Industry publication Modern Healthcare turned to Robert Slavkin, chair of Akerman's Healthcare Practice Group, to help give contexts to the Midwest's recent uptick in hospital mergers and acquisitions. At least a dozen hospital transactions have been proposed or completed in the region since October of last year, according to Modern Healthcare.

Slavkin told the news outlet that beyond simply being able to provide service to more people, healthcare systems also use mergers and acquisitions to improve efficiency.

"It takes a village when you have a much larger geographic footprint to cover," Slavkin told the publication. "It helps to have 'the buying power to get people to work at hospitals, surgery centers and clinics and to secure the supplies you need.' "