Introduction Healthcare consolidation or integration is a process whereby hospitals may merge with each other, or different sectors in healthcare may also merge. This is usually done to improve on the services offered to their clients and at the same time to cut on the costs. Hospital mergers may also be done to try and match the market power of the dominant health care providers. This will also help decrease the redundancy of some health care facilities and reduce inefficiency in the field of healthcare (Merger, 2005). However, most benefits resulting from hospital mergers may not be felt by the customers. Instead, they are only felt by the hospital staff and management. Well-established hospitals may merge with the poorly established ones to improve them (Gedan, 2007). Forms of health care integration Healthcare integration may occur in three different ways. These are Vertical integration, horizontal integration, and regional integration. Horizontal integration is a form of merger that puts together similar facilities within the same sector into one entity. A dispensary may be merged with a health center or a solely owned hospital may be merged to one that is owned by a board of directors. Vertical integration is a form of merger that involves sectors that depend on each other (Robert, 2006). For example, the healthcare sector may merge with the catering sector for the purpose of providing catering services in the facility. Vertical integration helps to cut the operation costs and ensure efficiency in service provision since all the requirements for each sector will be met. Regional integration of health care is a form of the merger in which health care facilities from different regions of a state decide to work together. This is mostly to the benefit of the customer since the customers will be able to receive uniform services all over (Cuellar, & Gertler, 2005). The health care providers also benefit especially where one region has a wider market for healthcare services than the rest. Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 6 aims for the improvement of health care The Institute of Medicine 1999 released a list of six aims of healthcare improvement for the benefit of all people (IOM, 2001). These were Safe, Effective, Patient-centered, Timely, and Efficient health care. It is Safe in that it aims at avoiding injuries to the patients as a result of care processes designed to help them for example due to errors that occur during the treatment process. Effective in that it should match with science and avoid ineffectiveness. Patient-centered in that it should honor the choice of the patient. It is Timely since it should reduce long waiting by the patients. Sometimes patients wait in long queues for treatment and also for laboratory results which is difficult for sick people. Efficient since it is aimed at reducing wastes and Equitable to ensure both ethnic balances in its accessibility. Hospital integration works in line with those goals since its overall goal is to meet the needs of the patients in the most effective and efficient manner. This will help improve their timeliness, safety, and equity. Regional integration will ensure equitable access to health care among a