A proposed merger of two of the largest health care providers in Santa Barbara County is being dropped.
In 2013, Cottage Health and Sansum Clinic filed an application with the Federal Trade Commission to combine resources. Both organizations now say they are withdrawing the proposal, and will focus on the longer term, independent planning for their separate futures. They aren’t saying specifically why they decided to drop the plan.
Cottage Health operates the only hospitals in southern Santa Barbara County, and the only hospital in the Santa Ynez Valley. Sansum Clinic has the largest pool of physicians in the county.
The two organizations say they will continue to cooperate with each other in areas like electronic health records, clinical programs, physician recruitment and research.
