There´s a medical `land grab´ underway as hospitals try to get larger
(WorldNews Health)

(Rachel Orr/The Washington Post) Two large, non-profit Catholic hospital chains are discussing a possible merger, according to the Wall Street Journal. If a deal is struck, it would create the largest hospital system in the country, reflecting an ongoing wave of consolidation in the health care industry. One hospital system, Ascension, runs 141 hospitals in 22 states and the District of Columbia. The other, Providence St. Joseph Health, runs 50 hospitals in seven states. Spokespeople from both hospitals declined to comment on the WSJ report. If combined, the entity would be bigger than the largest for-profit health system today, -- which includes 177 hospitals in 20 states and in the United...