Tenet Healthcare fourth quarter loss narrows

Shares of hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp. rose sharply after the company said its fourth-quarter loss was much smaller than a year prior and posted its first increase in patient admissions in nearly four years. Tenet also said it is collecting more money per admitted patient. The company has been plagued by falling admissions for several years as many doctors sent their patients to other providers. To reverse the trend, Tenet has raised spending on equipment and aggressively courted doctors, boosting the number of physicians on its hospital admitting staffs 2 percent in the fourth quarter.