UCI Ends Talks About Acquisition

Controversial hospital chain giant Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. dropped talks regarding a possible business link with UCI Medical Center, the two health-care organizations said Friday.

Nashville-based Columbia/HCA, beset by sweeping government probes regarding possible Medicare and Medicaid fraud, multiple lawsuits and mounting numbers of resignations and indictments of executives, decided earlier this month to concentrate on extricating itself from the mess--and to halt its aggressive acquisition campaign.

UCI Medical Center, in the city of Orange, is the only California hospital that has received notice that talks are being terminated, said Jeff Winter, Columbia/HCA’s vice president in charge of California business development. He said the company will make good on its promise to acquire 57-bed Fallbrook Community Hospital in north San Diego County.

Mark Laret, UCI Medical Center’s top executive, was on vacation Friday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

Winter said that UCI Medical Center would require “an enormous amount of management and resources” to be turned into a financially sturdy institution, and Columbia/HCA has decided it should concentrate on more pressing issues now.

He said the institution specifically requires a capital infusion, modernized systems and plans for attracting managed care that would help lure paying patients.

The financially shaky institution, long considered Orange County’s mainstay hospital for the poor, has separately pursued a possible business affiliation with both Columbia/HCA and Santa Barbara-based hospital giant Tenet Healthcare Corp. since last year.

Columbia/HCA operates 16 hospitals in California, 15 surgery centers and 11 home-health agencies, a spokeswoman said.

Winter said that once Columbia/HCA takes care of its own problems, it might be “willing to revisit” the possibility of a link with UCI in a year or so.