IPC The Hospitalist Company Inc. has made two acquisitions, with one of them being the company’s first purchase in the Southern California market. North Hollywood-based IPC acquired Inland Hospitalist Medial Group Inc., which is expected to add about 42,000 added patient encounters annually to IPC. In a separate and unrelated transaction, IPC acquired the hospitalist practice of Dr. Gil Mejia, which is based in Tampa, Fla. IPC executives said the Riverside acquisition provides new growth opportunities for the group practice company. “The large metropolitan areas in Southern California hold great potential for IPC as the rising costs of inpatient care cause hospitals and managed care organizations to carefully reassess their hospitalist programs,” R. Jeffrey Taylor, IPC’s president and chief operating officer. “With the acquisition of Inland Hospitalists, we now have an entry point into this attractive market.” Dr. Vikram Sahay, co-founder of Inland Hospitalists, will remain with the group as its practice group leader. “IPC’s highly developed infrastructure and practice management programs will enable us to align with stakeholders’ goals much more effectively than we would do on our own,” Sahay said. Jessica Vernabe