The past few years have seen a frenzy of health system mergers, as providers look to consolidation as a means to get on solid strategic and financial ground for a very challenging future. But for many, while consolidation has often succeeded in bringing greater price leverage and buying power, the larger, hoped-for financial benefits have been elusive. According to a study of recent mergers and acquisitions, 59% of acquired hospitals failed to outperform their market peers two years after acquisition. Moreover, one in five acquired hospitals actually went from having positive margins before being acquired to negative margins two years after the acquisition.