Company: THC
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000070318-25-000009
Chunk: 192

Company: TENET HEALTHCARE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 192
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 any time. In addition, although physicians who own interests in our facilities are generally subject to agreements restricting them from owning an interest in competing facilities, we may not learn of, or may be unsuccessful in preventing, our physician partners from acquiring interests in such facilities.

We compete with system‑affiliated hospitals and healthcare companies, as well as health insurers and private equity companies, in recruiting physicians, acquiring physician practices and, where permitted by law, employing physicians. In 2024, 

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we continued to experience challenges in recruiting and retaining physicians. In some of the regions where we operate, physician recruitment and retention are affected by a shortage of qualified physicians in certain higher-demand clinical service lines and specialties. Furthermore, our ability to recruit and employ physicians is closely regulated. For example, the types, amount and duration of compensation and assistance we can provide to recruited physicians are limited by the federal Anti‑kickback Statute and Stark law, as well as other applicable antifraud and abuse laws and regulations. All arrangements with physicians must also be fair market value and commercially reasonable. If we are unable to attract and retain sufficient numbers of quality physicians by providing adequate support personnel, technologically advanced equipment, and facilities that meet the needs of those physicians and their patients, physicians may choose not to refer patients to our facilities, admissions and outpatient visits may decrease, and our operating performance may decline.

Our labor costs have been, and may continue to be, adversely affected by competition for staffing, the shortage of experienced nurses and other healthcare professionals, and labor union activity.

Our operations are dependent on the availability, efforts, abilities and experience of management and medical support personnel, including nurses, therapists, pharmacists and lab technicians, among others. We compete with other healthcare providers in recruiting and retaining qualified personnel responsible for the operation of our facilities. There is limited availability of experienced medical support personnel nationwide, which drives up the wages and benefits required to recruit and retain employees. In particular, like others in the healthcare industry, we continue to experience shortages of advanced practice providers and critical‑care nurses in certain disciplines and geographic areas. At times, we have to pay premiums above standard compensation for essential workers and rely on higher-cost contract labor, which we compete with other healthcare providers to secure.

We also depend on the general labor pool of available workers in the areas where we operate. In some of our communities, employers across various industries have increased their minimum wage, which has created more competition and, in some cases, higher labor costs for this sector of employees.