January 16, 2026

eBook: Where Progress Meets Purpose: How 3 Systems Turned Data into Outcomes

Rising costs, fragmented systems and performance pressures are pushing hospitals to their limits. But some health systems are turning that pressure into progress – using trusted data and cross-functional collaboration to drive measurable improvement. For nearly twenty years, health Catalyst has worked alongside healthcare organizations to tackle the toughest challenges they face. We’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what it takes to turn your vision into massive measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement.

This eBook distills strategies from leading health systems into a clear playbook for driving clinical, operational and financial results. From cutting sepsis mortality to automating population health outreach, these organizations show what’s possible when data drives action, not just insight.

You’ll learn about:

• Proven frameworks that help teams cut through complexity and act decisively.
• How technology and services work together to solve your unique use cases.
• Real-world use cases showing how outcomes deliver lasting impact, including a 20% analytics capacity gain and a 23% relative drop in sepsis mortality.

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January 9, 2026

Whitepaper: How Orthopedic + MSK Practices are Optimizing Coding and Improving Cash Flow

Orthopedic and musculoskeletal (MSK) practices are entering a new era of revenue cycle pressure – one defined by coding complexity, chronic staffing shortages, and rapidly shifting payer requirements. These forces are converging to create a perfect storm: rising denial rates, widening reimbursement delays, and growing strain on already over-extended coding teams.

This new report highlights how orthopedic and MSK groups are turning to technology to boost accuracy, improve cash flow, and build more resilient coding operations.

Learn from orthopedic practices that are seeing results – including:

• A reduction in claim lag from 7 – 10 days to just 2-3 days,
• A 50% – 100% increase in coder productivity with AI-enabled workflows, and
• Reduced overhead with up to a 30% drop in coding headcount.

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January 9, 2026

Whitepaper: Why Credentialing will Move from the Back Office to the Boardroom in 2026

Static credentialing can no longer keep up with regulatory complexity. As workforce and vendor access expand, periodic checks are no longer enough and hospitals are increasingly exposed.

In 2026, credentialing won’t be a checkbox. It will be a board-level issue, directly tied to operational stability, liability exposure, and even insurability.

This report outlines five predictions shaping the next era of credentialing and why continuous monitoring and AI-driven verification will soon become standard.

You’ll learn:

• Why insurers will start requiring credentialing programs as part of cyber coverage,
• How AI is exposing credential fraud and closing long-exploited access gaps, and
• What CFOs, CISOs and compliance leaders must align on to reduce risk and cost.

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January 7, 2026

Five Healthcare Policies Affecting Physicians in 2026

Several federal and state healthcare policies are taking effect in 2026, bringing major changes to the physician workforce, hospital operations, reimbursement, insurance and medical school.

• Affordable Care Act enhance subsidies expire: Enhanced premium tax credits expired December 31, leaving missions of marketplace enrollees facing higher premiums in 2026.
• CMS final physician fee schedule for 2026: CMS released its final rule for 2026 Medicare payments under the physician fee schedule.
• One Big Beautiful Bill Act: President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, which included historic cuts to Medicaid and other significant shifts to healthcare policy.
• Changes to prior authorization: starting in 2026, CMS will implement key provisions of the Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule to help modernize prior authorization and reduce administrative burden.
• Changes to visa restrictions and their impact on the workforce: Immigrants make up 27% of physicians and surgeons, 22% of nursing assistants and 16% of registered nurses in the U.S. Foreign physicians and clinicians are an important part of the healthcare workforce, often working in underserved and rural areas.

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January 5, 2026

Whitepaper: From Manual to Manageable: How AI and Partnerships are Transforming Urology RCM

Staffing shortages, rising denials and growing patient payment burdens are hitting urology practices especially hard – and outdated revenue cycle models are making things worse.

But a growing number of providers are taking a new approach to coding and revenue cycle management: pairing specialty-specific AI with expert coders to reduce denials, improve accounts receivable performance and relieve pressure on staff.

This whitepaper offers an overview of how practices are evolving their strategies to simplify workflows, improve accuracy and capture more revenue without overhauling everything at once.

Learnings Include:

• How some groups are achieving 98% clean-claims rates and 99% net collections,
• The impact of AI-assisted coding tuned for urology workflows, and
• Best practices to cut denial rates by half and reduce manual rework.

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January 5, 2026

Whitepaper: A Guide for Evaluating the Impact of Ambient AI on Clinicians

A first of its kind, peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Network Open provides compelling evidence for what anecdotal reports previously suggested: ambient AI not only reduces documentation burden – it improves clinician well-being.

Led by Yale School of Medicine and conducted across six health systems, the study used a validated survey tool to measure cognitive load, burnout and patient-centered care. Results showed:

• 25% drop in burnout,
• 37% reduction in cognitive load, and
• 31% rise in attention given directly to patients.

This guide explains the study’s design, the Abridge Clinician Survey methodology and how hospitals can apply similar research to evaluate AI’s real-world impact.

What’s Inside:

• Summary of findings from Yale’s ambient AI study,
• Explanation of key clinical metrics used to assess effectiveness, and
• A blueprint for running additional studies.

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January 5, 2026

Article: Notable Healthcare Policies Taking Effect in 2026

A wave of federal and state healthcare policies is set to take effect in 2026, bringing major changes to hospital operations, reimbursement, insurance markets and patient access.

From the expiration of enhanced ACA subsidies to CMS’ expansion of site-neutral payments, tightened prior authorization rules and the first round of Medicare Drug negotiations, 2026 will test how well the healthcare sector adapts to a fast-shifting regulatory landscape under the Trump administration.

Simultaneously, state governments are rolling out new mandates – from insulin copay caps and AI guardrails to expanded coverage requirements and immigrant protections – that will have a notable effect on hospitals, payers and patients in certain markets.

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January 5, 2026

Whitepaper: How 75 Hospital Leaders are Rethinking the Patient Room

Patient rooms are being reimagined – not just in layout, but in how technology supports communication, safety and connection.

In a recent Becker’s Zoom, and HP survey of 75 hospital and health system leaders including C-suite executives, medical directors, and nursing and technology leaders, one theme stood out: outdated, fragmented tech is undermining care delivery and clinician satisfaction.

But some organizations are moving fast to fix it.

This report reveals what leaders are prioritizing (think: virtual nursing, discharge workflows supported by in-room video) and where critical infrastructure gaps remain.

Inside, you’ll learn:

• Why just 1 in 3 rooms is fully equipped for modern communication and what’s driving change,
• How Blessing Health System outfitted 150 room to support virtual visits, discharge planning and patient education, and
• What investments are top of mind as health systems build the patient room of the future.

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January 2, 2026

Research Alert: Changes in Bed-Based Measures of Surge Capacity from 2018 to 2022 Among Rural and Urban Hospitals

Hospital surge capacity refers to the ability to handle sudden and possible dramatic increases in health care demand, such as the increase in demand experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, a natural disaster, or a mass casualty event. One method of assessing surge capacity is to examine a hospital’s typical number of unoccupied beds.

On an average day in 2022, the average rural hospital had 24 unoccupied acute care beds, accounting for approximately 66% of the hospital’s total acute care beds. Although these numbers have decreased slightly from 2018 (26 unoccupied beds accounting for approximately 67% of total beds), the findings suggest that surge capacity, as measured by unoccupied beds, has not dramatically changed in recent years.

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