INDUSTRY-BY-INDUSTRY OUTLOOK : The Year in Preview

California came several years late to the nation’s economic recovery party, but the state should be celebrating all through 1997.

Here is what key industries will be up to:

HEALTH CARE: Don’t expect the industry to call a time out in the near-record level of merger and acquisition activity of the last year. Hospitals, medical groups, long-term care and home health companies, and health insurers will continue to pair up to get a leg up on the competition. With criticism of managed care continuing, Congress and state legislatures may take a more active role, passing piecemeal reforms.