Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation’s second-largest hospital operator, said Tuesday that its chief operating officer, Reynold J. Jennings, is stepping down from that job and will be succeeded on Jan. 1 by the head of its California hospitals, the Associated Press reports.
Stephen L. Newman, 56, joined the company in 1999 and has managed Tenet’s California hospitals since 2003. He practiced medicine as a pediatric gastroenterologist for 12 years before becoming a corporate executive in 1990.
Jennings, 60, will take on the title of vice chairman and will serve during a transition period until he retires in mid-2007. He has served as COO since early 2004, a time in which the company faced government investigations, lawsuits and questions about the quality of care at some hospitals.
Tenet, formally based in Santa Barbara, owns or operates 10 hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange County.
