Los Angeles

Health Care

The premier hospital in the Los Angeles area is Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center, which includes General Hospital and Women's and Children's Hospital. In 1998 the complex had a total of 1,330 staffed beds; 45,979 patients were admitted, and 744,933 were seen on an outpatient basis. The centrally located Cedars-Sinai Medical Center also has an outstanding reputation.

In 1995 the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area had 114 community hospitals, with a total of 25,546 beds and 16,681 office-based physicians. The greater Los Angeles area, including Orange County, had 260 hospitals altogether in the mid-1990s, but this number was expected to decline with the growing trend toward hospital mergers. According to some reports, as many as one-third of the region's hospitals would close in the coming years or become part of large multi-hospital networks.