Tenet Healthcare to sell two St. Louis hospitals

ST. LOUIS -- Tenet Healthcare Corp. will sell two St. Louis hospitals to Argilla Healthcare Inc. for $42 million, Tenet officials said Friday.

The hospitals are Forest Park Hospital, a 450-bed facility in midtown St. Louis; and St. Alexius Hospital, which consists of two facilities, one with 203 beds, the other with 408 beds.

The sale, pending regulatory approval, is expected to be complete by Nov. 30.

Argilla Healthcare is a new company operated by Tom Reardon, a former executive with Cambio Health Solutions LLC, a Tennessee-based health-care turnaround company. Argilla plans to enter into a management contract with Doctors Community Healthcare Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz., to operate the St. Louis hospitals.

DCHC owns and/or operates four similar hospitals -- Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Greater Southeast Community Hospital and Hadley Memorial Hospital in Washington, and Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Southern California.

Argilla plans to retain most of the workers at the St. Louis hospitals, Tenet officials said.

"Both of these hospitals are an important community resource and we are pleased to transfer ownership to a buyer with extensive health care experience who intends to continue to operate them as full-service, acute care hospitals," said W. Randolph Smith, president of Tenet's former Western Division, who is overseeing the company's divestiture program.

Tenet announced in January it was divesting itself of 27 hospitals. So far it has sold or agreed to sell 20 of the 27. Negotiations are underway with potential buyers of the other seven, the company said.