Strategic acquisitions by academic medical centers: the Jefferson experience as operational paradigm.

As capital investments in the health care industry have changed in popularity, mergers and acquisitions of and by hospitals have created supersystems of health care that are based on the assumption that economies of scale offer greater protection from a variety of forces. The acquisition of West Park (Jefferson Park) Hospital by Thomas Jefferson University and the infusion of Jefferson management into Methodist Hospital have provided the institution with unique opportunities to broaden its population base for acute care admissions and to permit greater diversification within the entire health care market.