Market trends: Super-sized hospitals and the emergence of free-standing ERs

The New York Times reports on the current wave of hospital mergers while NPR notes that the emergency room experience is getting a makeover.

The New York Times: New Laws And Rising Costs Create A Surge Of Supersizing Hospitals
Hospitals across the nation are being swept up in the biggest wave of mergers since the 1990s, a development that is creating giant hospital systems that could one day dominate American health care and drive up costs (Creswell and Abelson, 8/12).

NPR: Patients Can Pay A High Price For ER Convenience
Medical entrepreneurs are remaking the emergency room experience. They're pulling the emergency room out of the hospital and planting it in the strip mall. It's called a "freestanding ER," and some 400 of them have opened across the country in the past four years. The trend is hot around Houston, where there are already 41 freestanding ERs and 10 more in the works (Feibel, 8/13).

Earlier, related KHN coverage: 'Wildfire' Growth Of Freestanding ERs Raises Concerns About Cost (Galewitz, 7/15).