Abington (PA) Memorial Hospital has announced that it had taken a preliminary step toward acquiring Lansdale, PA-based Central Montgomery Medical Center. The hospital said it had signed an asset-purchase agreement with Universal Health Services Inc., a national chain of acute-care hospitals and other health facilities. Both parties declined to disclose the purchase price. After the acquisition, the 125-bed CMMC will continue as an acute-care hospital and will provide emergency care, inpatient and outpatient surgery, and diagnostic services, according to a statement.