Fragile hospital finances and increasing M&A by national players continue to move the epicenter of healthcare away from the hospital. These trends are leading to a potential shift in care delivery, with national players taking a more prominent role in directing healthcare at a broader ecosystem level. In response, local and regional incumbents must decide how to scale and when to partner and/or compete.

• Mega-players with ample capital are vertically aligning care delivery assets with ripple effects on physician employment.
• Amid labor challenges, supply costs, and rising costs of capital, health systems find four different postures to pursue growth and ensure protective scale. 

Care team roles historically have relied on adding and overextending labor resources. However, the current workforce crisis is intersecting with rapid advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Leaders recognize that they can’t hire their way out of today’s labor challenges. Instead, they must make thoughtful investments in technologies that enable top-of-license care. 

• The clinical workforce shortage remains a top priority for executives who want recommendations for stabilizing the RN workforce. 
• Provider organizations will increasingly need to optimize technology investments to improve clinician workflows and efficiency, especially with recent advances in AI.

Treatment economics have traditionally been structured around procedures. However, the growing array of transformative, high-cost, and personalized therapies and diagnostics form a new era of bespoke care. This shift toward a more customized treatment portfolio will require new delivery, management, and financing strategies across all stakeholders. 

• Varied categories of ultra high-cost drugs (from GLP-1s to cell and gene therapies) will require involvement from different players and distinct investments and strategies.
• Purchasers, cautious about the upfront cost of novel therapeutic drugs, should consider new financing models to balance financial risk and patient and employee appetite for these new treatments.