Â鶹ŮÓÅ

The key to success for many stock funds this year has been simple: Buy health care. While the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended the first quarter up just 0.6 percent, shares of health care companies gained 7 percent, continuing a trend that has been quietly unfolding for years. (Lim, 4/11)

Many of the companies in the health-care system are rethinking business strategies, and Inova Health System, the Northern Virginia hospital giant, is no exception. Last June, Inova announced a venture with insurance titan Aetna — one of the first such partnerships in the country between entities usually economically at odds — to deliver care more affordably. (Gregg, 4/12)

Nearly as old as the railroad that slices through this southern Illinois city just east of the Mississippi River, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital has been a downtown bedrock since 1875. Started by three nuns from a Franciscan order in Germany, the Catholic hospital still seeks "to embody Christ’s healing love" to the sick, the aged and the poor, according to its mission statement. It is so tied to the city that when the local economy slumped in 2009, the nonprofit St. Elizabeth’s gave $20 to every employee to spend on Main Street, sending hundreds of shoppers out to the mostly mom- and pop-owned stores. (Galewitz, 4/13)

KPMG LLP has agreed to acquire the assets of health-care consulting firm Beacon Partners Inc., as the Big Four accounting and professional-services giant continues beefing up its services to clients in the health-care industry. Financial terms aren’t being disclosed for the deal, which KPMG announced Sunday. (Rapoport, 4/12)