Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Add Tenet's Dallas Hospitals to Most Popular Insurance Plans.

Health/Medical Writers

DALLAS--(BW HealthWire)--May 9, 2001

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and subsidiaries of Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE:THC) have agreed to a new, multiyear agreement that will provide access to all Tenet hospitals in the Dallas area for members of the popular Blue Choice PPO, HMO Blue and HMO Blue Texas programs.

The contract became effective May 1, 2001.

Tenet's Dallas facilities are Doctors Hospital of Dallas, Garland Community Hospital, Lake Pointe Medical Center in Rowlett, RHD Memorial Medical Center in Farmers Branch and Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton. Under a previous contract, now expired, only HMO Blue Texas members had access to most of Tenet's Dallas hospitals.

"Many of our members have indicated a preference for Tenet facilities, and we are appreciative of Tenet's efforts to help us achieve our customers' desire for both access and affordability," said Mark Bailey, vice president and chief operating officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas' Northeast Texas Business Unit.

Charles Slaton, senior vice president, operations, of Tenet's Texas Region, said: "We are pleased to partner with Blue Cross to offer additional health care choices for the nearly 812,000 individuals covered by their insurance products in Northeast Texas. We believe that the quality and service offered by our Dallas hospitals is a principal reason so many Blue Cross and Blue Shield members have asked to have them in their plans."

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and its Texas-based affiliates serve more than 2.8 million customers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is a Division of Health Care Service Corp., a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 111 acute care hospitals with 27,300 beds and numerous related health care services. The company employs 106,500 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 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.

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 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as the company cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect its ability to achieve the results estimated. The company make no promise to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.