News in brief - April 18, 2005

HMO pays employees big bonuses - Tenet names two directors to board

HMO pays employees big bonuses

The former majority owner of a South Florida-based Medicare HMO health plan, which was bought out by Humana Inc. earlier this year for $408 million, unexpectedly gave out checks totaling nearly $26 million to about 500 employees at the health plan.

Entrepreneur Miguel Fernandez, the CEO of CarePlus Health Plan of Florida, decided along with fellow investors in the managed care plan to distribute the money to workers as a gift, not as severance, according to Karen Buschbaum, a spokeswoman for Fernandez. The sale to Humana was completed in February and employees got their money the same day, she said. No workers had lost their jobs as a result of the sale as of late March, she said.

The amount of the checks varied according to the length of time workers had been with the health plan, but long-time employees in some cases got as much as $100,000, she said.

CarePlus has 50,000 members.

Tenet names two directors to board

Tenet Healthcare Corp., the beleaguered Dallas-based hospital chain, has named two prominent executives to its board as it works to improve its corporate image.

Karen M. Garrison, former president of the management services subsidiary of Pitney Bowes, and J. McDonald Williams, retired chair of the real estate firm Trammell Crow Co., were appointed to the board March 23.

Tenet's board chair, Edward A. Kangas, said the pair bring with them years of experience and wisdom as successful corporate executives.

Tenet has seen a series of legal and financial setbacks over the last three years, including government investigations of its billing practices and its relationships with physicians. Through this period, the board has undergone several changes, including a shake-up in April 2003, when the company announced it would replace one-third of the directors.