There's a certain chicken or egg among health economists for the role of HITECH requirements resulting in consolidation [1, 2]. On one hand, these HITECH requir

There's a certain chicken or egg among health economists for the role of HITECH requirements resulting in consolidation [1, 2]. On one hand, these HITECH requirements put additional technological reporting, which may be a driver of consolidation (though this was in large part 'paid' for if you adopted early). On the other hand, centralization of IT services can produce economies of scale, especially if you're a small community hospital that has a small community hospital budget (aka narrow). Hell, you even see the trend of inter-UC health hosting the EHR instance for another UC [3]. In either case, the major role of healthcare consolidation has been to keep up with insurance consolidation, which is to keep up with hospital consolidation, and so on [4]. [1]. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/hitech-act-enforcement-interim-final-rule/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/h... [2]. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20190304.998205/full/ https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20190304.99820... [3]. https://cio.ucop.edu/making-epic-history-ucsd-and-uci-health-share-an-electronic-medical-records-system/ https://cio.ucop.edu/making-epic-history-ucsd-and-uci-health... [4]. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.22.6.77 https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.22.6....