To compete with the other hospitals and win new patient business. Hospitals are far more than ERs. They usually have massive medical networks (of professionals) and services. Just like your eye doctors, they want your business and they compete. **The good: **the US has the best healthcare in the world if you have the money to get time with the best networks and doctors. **The bad:** the US has the most expensive healthcare in the world, **by far**, and we lag behind almost every major country when it comes to healthcare performance and healthcare outcomes. For the average American, you're literally better off in some 3rd world countries that have better healthcare for the commoner. How did we end up this way? Crony capitalism. In a far more capitalist market, best services for best price would result in low cost, high quality, fast healthcare. In a mixed market (like France's which is similar to the US's), government puts certain controls in place but also allows the market to compete. In the US, lobbyists get to choose winners and losers with the representative that they have in their pocket.