Sg2 Blog

I've started labeling cybersecurity as the "Achilles' heel" of digital health. Across meetings, workshops, and events, Sg2 experts have touted the opportunities that telehealth, AI, and other digital technologies can bring to health care, but cybersecurity risk always pumps the breaks on those discussions. It's the looming dark cloud. The elephant in the room. A digital skeptic's favorite topic to...

In today's health care landscape, data has become the currency that drives informed decision-making. You can’t go a day without hearing bold statements from companies promising revolutionary data that will drive "unprecedented precision" and "transformative intelligence.” At Sg2, a Vizient company, we sift through these glossy guarantees so that you can understand the gap between what...

Indirect spend and purchased services─IT, facilities, support services, and more─now represent around 20-25% of a health system’s total spend, according to Vizient Supply Analytics data. With clinical margins tightening, leaders must work to control these costs. Several challenges can make that difficult. Fragmentation and silos: Overlapping vendors and inconsistent contracts reduce lev...

Despite quality long being considered table stakes for health systems, data consistently show varied performance across markets, care settings and even within systems. Those that align their quality initiatives to financial and strategic goals can differentiate themselves on performance. Sg2 research has found quality-leading organizations typically have better financial performance...

The incidence of cancer in adults under age 50 is rising. Younger patients often are diagnosed at more advanced stages, after symptoms appear, since most routine screenings aren’t recommended for this age group. In response, many health systems are launching early-onset cancer programs. Common initiatives include: Expanding efforts to educate younger adults on cancer risks, symptoms and...

Jerry Vuchak is the chief information and innovation officer of Children’s Nebraska, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Q: Tell us about your background and how you arrived at your current position? A: My journey in health care started in 1991 and my background prior to Children’s Nebraska has primarily been working in large adult academic medical centers. I was at Houston Methodist for 15 year...

 Jordan Dale, MD, is the chief medical information officer (CMIO) and inaugural chief health AI officer of Houston Methodist, based in Houston. Q: Let’s start by learning a bit about your background. How did your career path evolve and what led you to Houston Methodist? I was an engineer by training before I went to medical school, so I think I was programmed at an early stage in my car...

Editor's note: Hannah Murphy, Lead, Analytics & Insights and Alyssa Harris, Associate Principal, Analytics & Insights also contributed to this blog post. Welcome to the inaugural post of our Pediatric Research at Vizient blog series. This series highlights some of our latest findings in pediatric medicine and incorporates analysis leveraging the Vizient® Clinical Data Base to supp...

Michael Ash, MD, is the president and chief operating officer for Nebraska Medicine, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Q: You’ve had quite a career—starting as an internal medicine physician, moving into health IT at Cerner (now Oracle), and serving as a chief transformation officer before stepping into your COO role. How have these experiences shaped your leadership approach? A: I've always been interes...

Disrupters have accelerated their presence, filling access gaps across the continuum with lower-cost, consumer-friendly options. What started as niche convenience has become a competing infrastructure. Increasingly, traditional systems are adopting similar strategies, including scaling ambulatory footprints, integrating payer partnerships and digitizing access. The market is less divided between ...