Saum Sutaria, MD

The $43 Million Chair-Elect

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC)

Chair-Elect, 2027Acute care and ambulatory surgery

Last verified November 6, 2026

$43.1M

Sutaria pay, 2025

711:1

CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio, 2025

535

Surgery centers with USPI interests, Sept. 2026

$1.54B

Federal settlements, 2003 to 2023

Overview

Saum Sutaria spent 18 years at a global consulting firm before joining Tenet as chief operating officer in 2019. He became CEO in September 2021 and chairman in August 2023. His 2025 pay was $43.1 million, 711 times the median Tenet employee, the highest ratio on the FAH board. Tenet owns 51 hospitals and interests in 535 ambulatory surgery centers through USPI, where physicians are the minority partners. FAH elected him chair-elect in October 2026, in line to chair in 2028.

Since April 2026

What has changed

April 16, 20262026 proxy discloses 2025 pay of $43.1 million and a pay ratio of 711:1. source
May 27, 2026Annual meeting: Sutaria re-elected 72.3 million to 2.0 million. Say-on-pay passed 62.6 million to 11.8 million. source
September 22, 2026$2.0 billion senior notes issued. source
October 14, 2026FAH names Sutaria Chair-Elect for 2027. He was a Director in 2026. source
October 29, 2026Q3 2026: $1.0 billion net income on $646 million of contract termination revenue; guidance raised. source

The company

Tenet Healthcare

•2025 net operating revenues $21.3 billion: $16.1 billion hospital operations, $5.2 billion ambulatory care. Net income $1.4 billion (10-K, 2025).
•50 hospitals in eight states at December 31, 2025. USPI held interests in 533 ambulatory surgery centers and 26 surgical hospitals in 37 states.
•51 hospitals, 535 surgery centers and 25 surgical hospitals at September 30, 2026 (10-Q, Q3 2026).
•Q3 2026: net income $1.0 billion, boosted by $646 million of contract termination revenue from the early wind-down of Conifer's CommonSpirit contract. Admissions of patients covered through the ACA exchanges fell, worsening payer mix (10-Q, Q3 2026).
•2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance raised to $5.05 billion to $5.20 billion. $1.6 billion of stock repurchased in the first nine months of 2026.
•2025 litigation and investigation costs: $64 million, up from $35 million in 2024 (10-K, 2025).
•Median employee total compensation in 2025: $60,657 (2026 proxy).

Ownership and control

•Publicly traded. No sponsor, REIT master lease or founder control disclosed (10-K, 2025).
•USPI is a consolidated Tenet subsidiary. Physicians and health systems hold noncontrolling interests in most facilities: 147 facilities at September 30, 2026.

Settlements, investigations and lawsuits

•August 6, 2003: $54 million to end criminal and civil investigations into unnecessary cardiac procedures at Redding Medical Center. No admission of wrongdoing.
•June 29, 2006: more than $900 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations over Medicare outlier payments, kickbacks and coding.
•April 10, 2012: $42.75 million over inpatient rehabilitation admissions billed from 2005 to 2007.
•October 3, 2016: over $513 million, $368 million civil plus roughly $146 million in criminal forfeiture. Two Atlanta-area subsidiaries pled guilty to paying prenatal clinics for Medicaid referrals.
•May 31, 2023: $29.7 million by Detroit Medical Center, Vanguard and Tenet over mid-level practitioner services given to referring physicians below fair market value.
•No new False Claims Act settlement or DOJ action against Tenet, USPI or Sutaria was found for January 2025 through November 6, 2026.

Compensation

Year	Total compensation	CEO-to-worker pay ratio
2025	$43,108,969	711:1
2024	$24,661,553	406:1
2023	$18,518,109	305:1
2022	$11,047,128	Not pulled
2021	$21,153,672	Not pulled

Deals since 2025

•2025: USPI bought controlling interests in 27 surgery centers and one surgical hospital, consolidated nine more and opened six. Purchases of businesses: $308 million (10-K, 2025).
•First nine months of 2026: $201 million on business purchases and $583 million buying out noncontrolling interests, most of them physician partners (10-Q, Q3 2026).
•January 2026: CommonSpirit agreed to end Conifer's revenue cycle contract early, producing $1.47 billion of termination revenue in the first nine months of 2026.
•September 22, 2026: $2.0 billion of 6.250% notes due 2034 issued to retire 2027 and 2028 notes.
•November 18, 2025: $1.5 billion of secured notes due 2032 and $750 million of notes due 2033 issued.

Political giving

•Sutaria's individual federal contributions since January 2025: not retrieved. The FEC API rate limit blocked every query on November 6, 2026.

Red flags

Conflicts and concerns

A 711:1 pay ratio, the widest on the FAH board, in a year the company booked $64 million of litigation and investigation costs.

Five federal settlements totaling roughly $1.54 billion, including two guilty pleas by subsidiaries in 2016.

Tenet spent $583 million in nine months of 2026 buying out noncontrolling interests, the physician partners USPI recruits.

Nearly 16% of shareholders voted against Sutaria's pay package in May 2026.

Physician-owned hospitals

Tenet's USPI model is the for-profit answer to physician ownership: physicians get a minority stake in a surgery center Tenet controls, never the hospital. A repeal of the POH ban would let those same surgeons own the whole facility and keep the facility fee. Sutaria chairs FAH in 2028, when any year-end 2026 package will be law.

Sources