Tenet Agrees to Sell Three New Orleans Hospitals to Ochsner Health System

Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) announced today that company subsidiaries have signed a definitive agreement to sell three acute care hospitals to the Ochsner Health System of New Orleans. The hospitals are:

— Kenner Regional Medical Center, Kenner, La. 203 beds.

— Meadowcrest Hospital, Gretna, La. 207 beds.

— Memorial Medical Center, New Orleans, La. 317 beds.

Tenet will not disclose the estimated sale proceeds until the transaction is complete because certain aspects of the contemplated transaction structure are confidential. Tenet expects to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Tenet said it believes that selling the three hospitals to a local New Orleans operator with a long history of providing care to the area would be in the best interests of the community and would help speed the return of services. Several area hospitals have been closed since Hurricane Katrina, including Memorial Medical Center. Political and community leaders in Louisiana have asked health care providers to work together to develop solutions to meet the future needs of the area. As part of the agreement with Ochsner, the renovation of the New Orleans Surgical Heart Institute facility on the Memorial campus is continuing and is expected to open as a surgical hospital this fall.

Under the agreement, Ochsner has committed to offer employment to substantially all current employees who are in good standing at the three hospitals. The sale is expected to be completed by August 31, 2006, and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Ochsner Health System (www.ochsner.org) is a non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system dedicated to patient care, research and education. The system includes three acute care hospitals, a sub-acute facility, and 25 clinics located throughout Southeast Louisiana. Ochsner employs over 7,000 employees, 600 physicians in 80 medical specialties and subspecialties and conducts over 750 ongoing clinical research trials annually. Ochsner was ranked the top Best Place to Work in the city by New Orleans’ CityBusiness Magazine in 2005.

Tenet disclosed on June 29 that these three hospitals were among 11 hospitals identified for sale as part of a strategy to enhance the company’s future profitability, expand capital investments in its remaining 57 hospitals and help fund the company’s broad settlement with the federal government. This is the first sale agreement announcement that is part of that initiative.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals and related health care services. Tenet’s hospitals aim to provide the best possible care to every patient who comes through their doors, with a clear focus on quality and service. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.

Some of the statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements are based 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, 2005, 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.