Harris Koenig

Although the road to recovery takes time, CEO Harris Koenig believes Alvarado Hospital makes progress every day.

Since January 2007, Koenig, current owners Pejman and Pedram Salimpour, and their management team have tried to distance the 311-bed medical center in East County from the costly aftermath of a scandal that erupted in 2005 under Tenet HealthSystem, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.

By the time the Salimpours and their physician-owned investment group Plymouth Health shelled out $22.5 million for the beleaguered medical institution, Alvarado already had declared $1.8 million in losses for the first six months of 2006, its reputation in shambles.

"We had financial challenges to overcome," said Koenig, who served as Alvarado chief operating officer from 1995 to 1998 and returned when the Salimpour brothers took over.