"The increased impact of the aggregated purchasing power of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) is, in my opinion, directly related to the general consolidation in the healthcare space. In recent years we have seen more hospitals merge, more health systems consolidate, many new affiliations and all manner of supply chain and procurement aggregation. Government-imposed healthcare reform has placed a lot of pressure on hospitals and all care providers to reduce costs. Nonclinical, support services like laundry and linen are easy targets. As purchasing decisions have moved out of the hospital itself toward a regional, and in many cases a corporate decision ...