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Talk to most people in health care and they’ll tell you the future of hospitals lies in joining larger systems. Already, three-quarters of Connecticut's 28 general hospitals are either part of larger health systems that operate multiple hospitals, or are in talks to join one. (Levin Becker, 10/26)

Think for a moment about what would happen if you upended the whole system of financial incentives for hospitals. What if you said goodbye to what's known as fee-for-service, where hospitals are paid for each procedure, each visit to the emergency room, each overnight stay? What if, instead, hospitals got a fixed pot of money for the whole year, no matter how many people came through the door? (Cornish, 10/23)

With South Miami-Dade ripe for expansion of the county’s taxpayer-owned hospital network, trustees for Jackson Health System will meet Monday to vote on a plan to renovate two operating rooms in anticipation of providing trauma services at Jackson South Community Hospital in Palmetto Bay. Jackson trustees will be asked to approve $1.8 million for the design and construction of the operating rooms, which are key to the hospital system’s efforts to win state approval for a Level II trauma center in the southern end of the county. (Chang, 10/24)

As crews of workers continue the task of cleaning and mending the shuttered confines of Yadkin Valley Community Hospital, Yadkin County officials report they’ve made progress in once again providing hospital services to their constituents. In August, the county signed agreements with two firms to explore the financial and structural viability of reopening the hospital, which was closed in July by its previous operator, HMC/CAH Consolidated Inc. (Sisk, 10/23)

At a time when the phrase "reducing health care costs" typically means "slowing the growth of health costs," Hennepin County Medical Center has done something significant: It has actually lowered the cost of caring for its patients. (Zdechlik, 10/26)