Miami Herald: Jeb Bush joins Tenet hospitals' board of directors

http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/72325.html

Jeb Bush joins Tenet hospitals' board of directors

The Tenet hospital chain has announced former Gov. Jeb Bush has joined its board of directors.
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com

In his first publicized business activity since leaving office in January, former Gov. Jeb Bush is joining the board of Tenet Healthcare, the national hospital chain that's working to clean up its image and performance since dealing with widespread allegations of fraud.

''It's in the healthcare industry, which is something I know something about,'' Bush said in a telephone interview with The Miami Herald on Thursday. ``And it's a place that over the next few years there'll be some unsettled water. I prefer to go to some place where I can add value, rather than go to a place where things are going really well.''

Like other Tenet directors, Bush will receive $65,000 a year, plus $1,500 for every board meeting he attends and $1,200 for every committee meeting, plus travel expenses.

The money-losing chain, which owns and operates 62 hospitals in 12 states, has been struggling to emerge from a series of legal and financial problems. Earlier this month, it paid $10 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into Medicare fraud allegations. Last year, it reached an agreement with the federal government to pay $900 million to settle allegations of Medicare fraud.

Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini said the addition of Bush is another move toward reestablishing the chain's reputation since the chain's problems, primarily at California facilities, first emerged in 2002.

''Eight of our 10 board members are new since 2002, and more than 80 percent of Tenet's senior management has changed,'' Campanini said. Nine of the directors are now independent, and each must be reelected annually to make certain shareholders have a strong voice in Tenet's governance.

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All those pesky charges will go POOF.

if all else fails he could ask his bro how to loose all the emails.