Scripps purchases former San Diego Hospice hospital

Scripps Health made the winning bid Tuesday to buy San Diego Hospice's eight-acre Hillcrest property, but rival Sharp HealthCare didn't make it easy. The region's two largest health care systems squared off Tuesday before bankruptcy Judge Margaret Mann in an auction that started at $11 million. Mann sat silently as the two sides traded bids increasing at least $50,000 a shot. Now and then, the players would ask for a recess to strategize in private. A total of 50 bids later, Scripps finally hit a price — $16.55 million — that Sharp was not willing to match.