OTHER NEWS - Dec. 3, 1993

Ornda Healthcorp. to Take Over Summit: Burbank-based Summit Health Ltd. agreed Thursday to be acquired by Ornda Healthcorp. in a $375-million deal that would create one of the nation’s largest publicly owned hospital companies and a major new force in the Southern California health care market.The deal would create a $1.6-billion hospital company with 46 acute-care hospitals, four retirement centers and more than 20 other facilities providing psychiatric and nursing care and outpatient surgery. Moreover, the proposed merger would bring together under one company 13 hospitals in the Los Angeles area, some of which now compete with each other. The proposal is another example of the wave of hospital mergers in response to President Clinton’s health care reform proposals, the growth of managed-care health insurance and a sharp decline in occupancy rates. The deal comes only weeks after Ornda, based in Nashville, announced plans to merge with American Healthcare Management Inc., a King of Prussia, Pa., hospital chain.