Sg2 Blog

Health care organizations are currently trying to identify opportunities for enhanced revenue streams as they continue to struggle financially due to the COVID-19 endemic—hospital margins are expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels, with more than half of hospitals projected to have negative margins. And health care leaders have long understood how patient leakage also dramatically aff...

Health systems and organizations face numerous evolving challenges when it comes to achieving strategic growth — be it due to changing competitive landscapes, workforce constraints, or access and capacity challenges, among many others. And while the terrain has become tumultuous, there is an essential constant that exists with great potential for differentiation and growth for any healthcare...

Saurabh Chandra, MD, is the chief telehealth officer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), based in Jackson, Mississippi. Q: Can you give us a summary of your background, and what brought you to your current position at UMMC? A: I grew up in India and attended medical school there before coming to the United States for advanced training and completed my critical care fellowship ...

Editor’s Note: Jenna Stern, Vizient, AVP, Regulatory Affairs & Public Policy, also contributed to this post. In the absence of congressional intervention, a significant financial incentive for physicians to participate in value-based payment models will disappear at the end of 2022. To provide greater stability to providers reimbursed by Medicare, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthori...

At Sg2, our job is to stay ahead of changing health care trends—and to help you, our members, proactively navigate industry change to benefit your top lines. Over 10 years ago, we introduced the smart growth concept because we foresaw the need for a course change in health care strategy. Smart growth challenged members to invest in services not just clinically appropriate, but also financial...

Health system leaders are facing a new kind of coverage risk. Insurance instability is no longer a background variable in planning—it is a defining feature of the operating environment. Policy changes, rising costs and benefit redesign are reshaping who is insured, how well they are insured and how reliably coverage supports comprehensive care. The result is a growing uncertainty for access,...

Just because healthcare organizations open their doors doesn’t mean that patients will show up. This was especially true during the pandemic as a pause on elective surgeries, lack of a transactional care and revenue led healthcare systems to struggle. Add to that inflation and the increase of nontraditional disruptors — whether tech, private equity or venture capital-backed firms or pa...

Anyone who has visited Colorado and driven down from the mountains toward Denver will recognize the title of this article. The same words of caution apply to the health care ecosystem moving into 2023. Despite the tricky financial gradient health care organizations have navigated since the onset of the pandemic, the road ahead remains challenging. Let’s break down some of the financial force...

As part of Sg2’s value-based care (VBC) 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 released earnings call transcripts fro...

The Kaiser-Geisinger Partnership Enables Value-Based Care The newly announced deal between Kaiser Permanente and Geisinger could turn out to be one of the most impactful health system partnerships in recent years. The deal is subject to regulatory review, but if it goes forward, Geisinger will join Risant Health, a new nonprofit formed by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals with an emphasis on value-ba...