Adventist Health, owner of South Coast Medical Center, on Friday selected St. Joseph Health System to buy the Laguna Beach hospital.
Adventist said in a release that it will enter negotiations with Orange-based St. Joseph to sell South Coast.
St. Joseph operates 14 hospitals, including St. Joseph Hospital-Orange, St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
A spokesman for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach told the Laguna Beach Independent newspaper that his hospital didn’t take part in the bidding process.
Another source told the Independent as many as six different bidders had expressed interest in the 208-bed hospital.
South Coast opened 49 years ago and ranks No. 18 on the Business Journal’s most recent hospital list with yearly net patient revenue of $65 million.
Roseville-based Adventist, which also has three hospitals in Los Angeles, Glendale and Simi Valley, has tried to sell South Coast several times in recent years.
Adventist’s lack of geographic concentration has hurt its ability to get better rates from health insurance companies for services at the hospital, according to the Independent.
