1.   And antitrust regulators are eager to rebound from recent setbacks in their efforts to police hospital mergers.

2.   And last October, the Justice Department failed in a bid to stop a hospital merger in Dubuque, Iowa.

3.   As with any hospital merger, part of the purpose is to reduce costs by eliminating overlapping functions, and layoffs are always a possibility.

4.   Boston had also gone through a spate of fat-trimming hospital mergers, closings and cost cutting in recent years.

5.   Her organization monitors hospital mergers and gives communities a guide to devising solutions to maintain services.

6.   Hospital mergers and affiliations increasingly involve more than sharing assets.

7.   Indeed, rising costs certainly drive hospital mergers and downsizing in Boston and elsewhere.

8.   Johnson said the federal government the feds have has had little luck stopping hospital mergers in the past.

9.   That in turn has caused widespread hospital mergers and the closing of hospital beds.

10.   With insurers growing more tightfisted, hospital mergers are becoming common.