Company: THC
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000070318-25-000009
Chunk: 78

Company: TENET HEALTHCARE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 78
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, some of our competitors may negotiate exclusivity provisions with managed care plans or otherwise restrict the ability of managed care companies to contract with us through the formation of narrow networks or other similar structures. Vertical integration efforts involving third‑party payers and healthcare providers, among other factors, may increase competitive challenges.

Our strategies are designed to help our hospitals and outpatient facilities remain competitive, to attract and retain an appropriate number of physicians of distinction in various specialties, as well as skilled clinical personnel and other healthcare professionals, and to increase patient volumes. To that end, we have made significant investments in equipment, technology, 

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education and operational strategies designed to improve clinical quality at our facilities. In addition, we continually collaborate with physicians to implement the most current evidence‑based medicine techniques to improve the way we provide care, while using labor management tools and supply‑chain initiatives to reduce variable costs. Moreover, we participate in various value‑based programs to improve quality and cost of care. We believe the use of these practices will promote the most effective and efficient utilization of resources and result in more appropriate lengths of stay, as well as reductions in readmissions for hospitalized patients. In general, we believe that quality of care improvements may have the effects of: (1) reducing costs; (2) increasing payments from Medicare and certain managed care payers for our services; and (3) increasing physician and patient satisfaction, which may improve our volumes. Other competing health systems may implement similar strategies.

In addition, we have significantly increased our focus on operating our outpatient centers with improved accessibility and more convenient service for patients, increased predictability and efficiency for physicians, and (for most services) lower costs for payers and patients than would be incurred with a hospital visit. We believe that emphasis on higher‑demand clinical service lines (including outpatient services), focus on expanding our ambulatory care business, cultivation of our culture of service and participation in Medicare Advantage health plans that have been experiencing higher growth rates than traditional Medicare, among other strategies, will help us address competitive challenges.

We also recognize that our future success depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and renew our existing managed care contracts and enter into new managed care contracts on competitive terms. To bolster our competitive position, we have sought to include all of our hospitals, outpatient centers and physician practices in the related geographic area or nationally when negotiating new managed care contracts, which may result in additional volumes at facilities that were not previously a part of such managed care networks. We