hospitals also are original participants in Tenet's innovative Partnership for Change program, which is designed to improve patient outcomes and patient safety at Tenet affiliated facilities by re-engineering hospital processes and promoting the practice of evidence-based medicine by physicians.  As well as focusing on cardiac patients, the Partnership for Change initiative – which was launched two and a half years ago – seeks to improve patient safety by reducing in-hospital infections, improving drug-utilization practices and preventing patients from being intubated unnecessarily.

"We are delighted that Tenet has made the commitment to join the Get With The Guidelines program," said Kenneth A. LaBresh, M.D., member of the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee.  "The 58 Tenet hospitals that have become Get With The Guidelines – Coronary Artery Disease hospitals are to be applauded for their focus on implementing appropriate evidence-based guidelines designed to reduce the number of recurrent events in coronary patients.  Projections have shown that if programs like Get With The Guidelines were implemented nationwide, more than 80,000 lives could be saved each year."

 "We are proud to adopt the American Heart Association program throughout our system as part of our overall commitment to quality care and constant clinical improvement," said Jeffrey C. Barbakow, Tenet's chairman and chief executive officer.  "This is an affirmation of the efforts our physicians and nurses are making to save the lives of coronary patients who come to our hospitals for treatment.  The recognition of our hospitals by the American Heart Association is an affirmation of the significant progress these hospitals have made in measuring and improving care for cardiac patients.  Quality of patient care at our hospitals is the primary focus of all of us at Tenet."

According to American Heart Association statistics, more than 450,000 people suffer recurrent heart attacks each year.  Association statistics also show that within six years after a heart attack, about 22 percent of men and 46 percent of women will be disabled with heart failure.  Within one year of a recognized myocardial infarction, 25 percent of men and 38 percent of women will die. 

To be recognized as a Get With The Guidelines^SM – Coronary Artery Disease Hospital, a facility must establish teams to implement the American Heart Association's secondary prevention guidelines for treatment of patients with coronary and other vascular diseases.  These guidelines include the early administration of various medications, including aspirin, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and cholesterol-lowering medication, to heart attack patients, prior to discharge from the hospital.  Additionally, the association's program requires hospitals to provide counseling for smoking cessation and weight management, and a recommendation for exercise or a referral to cardiac rehabilitation.  Research indicates that when patients are discharged from the hospital on appropriate treatments, their risk of a second event is reduced and lives can be saved. 

Tenet affiliated  hospitals are committed to meeting the American Heart Association program guidelines and are striving to achieve the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines program's recognition for performance achievement.  Tenet's Partnership for Change initiative will be rolled out to all of its hospitals during 2003.  All Tenet hospitals that treat heart attack patients plan to participate in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines program.

Earlier this year, Tenet and the American Heart Association co-sponsored a series of regional seminars for Tenet hospital staff designed to promote the use of evidence-based practice in treating cardiac patients.

Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 113 acute care hospitals with 27,726 beds and numerous related health care services.  The company employs approximately 114,300 people serving communities in 16 states and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center.  Tenet's name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among partners – including employees, physicians, insurers and communities – in providing a full spectrum of health care.  Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.

Below is a list of the 58 Tenet hospitals that have been recognized as Get With The Guidelines^SM – Coronary Artery Disease program hospitals.  Tenet's 39 original Partnership for Change hospitals are marked with an asterisk:

Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, San  Diego*

Brotman Medical Center, Culver City*

Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Inglewood*

Chapman Medical Center, Orange*

Coastal Communities Hospital, Santa Ana*

Desert Regional Medical Center, Palm Springs*

Doctor's Medical Center – San Pablo, San Pablo

Encino/Tarzana Regional Medical Center, Encino*

Encino Tarzana Regional Medical Center, Tarzana*

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Fountain Valley*

Garden Grove Hospital & Medical Center, Garden Grove*

Greater El Monte Community Hospital, South El Monte*

Irvine Regional Hospital, Irvine*

John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Indio*

Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Lakewood*

Los Alamitos Medical Center, Los Alamitos*

Placentia Linda Hospital, Placentia*

San Dimas Community Hospital, San Dimas*

San Ramon Regional Medical Center, San Ramon

Santa Ana Hospital Medical Center, Santa Ana*

Suburban Medical Center, Paramount*

Western Medical Center – Anaheim, Anaheim*

Western Medical Center – Santa Ana, Santa Ana*

Whittier Hospital Medical Center, Whittier*

FLORIDA

Coral Gables Hospital, Coral Gables*

Delray Medical Center, Delray Beach*

Florida Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale*

Hialeah Hospital, Hialeah*

Hollywood Medical Center, Hollywood*

North Ridge Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale*

North Shore Medical Center, Miami*

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens*

Palmetto General Hospital, Hialeah*

Parkway Regional Medical Center, North Miami*

Seven Rivers Community Hospital, Crystal River

West Boca Medical Center, Boca Raton*

GEORGIA

Atlanta Medical Center, Atlanta

Spalding Regional Hospital, Griffin

LOUISIANA

Doctor's Hospital of Jefferson, Metairie*

Kenner Regional Medical Center, Kenner*

Meadowcrest Hospital, Gretna*

Memorial Medical Center/Mercy Campus, New Orleans*

Memorial Medical Center/Baptist Campus, New Orleans*

NorthShore Regional Medical Center, Slidell*

MASSACHUSETTS

Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester

MISSOURI

Des Peres Hospital, St. Louis

Forest Park Hospital, St. Louis

Saint Louis University Hospital, St. Louis

NEBRASKA

Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha

NEVADA

Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center, N. Las Vegas

NORTH CAROLINA

Central Carolina Hospital, Sanford

Frye Regional Medical Center, Hickory

PENNSYLVANIA

Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia

Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia

TENNESSEE

Saint Francis Hospital, Memphis

TEXAS

Doctors Hospital of Dallas

Providence Memorial Hospital, El Paso