PR - Dennis McGuffie to Lead Tenet's Audit Services

Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced yesterday that Dennis McGuffie has been named vice president, audit services, and will be responsible for overseeing independent examinations and evaluations of the company’s business risks and opportunities for the audit committee of Tenet’s board of directors.

Tenet’s audit services function reports directly to the board’s audit committee. McGuffie, 48, will report administratively to Biggs C. Porter, chief financial officer.

McGuffie, a certified public accountant, returns to Tenet after spending the past eight years as vice president, audit services, at Plano, Texas-based Triad Hospitals. Triad was acquired in July by Community Health Systems Inc. (NYSE: CYH). Before joining Triad, McGuffie served from 1995 to 1999 as a director of audit services for Tenet in Dallas.

While at Triad, McGuffie organized the internal audit function at the time the company was formed in 1999. He also established a company-wide risk assessment process to facilitate the identification of audit projects and helped lead the due diligence effort for Triad’s $2.5-billion acquisition of Quorum Health Group in 2001.

At Tenet, McGuffie succeeds Monica Frazer, who is leaving the company later this year.

"We are delighted to welcome Dennis McGuffie back to Tenet," said Trevor Fetter, president and chief executive officer. "His broad experience both at Triad and at Tenet makes him an ideal leader for our vitally important audit function. In addition, he has substantial knowledge in the areas of compliance and corporate integrity agreements, and he has worked for almost 20 years in virtually every aspect of finance for investor-owned hospital companies."

McGuffie joined American Medical International in 1988 as a regional accounting supervisor, and was later promoted to manager, internal audit. He remained with Dallas-based AMI until it was acquired by National Medical Enterprises in 1995 and the merged companies became Tenet.

McGuffie holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Louisiana Tech University. He has a certified public accountant’s license in Texas. Among his professional associations are the board of governors of the Dallas Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Assn. of Certified Fraud Examiners.