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Hospitals across the country announced a flurry of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in 2014, including nine in Illinois, according to a new survey. Kaufman Hall, a Skokie-based health care consulting company, reported Monday that hospitals announced 95 deals in 2014, down slightly from 98 in 2013, but up 44 percent from 66 transactions in 2010. (Hirst, 2/10)

After watching a harmless fee turn into a hefty, increasing tax in just three years, Connecticut’s hospitals say a phase-out of the state provider tax is essential to preserve health care services and jobs. With Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new biennial budget plan due in just eight days, the Connecticut Hospital Association proposed this week phasing out the provider tax over the next five years. (Phaneuf, 2/10)

The Wyoming State Senate is sticking to its plan to put up $5 million in state funds to help hospitals cover the cost of charity care. The Senate voted for the second time Tuesday in favor of a bill sponsored by Cowley Republican Sen. Ray Peterson to allocate the hospital money. (Neary, 2/10)

State lawmakers were scrambling to find $1.3 billion to plug a sudden budget deficit after the nation’s Medicaid chief said Tuesday that Florida will lose federal money to help hospitals treat poor and uninsured patients. Eliot Fishman, director of the Children and Adults Health Programs Group in the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) at CMS, told attendees at an Orlando healthcare conference that the federal government won’t extend Florida’s “Low Income Pool” program, or LIP, that reimburses hospitals that treat large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. (Stickler, 2/10)

Gov. Terry Branstad said Tuesday that he will work with legislators on his plan to shut down two state mental institutions, but critics said his administration is already in the process of closing them. Supporters of the facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant have pointed to a section of state law that says mental hospitals "shall be designated" in Clarinda, Mount Pleasant, Independence and Cherokee. They say Branstad can't legally close any of the facilities without persuading legislators to change the law. (Leys, 2/10)

The Legislative Analyst's Office found a number of budgeting inefficiencies and question marks about policies and procedures in its evaluation of the Department of State Hospitals released Monday. DSH oversees California's five mental hospitals with an annual budget of $1.6 billion. The LAO analysis said it could spend that money in more efficient ways. (Gorn, 2/10)

A confluence of events in late January led to dozens of mental health patients waiting for days in WakeMed’s emergency department and forcing the hospital to turn some away. (Hoban, 2/11)