August 27, 2025

Seven Questions Health System CEOs are Grappling with Now

Summer of 2025 was an unusual one for health system leaders across the country that, in many ways, seemed to move both slowly and abruptly at once. Here are seven of the many questions that health system CEOs are facing as the season winds down and the effects of one massive piece of federal legislation begin to take shape.

7 Questions Health System CEOs are Grappling With

• What’s the real financial hit to my system?
• How much influence do health systems have?
• What’s an OBBBA reaction versus a change I’d need to make anyway?
• How do CEOs lead when decline comes drip by drip?
• In the near-term, what happens when ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire?
• What do physician and labor shortages look like now?
• What costs are hidden or harder to see?

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August 27, 2025

Whitepaper: Three Ways to Improve Cybersecurity Amid Healthcare’s Cyber Crisis

Recently, a wave of cyberattacks forced healthcare executives to reckon with an uncomfortable truth: traditional cybersecurity strategies are no longer enough.

This report from Advisory Board shares how more than 10 experts – from provider organizations and digital health firms to consulting leaders – are redefining what cyber resilience means in an era of third-party interdependence

It outlines a strategic shift from reactive defense to collaborative, systemwide resilience – and the practical steps leaders are taking to manage operational risk, strengthen contracts and reduce exposure across complex networks.

Download the report to learn:

• Ways that health systems are reassessing third-party vendor contracts and performance metrics,
• Tactics to improve communication with partners and regulators to contain risk, and
• Examples of resilience-driven models that ensure continuity during cyber incidents

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August 25, 2025

Whitepaper: Care More, Code Less – How to Navigate CMS Updates

Recent CMS changes removed over 2,000 diagnostic codes and introduced 200-plus that don’t map to reimbursement under previous rules. For health systems and ACOs, missing these changes can translate into massive revenue losses and poor risk scoring.

Health systems like Community Health Network have responded decisively. By embedding hierarchical condition category (HCC) alerts into its EHR workflows, the organization added more than $13 million to their bottom line. Bellin Health raised its risk adjustment factor (RAF) score by 16%. Bon Secours Mercy Health documented over 35,000 HCCs in just six months.

This report details how systems are operationalizing HCC accuracy amid shifting CMS rules – with proven returns.

Download for real-world lessons on:

• Avoiding missed reimbursement under CMS’ new coding structure,
• Embedding EHR-based HCC alerts to boost risk scores, and
• Discover how health systems boost risk adjustment and reimbursement with streamlined HCC coding.

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August 25, 2025

The Next Major Workforce Crisis Systems are Tackling

Health systems are taking on what one leader has called the “next major workforce crisis”: a shortage of nurse educators.

In 2024, U.S. nursing schools turned away 80,162 qualified applications. Within that total,

• 65,398 applications from entry-level baccalaureate were turned away,
• 1,530 from RN-to BSN,
• 7,603 from master’s,
• 5,366 from DNP, and
• 265 from PhD nursing programs.

There’s never been a shortage of qualified applicants,” Carolyn Santora, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer and chief regulatory officer at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital, told Becker’s. “The bottleneck has been a shortage of faculty, limiting class sizes.

The aging nurse faculty workforce is a key challenge for some of these programs. The average age of nursing faculty in four-year programs is in the 60s, Susan Reeves, EdD, RN, system chief nurse executive at Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Health, told Becker’s.

“Many will retire soon, and there aren’t enough younger educators ready to replace them,” she said. “Compounding this, new nursing graduates often earn more in practice than faculty with decades of experience. This is shaping up to be our next major workforce crisis.”

To address these issues, health systems are taking up the torch to support education opportunities for nursing students and new nurses. This looks different at every system.

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August 20, 2025

Whitepaper: Healthcare Affordability and Patient Revenue: Benchmarks and Insights from 213 RCM Leaders

Patients are shouldering more costs – and providers are paying the price.

With high-deductible health plans and rising coinsurance, out-of-pocket expenses continue to climb. The result: more financial strain on patients and more bad debt for providers.

In 2024, bad debt surged 14%, while collection rates remained stagnant at below 25%. Many in-house payment plans carry 20-30% default rates. Without a new approach, revenue leaders risk tying up capital and sending even more accounts to collections.

This report – based on a Healthcare Financial Management association-partnered survey of 213 health system revenue cycle leaders – reveals strategies that work in the real world. Learn how the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) combined pre-service payment policies with long-term financing to boost access and increase collections.

Inside the Report:

• Performance benchmarks from hospitals with $100 million to over $25 billion in annual revenue,
• How UTMB achieved a 25% lift in collections with patient-friendly financing, and
• Practical recommendations to reduce financial risk, improve cash flow, and make care more affordable.

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August 20, 2025

What Separates High- and Low-performing Hospitals in 2025

In 2025, top-performing hospitals are setting themselves apart from lower-performing facilities through a combination of strategic, operational and financial factors. According to Kaufman Hall and Fitch Ratings, the key differentiators include:

• Strong market presence in growth regions
  • Hospitals located in expanding markets – especially in the South, Midwest and Northeast – are benefiting from rising demand, better payer mixes and stronger revenue potential.
  • These organizations are leveraging local demographics and economic growth to drive performance.
• Workforce recruitment and retention
  • Talent remains a key differentiator. High performers are more successful in hiring and retaining clinical and nonclinical staff amid national shortages, allowing them to maintain service capacity and quality care while controlling labor costs.
• Aggressive payer strategy
  • Top-tier hospitals are skilled at negotiating favorable payer contracts, often using a “mind the gap” approach to keep reimbursement rates at the upper end of the scale.
  • These hospitals maximize market leverage to drive revenue growth.
• Operational agility
  • High-performing hospitals are nimble and can adjust quickly to changing conditions.
  • They centralize purchased services, optimize supply chains and adapt care models to improve efficiency.
• Investment in technology and infrastructure
  • Successful systems are proactively investing in AI, health IT and data analytics.
  • These investments support care delivery and administrative efficiency and prepare hospitals for value-based care and alternative payment models.
• Outpatient expansion and service diversification
  • Expanding outpatient footprints and diversifying service lines allow top hospitals to meet evolving patient demand and offset pressures on inpatient care, particularly in high-cost settings.
• Proactive real estate and capital management
  • Strong performers are strategically managing real estate assets to bolster balance sheets and fund growth initiatives, such as facility modernization and digital transformation.

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