Los Angeles County - News from Sept. 26, 1994

National Medical Annual Meeting: “Any way you look at it,” begins the chairman’s message in National Medical Enterprises’ 1994 annual report, “it was an unforgettable year. . . . “ Unforgettable indeed, portending a lively gathering when National Medical has its annual meeting at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on Wednesday. The meeting comes three months after National Medical agreed to pay $380 million to settle federal criminal fraud claims related to practices at some psychiatric hospitals previously owned by the Santa Monica-based hospital company. Similar allegations of fraud led to an earlier agreement by the company to pay $215 million to settle lawsuits with 19 insurers. Chairman Jeffrey Barbakow may prefer to dwell on the year’s successes: how NME quickly resolved a staggering array of legal problems; restructured its businesses, including the divestiture of psychiatric facilities, and triggered a sharp rebound in its stock. And Barbakow may have good news about the disclosure last week that National Medical is in negotiations to acquire Nashville-based HealthTrust Inc. and American Medical Holdings of Dallas in a multibillion-dollar deal that would create the nation’s second-largest hospital company.