7 December 2018 - - US-based healthcare services company Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) has appointed Ernest Franklin, M.D. as chief medical operations officer, effective 7 January 2019, the company said.

In this role, Franklin will lead the company's clinical programmes and related quality and safety initiatives, working in close coordination with Sally Hurt-Deitch, Tenet's chief nursing officer and vice president of Patient Care Services.

Franklin will report to incoming chief operating officer Saum Sutaria, M.D., who also joins the company in early January.

He joins Tenet from Baylor Scott and White Health, where he most recently served as senior vice president, Clinical Value and Integration.

In this role, he oversaw the integration of clinical services to improve outcomes and enhance efficiencies.

Prior to this, Franklin served as senior vice president in Surgical and Ancillary Services for BSWH, where he led the laboratory, pharmacy and radiology departments.

Franklin began his career in medicine as a general surgeon, and later served as the Co-Chief Administrative Resident in Surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Tenet Healthcare is a diversified healthcare services company with approximately 115,000 employees.

Through its subsidiaries, partnerships and joint ventures, including United Surgical Partners International, the company operates general acute care and specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers and other outpatient facilities.

Tenet's Conifer Health Solutions subsidiary provides technology-enabled performance improvement and health management solutions to hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks, physician groups, self-insured organisations and health plans.