A major commercial property insurance claim that resulted fromHurricane Katrina has been settled, making it one of the first ofits kind to be completed.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation, which operates hospitals andrelated health-care services, reached an agreement with itsproperty insurers to settle all claims related to physical damageand business interruption that occurred as a result of HurricaneKatrina's landfall. Insurers will pay the company a total of $340million, which already has been received.

Tenet was operating five hospitals and five diagnostic imagingradiology centers in New Orleans and one hospital in Biloxi, Miss.when Katrina made landfall. All facilities were heavily damaged,with two New Orleans hospitals unable to reopen.

“Instead of engaging in a protracted resolution process with ourinsurers, we sat down with them and worked out a collaborative andequitable settlement that permits us to move forward after thedevastation of Katrina,” said Trevor Fetter, Tenet's president andchief executive officer. “By settling this matter quickly, we haveavoided the disagreements and differences over interpretation thatcan occur in insurance claims of this magnitude andcomplexity.”