submitted to a hospital

There should be no penalty if you do not decide to work for them - they should be competing for you and making sure that you and the unit are a good fit for each other. Good luck to you.

Here's ho it works: Your recruiter presents you with different job openings, and then you tell him/her which ones you would like to be submitted to. If the hospital likes your resume, they will call you for an interview. If they liked your interview, they will call your recruiter to offer you the position. Your recruiter will call you to tell you about the offer and only after you accept this offer are you obligated to work at this hospital. Remember, when you interview with hospitals, YOU are interviewing THEM as well- you want to know if this is a place you want to work. After several interviews, my recruiter has called to tell me that the hospital has offered the job, but I have said NO WAY based on things I didn't like about my interview with the hospital.

You only have a legal obligation once you sign an actual contract. The hospital is only legally obligated to you once you sign a contract they have offered you through your agency.