HCA executives are in talks with their counterparts at Ascension Health — the parent of the Saint Thomas Health system in Middle Tennessee — to take over two hospitals in Kansas City. If completed, the acquisition would take Nashville-based HCA's market share in the KC area to more than 26 percent.

“Capital is very short in the hospital market in the Kansas City area,” said Tom Bowser, retired CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. “HCA is about the only one in position to make an acquisition like this pay off.”

Hospital safety IT vendor ReadyPoint has won a contract to supply its technology to St. Mary's Health, a two-hospital system in Indiana that's part of Ascension Health. ReadyPoint works with more than 150 hospitals around the country.