Hospitals facing prolonged patient stays can improve throughput and financial performance through strategic partnerships, stronger care coordination, and better discharge planning.

Hantavirus outbreak tests U.S. preparedness, fair weather for major insurers, overdose deaths continue to fall but new threat emerging

Explore Kaufman Hall’s Gist Weekly for May 8, 2026, featuring expert insights on healthcare policy, hospital strategy, AI, M&A activity, workforce trends, and the latest industry developments.

Hospital and health system M&A activity continued with momentum in the first quarter of 2026, with 22 hospital and health system transactions announced—the highest first-quarter activity since 2020, according to the Kaufman Hall Mergers and Acquisitions Q1 Report.

This week’s Gist Weekly covers key healthcare industry developments including hospital financial performance trends, emerging care delivery strategies, and notable policy and regulatory updates shaping providers, payers, and the broader healthcare landscape.

Explore Kaufman Hall’s Q1 2026 M&A report highlighting renewed hospital and health system deal activity, key trends, and how financial pressures, market uncertainty, and strategic partnerships are shaping healthcare consolidation.

Explore how non-acute partnerships can drive strategic growth, improve care delivery, and create value beyond traditional scale in today’s evolving healthcare landscape.

Learn why healthcare strategic partnerships falter and how to improve outcomes with credible business cases, aligned incentives, durable structures, rigorous due diligence, and simpler, effective agreements from real-world deal insights.

This week’s graphic highlights data from Kaufman Hall’s recently published 2025 Hospital and Health System M&A in Review on the dynamics in health system merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.