Blue Distinction designation recognizes facilities that meet objective, evidence-based thresholds for clinical quality, developed with input from expert physicians and medical organizations. These designations are created by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and awarded by local Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

The program is part of The Blues®’ efforts to collaborate with physicians and medical facilities to improve the overall quality and safety of specialty care.

“These designations reflect our commitment to providing our patients with high-quality care and are further evidence that our commitment to quality is being recognized by a number of health plan providers,” said Kelvin Baggett, M.D., Tenet’s chief medical officer. “We are very pleased that such a large number of our hospitals have been recognized with a Blue Distinction designation.”

To be designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Spine Surgery or a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement, the following types of criteria were evaluated.

·         Established acute-care inpatient facility, including intensive care, emergency care and a full range of patient-support services with full accreditation by a CMS-deemed national accreditation organization

·         Experience and training of program surgeons, including case volume

·         Quality-management programs, including surgical checklists as well as tracking and evaluation of clinical outcomes and process of care

·         Multi-disciplinary clinical pathways and teams to coordinate and streamline care, including transitions of care

·         Shared decision making and preoperative patient education

More information on selection criteria is available on www.bcbs.com.

Receiving the designations as either Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery, or Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement, or both, were:

Alabama

·         Brookwood Medical Center, knee and hip replacement

California

·         Desert Regional Medical Center, knee and hip replacement

·         Doctors Medical Center, Modesto, knee and hip replacement

·         Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, spine surgery

·         JFK Memorial Hospital, knee and hip replacement

·         Los Alamitos Medical Center, knee and hip replacement

·         Placentia-Linda Hospital, knee and hip replacement

·         San Ramon Regional Medical Center, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

·         Twin Cities Community Hospital, knee and hip replacement

Florida

·         Delray Medical Center, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

Georgia

·         North Fulton Hospital, spine surgery

Missouri

·         Des Peres Hospital, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

Nebraska

·         Creighton University Medical Center, knee and hip replacement

South Carolina

·         East Cooper Regional Medical Center, spine surgery

·         Piedmont Medical Center, spine surgery

Tennessee

·         Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

Texas

·         Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake, knee and hip replacement

·         Houston Northwest Medical Center, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

·         Park Plaza Hospital, knee and hip replacement and spine surgery

·         Sierra Medical Center, spine surgery

Tenet’s hospitals previously received and maintained 14 designations as Blue Distinction

Centers for Cardiac Care® and 11 designations as Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery®:

·         Atlanta Medical Center, bariatric surgery

·         Brookwood Medical Center, cardiac care

·         Creighton University Medical Center, cardiac care

·         Delray Medical Center, cardiac care

·         Des Peres Hospital, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         Desert Regional Medical Center, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         Doctors Hospital, Modesto, cardiac care

·         Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake, bariatric surgery

·         Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         Frye Regional Medical Center, bariatric surgery

·         Hahnemann University Hospital, cardiac care

·         Hialeah Hospital, bariatric surgery

·         Houston Northwest Medical Center, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         North Shore Medical Center – FMC Campus, cardiac care

·         Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, cardiac care

·         Palmetto General Hospital, bariatric surgery

·         Providence Memorial Hospital, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis, bariatric surgery and cardiac care

·         Sierra Medical Center, cardiac care

Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a health care services company whose subsidiaries and affiliates own and operate acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic imaging centers.

Tenet's hospitals and related health care facilities are committed to providing high quality care to patients in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.tenethealth.com.

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Some of the statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements arebased on our current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and periodic reports on Form 8-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.

About the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 39 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide healthcare coverage for nearly 100 million members - one-in-three Americans. For more information on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and its member companies, please visit www.BCBS.com.

Note: Designation as Blue Distinction Centers® means these facilities' overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians' and leading professional organizations' recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To find out which services are covered under your policy at any facilities, please call your local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan.