Sg2 Blog

Children’s hospital leaders have a full plate in 2025—managing the challenges and opportunities presented by innovative therapeutics, emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, policy uncertainties, regionalization and subspecialty shortages—the list goes on and on. To help you focus and cut through the noise, Sg2 experts have identified four top priority strategic action...

AI applied to spine imaging shows potential to improve diagnostic accuracy and efficiency (eg, radiologist workflow), bridge capacity gaps, and elevate patient care. Two novel research concepts in this arena highlighted at the 2024 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference include: DLM standardizing image interpretation. Lumbar spine MRI remains the preferred imaging modality fo...

Partnerships, now more than ever, are critical to health system growth and performance. These alliances exist in a middle ground between loose relationships and outright acquisitions. To achieve their full potential, they cannot be merely opportunistic but firmly grounded in strategy. That strategic focus is chief among the short list of priorities academic systems’ leaders now pursue in the...

Digital transformation remains a key strategic goal for the health care industry, and the ongoing pressure to optimize workflows, maximize human resources and adjust to powerful technologies like generative AI has led to a resurging interest in the smart hospital concept. Broadly defined, a smart hospital is one that is fully digitized and interconnected across the care continuum, leveraging inter...

In early 2024, the health care data ecosystem experienced a disruption. Long-standing assumptions about the reliability of claims data were challenged, and many organizations found themselves navigating with limited visibility. And for a moment, the industry paused. But we didn’t. At Sg2, a Vizient company, we took that moment of disruption as a signal to accelerate. Rather than just restore...

Editor's note: Hannah Murphy, Lead, Analytics & Insights also contributed to this blog post. Welcome to the 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 support our pediatric research efforts. Access the first blog in the series here. In this s...

Economic forces such as rising costs, labor shortages, consumerism and demographic shifts are driving the need for change and innovation. The health care industry is not immune to these forces. In fact, health care is further complicated by nonsustainable reimbursement models, digital disruption, an increasingly “sicker” population and rapid changes in ownership models. This has led to...

Environmental factors are adversely impacting provider financials and weakening providers’ positions in fee-for-service (FFS) contracting. Providers have been working to regain financial stability after pandemic-driven volume swings that were quickly followed by workforce shortages—now the health care industry can add inflation to the list of considerable challenges. These pressures have quickly ...

Numerous issues continue to impact health systems’ payment and accounts receivables. Among the top challenges, according to the recent Vizient® Payer Strategies Network Survey, are clinical and technical denials, DRG downgrades and claim delays.  In response, health system finance teams are deploying myriad tactics to address payer compliance issues. They’re having mixed succe...

Most health care systems by now have defined their strategy for addressing value-based care (VBC)—even if that strategy is to minimize their involvement in VBC arrangements. To stay relevant, strategies require regular evaluation to consider current trends and market conditions. This is especially true with VBC, since VBC touches every aspect of health care financing and delivery. Any market...