May 19, 2026

We Cannot Cut Our Way to Success’: Hospitals Prep for Medicaid Crunch

The deadline is not here yet, but the bill is already coming due.

HR 1’s most consequential Medicaid changes, work requirements for able-bodied recipients and tighter rules on state financing mechanisms, do not fully take effect until 2027. But hospitals are not waiting to feel the impact.

Bad debt and charity care jumped 8% year over year in January, according to Kaufman Hall data. Sixty-six percent of healthcare finance leaders named Medicaid cuts their top concern in Strata’s latest survey, ahead of labor costs, payer negotiations and everything else.

“Hospitals are already underpaid for the care they provide, and payment cuts through the federal reconciliation process haven’t even been implemented yet. Our hospitals are still only reimbursed 71 cents on the dollar, and less than half have the operating margins necessary for long-term stability,” Nicole Stallings, president and CEO of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, told Becker’s.  “Hospitals have plans for every scenario, ranging from service reductions to reductions in force, to potential consolidation and even closure.”

For hospital and health system leaders, 2026 has become the preparation year. The question is what preparation actually looks like when the math is already broken.

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May 14, 2026

Whitepaper: Illinois FQHC Uses EHR Education as a Strategic Lever for Performance

Imagine scaling EHR workflow training across 35 health centers with just four trainers – without relying on classroom instruction.

That was the reality for Access Community Health Network (ACCESS), Illinois’ largest federally qualified health center. Rather than expand headcount, ACCESS redesigned its Epic education strategy to embed learning directly within the EHR.

By centralizing simulations, tip sheets and workflow resources inside Epic – supported by a knowledge hub – the team ensured clinicians could access support at the moment of need. Early collaboration with analysts and clinical leaders kept education aligned with operational priorities.

During the 2024 transition to electronic prior authorizations, the results were measurable:

• Denials decreased 15 – 25%
• Help desk requests fell 30%
• Clinicians regained 130+ hours per month, and
• Electronic prior authorization adoption reached 99%.

ACCESS demonstrates that effective EHR education is not about larger teams – it is about alignment, embedded design and measurable outcomes.

Download the case study to see how training can drive operational efficiency, clinician productivity and a stronger patient experience.

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May 14, 2026

Whitepaper: Ambulatory Control: How Leaders Can Optimize Physician Operations for Sustainable Health System Growth

Outpatient revenue is growing at nearly twice the rate of inpatient – yet in many health systems, ambulatory operations remain fragmented and disconnected from health system strategy. The result: referral leakage, blocked demand, provider burnout and budgets built on assumptions instead of operational reality.

This playbook reframes ambulatory care as the most strategic lever health systems have to stabilize margin and drive growth. It outlines a five-part framework that high-performing organizations are using to move from reactive, siloed clinic management to enterprise-level governance with shared accountability and financial clarity.

Organizations applying this model have seen measurable results, including $15.2 million in revenue unlocked through enterprise-wide ambulatory data integration, a 36% reduction in no-show rates and a 29% increase in schedule template utilization.

Whether you are managing access bottlenecks, referral retention or workforce strain, this playbook connects each challenge to a disciplined, repeatable operating model.

Key takeaways:

• How fragmented ambulatory data leads to missed revenue and operational blind spots,
• A five-lever framework covering access, provider engagement, referral integrity, financial transparency and governance,
• Key metrics and leadership questions for each lever to benchmark performance, and
• Real-world results from organizations governing ambulatory as an integrated business line.

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May 14, 2026

Whitepaper: Acute Care Has a Technology Problem Hiding in Plain Sight

Hospitals have never had more bedside devices, data streams and algorithms. Yet the gap between technological promise and measurable outcomes remains stubbornly wide. Research shows 21% of nursing care goes undelivered in variable acuity units, and only 5 to 13% of patient alarms actually require clinical action.

The problem is not a lack of technology. It is the absence of an integrated feedback loop that continuously connects data, insight, workflow and measurement.

This report introduces the Acute Care Informatics Outcomes Flywheel – a seven-step operating model designed specifically for variable-acuity inpatient environments where clinician time is scarce, risk is real and the opportunity for improvement is significant. Unlike one-time technology deployments, the Outcomes Flywheel compounds in value with every patient encounter, creating a self-reinforcing engine for better clinical and operational performance.

The report walks through three case studies showing the flywheel in practice, from reducing non-actionable telemetry alarms to improving ICU triage accuracy.

Learnings include:

• Why threshold-based alarms and siloed data fail to prevent patient deterioration,
• How a seven-step outcomes flywheel turns device data into a continuous learning loop,
• Five reinforcing value levers that compound clinical and financial impact over time, and
• A practical, stage-based approach leaders can use to build and scale this capability.

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May 14, 2026

Whitepaper: Healthcare Offshoring – A Practical Guide for Healthcare Finance Leaders

Revenue cycle teams are stretched thin.

Denials are increasing, hiring is more difficult and administrative workloads continue to grow. Many organizations are dedicating substantial time to denial management and rework, limiting their ability to focus on strategic initiatives.

This guide presents a structured approach to building offshore teams that extend capacity without overloading domestic staff.

Rather than handing off work to a vendor, the co-managed model allows organizations to retain control over hiring, training and day-to-day operations – while leveraging offshore infrastructure and talent.

Learnings include:

• How offshore teams can support both front-end and back-end revenue cycle functions,
• Why the co-managed model enables greater control and transparency than traditional outsourcing,
• Key compliance considerations, including HIPAA and data privacy requirements, and
• A step-by-step framework for implementing and scaling offshore teams.

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May 14, 2026

Whitepaper: From Data to Decisions: Rethinking Virtual Care Performance

Hospitals generate vast amounts of clinical and operational data each year, yet only a small portion is actively used to guide care delivery.

At the same time, virtual care programs often rely on disconnected workflows that limit visibility, slow decision-making and constrain scalability.

Today, virtual care platforms are evolving into orchestration layers that integrate EHR, imaging and operational data directly into the consult workflow. This shift enables leaders to improve how work is distributed, how decisions are made and how performance is managed across the enterprise.

In this white paper, explore how data orchestration is reshaping virtual care delivery and supporting more efficient, scalable programs.

Key Insights Include:

• How real-time demand signals can automate and optimize consult assignment,
• Why surfacing relevant patient data within workflows accelerates clinical decision-making, and
• How reducing manual coordination can improve provider utilization and lower operating burden.

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May 13, 2026

Whitepaper: The Hidden Revenue Loss Hospitals Rarely See Until it’s Too Late

Hospitals focus heavily on denials – but denials are only part of the problem.

Across the U.S., hospitals are losing millions each year to incomplete or inconsistent documentation that understates the true complexity of care delivered. Beyond visible denials lies a larger, quieter margin gap: the “Silent Payer Discount stem from the same root cause: breakdowns in the mid-revenue cycle, where clinical insight, coding accuracy and compliance must align before billing.

Drawing on data from hundreds of hospitals, the report outlines how organizations are closing this gap by strengthening documentation accuracy upstream before claims ever reach the payer.

Inside the whitepaper:

• How mid-revenue cycle breakdowns drive both denials and underpayment,
• Where documentation gaps most commonly trigger revenue loss, and
• How clinically governed review models are improving accuracy before billing.

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May 13, 2026

Furniture Playbook: 5 Ways Healthcare Facilities Can Optimize Space and Efficiency

Long wait times, crowded waiting rooms and frustrated staff often point to one issue: inefficient use of space.

Healthcare organizations across hospitals, clinics, senior living and behavioral health settings are under pressure to improve throughput and staff experience without expanding their footprint. This report outlines five practical steps to help leaders assess current layouts, uncover underused space and improve day-to-day efficiency.

The report details how healthcare organizations can take a more flexible approach to rooms, storage, scheduling and furniture selection to support changing patient volumes and operational needs. The report also explores why adaptable, multipurpose spaces matter more as patient demand grows and construction costs remain high.

Download the report to learn how to:

• Assess your current space and identify opportunities to improve efficiency,
• Reconfigure rooms and layouts for more flexible, multipurpose use,
• Streamline storage, scheduling and supply placement to reduce bottlenecks, and
• Select furniture solutions that support adaptability for staff and patients.

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May 13, 2026

Whitepaper: A People First Guide to AI in Healthcare Workflows, Security and Connection

Most physicians spend about one-third of their working hours in the EHR and on administrative tasks – time that comes directly out of patient interaction, judgment work and recovery between cases. AI is starting to shift that calculus, but for healthcare leaders evaluating the landscape, the question is no longer whether to adopt it. It’s where, how and with what guardrails.

This new e-magazine pulls together perspectives from clinicians and health IT experts on practical applications of AI across the workflows that affect both clinician burden and patient outcomes. The discussion includes how virtual medical assistants are emerging as the next evolution of documentation support, what to weigh when selecting an AI vendor, how the AI-era threat landscape is changing cybersecurity priorities, and where AI is actively easing the cognitive and emotional load on nurses.

Health systems featured include Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Hendrick Health System and Holzer Health System.

Insights include:

• How AI is reducing “work about work,” from documentation to quality reporting,
• What to prioritize when evaluating AI vendors: accuracy, pricing, integration and transparency,
• How AI is reshaping the cybersecurity threat landscape and what to require of every vendor, and
• How AI is easing the cognitive and emotional burden on nurses.

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