HEALTH

Kaiser in Talks to Combine Some Hospitals: Kaiser Permanente Health Plans said it expects to decide by October whether to end inpatient care operations at two of its Los Angeles-area hospitals. The Southern California unit of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health maintenance organization said in February that it would either close some inpatient hospitals or try to merge those operations with other health-care providers. Southern California has seen a sharp drop in inpatient, or overnight, hospital stays in the last three years, said Ed Carlson, vice president and regional hospital administrator for Kaiser’s 2.2-million-member Southern California unit. Kaiser has begun talking to potential partners for its inpatient operation at its main Los Angeles hospital and another in Riverside. He refused to identify the potential partners.