Changes in Hospital Ownership in California
Joanne Spetz, Jean Ann Seago, and Shannon Mitchell

October 1999

Despite public concern about the effects of hospital mergers, no one has conducted a systematic study of hospital ownership in California. This study tracks ownership changes in the state’s short-term general hospitals from 1986 to 1996, describes the major hospital corporations in California, examines regional patterns of hospital ownership, and discusses the salient differences between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals.

After a decade of mergers and consolidations, at least half of California’s hospitals are now affiliated with multi-site hospital corporations, and six organizations operate over one-third of the state’s hospitals. These consolidations may prove to have important policy implications, especially in California’s urban areas, where the concentration of ownership is most pronounced.