JPMorgan Chase conducted its annual "2023 Business Leaders Outlook" survey of healthcare leaders, revealing how health executives feel about margins, labor challenges, growth initiatives, and more in 2023."

Survey details and key findings

Since 2011, JPMorgan Chase has conducted its "Business Leaders Outlook" survey series to showcase the challenges and opportunities faced by executives at midsize companies. This year, the company conducted its first healthcare-specific survey.

For the survey, 791 respondents completed the online survey between Nov. 29 and Dec. 13, 2022. In addition, 405 respondents with general annual revenue ranging from $20 million to $500 million were recruited through online survey panels.

Among the respondents, 38% were CFOs, 33% identified as a CEO or chairperson, 12% identified as an owner or founder, and 17% fell into some other type of executive role.

Overall, 48% of healthcare executives said they have an optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy in 2023—a significantly better outlook compared with all U.S. industries, where only 22% of respondents said they are optimistic about the economy. Meanwhile, more than 40% of healthcare executives are optimistic about the global, national, and local economies.

More specifically, 62% of executives are optimistic about the healthcare industry and 71% are optimistic about their own company's performance.

In 2023, 91% of executives expect to see their revenues remain stable or increase, and 94% expect their capital expenditures to remain stable or increase.

With staffing shortages persisting across the healthcare industry, many leaders are taking steps to increase their staff or maintain their current workforce. In particular, 57% of respondents said they plan to increase wages or benefits, another 57% said they plan to provide a more flexible work location, and 56% said they plan to offer flexible hours.

To address inflation, healthcare companies are adapting by raising their prices (53%), making changes to purchasing (48%), automating (46%), changing their pricing model (36%), prioritizing their most profitable products (32%), and strategic stockpiling (27%).

Healthcare companies are also taking steps to maintain their margins, including implementing capital optimization, renegotiating payer contracts, expanding their staffing strategy, developing health plans, and entering partnerships or mergers.

When asked about the top external business threats to their organizations, 18% of respondents said general market volatility or the cost of debt and access to capital are the top two threats. Respondents also said energy prices (16%), cybersecurity and fraud (14%), competition (13%), and the Russia-Ukraine war (8%) are top concerns.

In the next 12 months, healthcare executives plan to employ a number of strategies to grow their business, including introducing new products and services (62%), engaging in strategic partnerships and investments (60%), entering new domestic markets (47%), focusing on their most profitable offerings (45%), and expanding into new distribution channels (41%).

In addition, most leaders said they plan to reevaluate their traditional service offerings, with 52% exploring in-home services, 51% considering virtual care options, and 45% exploring remote patient monitoring. (Morse, Healthcare Finance, 2/1; 2023 Business Leaders Outlook: Healthcare report, 1/19)