Sg2 Blog

Understanding the Transition: ACO REACH Replaces Current Direct Contracting Model On February 24, 2022, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced the ACO REACH (Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health) Model, with an application period ending April 22, 2022. ACO REACH will replace the current Direct Contracting Model (DC) on January 1, 2023, as the highest level of...

Each year at Sg2 we debut the latest health care projections from our 10-year Impact of Change® (IoC) national demand forecast. After a year of sharp declines in volume and pronounced shifts in site of care, 2021 recovery to pre-pandemic utilization takes hold, with some key exceptions. Inpatient admissions, which declined approximately 10% nationally in 2020, are projected to largely recover ...

Many health systems have intentionally delayed taking downside risk in payment contracting for many reasons. In some cases, organizations aren't ready to perform in these contracts. In too many cases, there's a detrimental level of risk aversion that's impeding health systems from margin growth, particularly in value-based care (VBC) arrangements. Health systems and provider organizations that suc...

In today’s fiercely competitive health care landscape, where patient expectations are soaring and access to care remains to be a challenge, your organization can evolve and thrive with a strong focus on consumer centricity. What is consumer centricity? It’s all about putting the needs of health care consumers first. The goal is for health care providers to create much more value for the patients b...

As part of Vizient/Sg2’s value-based care (VBC) and payer-provider alignment analysis and market research, we review the quarterly earnings calls from a subset of publicly traded legacy payers and VBC-focused entrants. The summary is designed to highlight emerging trends and dynamics in these closely related industries, especially as they tie to VBC. The following post draws from recently re...

Hospital at home programs have been gradually increasing in number in recent years, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the shift to home health and virtual care greatly accelerated. Half of families are more likely to choose in-home care for their loved ones now than they were prior to the pandemic, and almost half of physicians use virtual health technologies to treat patients. Now that home is ...

Legacy healthcare, a domain once perceived as an unassailable fortress, now finds itself besieged by unconventional adversaries. Retail powerhouses, tech titans, venture capitalists and insurance providers are collectively reshaping the healthcare terrain. The expansion of these 'game changers,' propelled by mergers and acquisitions (M&As), appears limitless, showing no regard for geographical...

CV advanced imaging is projected to grow 33% over the next decade. Significant progress has been made in coronary CT angiography (CCTA), cardiac PET, MRI, optical coherence tomography and intravascular ultrasound. Yet adoption of advanced imaging in CV service lines remains slow. The American Heart Association meeting held in November 2024 highlighted these modalities, emphasizing their critical...

Note: Vizient's David Levine, MD, FACEP, Group Senior Vice President, Advanced Analytics and Product Management and Simrit Sandhu, Executive Vice President, Strategic Transformation and Clinical-Supply Solutions also contributed to this report. Health system leaders have faced unprecedented challenges over the past three years. The pandemic caused a sharp decline in inpatient volumes and a tempor...

In our previous post, we discussed health inequities in our current health care landscape, providing some examples of how the negative impacts of social determinants of health can contribute to undesirable health outcomes and lead to significant health disparities. Now, we would like to focus on how health systems can be more aware of these disparities and turn that awareness into action. Health e...