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When Dr. Jonathan Lewin arrived in Atlanta in February as CEO of Emory Healthcare, it quickly became apparent to him that the system could not expect to grow in the region's rapidly consolidating hospital market by merging with community hospitals. Integrating acquired hospitals would be expensive and time-consuming, Lewin said in an interview this week. And given the data compiled by an Emory needs assessment study group, available community hospitals were unlikely to produce enough of the very hard cases — the complex brain surgeries, stem cell transplants and cancer trials that Emory tackles daily — for the system to grow its clinical, teaching and research missions. (Barkholz, 9/1)

Two months after a violent patient killed a doctor at Timberlawn  — and nine months after Texas officials moved to close the hospital over unsafe conditions — the facility remains open. And its Pennsylvania owners haven’t paid a cent of the $1 million fine the state levied in December. The state’s failure to act against the 99-year-old psychiatric hospital, despite all its safety problems, has mental-health experts questioning whether regulations are strong enough to protect patients and staff. (Moffeit, 9/1)

Long hours. High stress. Not enough time to stop and regroup. These are the causes of burnout, and according to a 2014 survey by Mayo Clinic and the American Medical Association,  more than half of responding doctors reported feeling its effects. Given the links between provider burnout, patient outcomes, and higher health care costs, hospitals across the country are deploying new techniques to reduce stress and help nurses and physicians strike a better balance. (Ross, 9/2)