Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare started 2024 with a hospital selling spree that netted nearly $4 billion in gross proceeds.
"The transactions that we have executed on have established the dawn of a new era for Tenet," CEO Saum Sutaria said on the health system's April 30 earnings call.
Tenet sold a total of nine hospitals to three health systems in the first quarter of 2024. Dr. Sutaria said that within those deals Tenet "maintained, and in most cases, enhanced a commercial service provision relationship with the buyer."
"We expect these relationships will be an attractive contributor to earnings for years to come," he said.
Dr. Sutaria also said the system retired $2.1 billion in debt in the first quarter of the year. He also said the system has allocated $450 of capital toward its top priority, the expansion of its ambulatory business. The system also returned almost $280 million to shareholders in the first quarter via repurchases.
"While our mission to provide quality, compassionate care in the communities we serve has not changed, we are essentially a new company," he said. "Our repositioned portfolio of businesses is more predictable and capital efficient with attractive margins and free cash flow. The operational discipline that we have instilled in each of our facilities, enabled by an analytics-driven culture is producing differentiated results.
"Our balance sheet, which was once a challenged part of Tenet's story, has been deleveraged. This provides us with a strong foundation and a significant amount of capital and financial flexibility for the future."