title: Preserving and expanding services when hospitals change hands.
abstract: An estimated 700 hospitals were merged, sold, or otherwise changed hands in 1996.  When this happens, communities worry that needed services will be lost.  But each transaction is an opportunity to reexamine hospital services and push for improvement.  This issue of States of Health shows how consumer groups around the country are using market transactions to advance services and expand community participation.
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services; D003256:Community Participation; D006273:Health Facility Merger; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary; D006801:Humans; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D014481:United States