Bankruptcy Court Postpones Hearing on Allegheny University Sale; Tenet Continues to Seek Academic Partner.

HARRISBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998--U.S. Bankruptcy Judge M. Bruce McCullough Monday postponed until Nov. 5, 1998, a hearing to approve the sale of Allegheny University of the Health Sciences to Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE:THC).

The university of health sciences is an integral part of eight Philadelphia-area hospitals that Tenet plans to acquire from the Allegheny Health, Research and Education Foundation (AHERF).

Meanwhile, Tenet continues to seek a viable academic institution to administer and manage the university. Tenet reiterated that its ability to acquire the eight hospitals from AHERF is contingent on finding an acceptable academic institution to manage the university of health sciences.

"We continue to meet with potential academic partners and are considering every reasonable opportunity that would allow us to complete this transaction," said W. Randolph Smith, executive vice president of Tenet's Eastern Division.

On Sept. 29, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court chose Tenet as the winning bidder to restructure the university and to acquire the eight hospitals from AHERF. Tenet's bid calls for the assets of the university to be restructured in a new not-for-profit organization administered by an academic partner.

Tenet's bid had called for Drexel University to manage the university of health sciences. However, Drexel's Board of Trustees decided on Oct. 13, 1998, not to move forward with negotiating a formal management services agreement with Tenet. Since then, Tenet has been looking for another appropriate academic partner.

Based in Santa Barbara, Calif., Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 120 acute-care hospitals with approximately 28,000 beds and numerous related health-care services. The company employs 116,800 people serving communities in 17 states and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center.

Tenet's name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values between partners -- including employees, physicians, insurers and communities -- in providing a full spectrum of quality health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.

Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. They are based on management's current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Certain of those risks and uncertainties are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.