title: Acquisition: it's all in how you look at it.
abstract: In the world of hospitals acquisitions, getting the hospital would seem to be the goal. But that's not always true. Sometimes an acquisition is just a means to another end. That has been the case with La Palma (Calif.) Intercommunity Hospital, near Los Angeles, which has had three owners in the past year and is in the midst of a deal to be sold to a fourth. Its current and previous owners acknowledge that ownership of La Palma was not the ultimate motive for any of the deals to date, and the hospital was quickly peddled after each sale. Officials from the company now trying to buy La Palma, however, say the hospital is worth having. Whether that is true seems to depend on who is doing the talking.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kirchheimer
mesh_terms: D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D006273:Health Facility Merger; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015141:Los Angeles