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Hospital ownership of physician practices has increased by 86% in the last three years, according to a new report. The analysis, conducted by healthcare consulting firm Avalere Health and the not-for-profit Physicians Advocacy Institute, found that from 2012 to 2015, hospitals acquired 31,000 physician practices in the U.S. (Castellucci, 9/7)

Operating rooms produce on average more than 2,000 tons of waste per day, and a significant portion of that waste is from disposable medical supplies. And those estimates come from a small sample since there is a limited research that measures OR waste and how it is accumulated, said James Yoon, an author of a recent study from the University of California, San Francisco that analyzed waste in the OR of the hospital's neurology department. (Castellucci, 9/7)

The University of Kansas Hospital and Hays Medical Center announced Wednesday that they have signed a letter of intent to join forces, bringing together the state’s only academic hospital and one of its leading rural hospitals. The agreement, which was announced at simultaneous news conferences at both hospitals, builds on a relationship established more than two years ago when the two institutions, along with more than a dozen critical care hospitals, partnered to treat heart and stroke patients in western Kansas. (Margolies, 9/7)

Lawyers for Exeter Hospital say they are close to reaching a settlement with staffing agencies that allegedly failed to warn hospital officials about hiring a former technician responsible for a widespread hepatitis C outbreak. The settlement with American HealthCare Systems would help contribute to legal settlements paid to 188 former patients who tested negative during the outbreak. An amount has not been disclosed. (Kimble, 9/7)