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As Medicare turns 60, new challenges are on the horizon: from site-neutral reforms to payment model shifts. These challenges will be compounded by the One Big Beautiful Bill’s impact. A proactive response will help ensure that hospitals remain vital community institutions in the decades ahead.

A recent Vizient benchmarking survey found the top barrier to implementing AI is a lack of clear return on investment. A successful AI strategy must include a clear prioritization framework and a deeper understanding of value.

Multi-year health plan products have the potential to change a lot about how healthcare business models work today.

The challenges that hospitals and health systems currently face are amplifying this complexity, from uncertainty about potential changes to federal healthcare policy—including Medicaid and NIH funding cuts and tariffs—inflation, and ongoing workforce challenges.

Senior healthcare leaders and board members routinely ask us the following two questions.

Assessing the future of healthcare price transparency requires taking a couple of steps back to review its recent history.

Possible limitations on state directed payment programs could have a significant impact on many hospitals’ bottom line. Organizations should act now to model the impact and identify steps that could help mitigate it.

The hospital and health system leaders we work with are extremely concerned about the financial impact their organizations may experience from potentially significant Medicaid policy changes, following the recent passage of a budget resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The impact of federal policy changes on not-for-profit healthcare was the focus of Kaufman Hall’s 2025 Spring Rating Agency update. Our panelists from Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global discussed potential cuts to the Medicaid program, site neutral payments, the tax-exempt status of private activity bonds and tariffs and supply chain challenges.

A conversation with Rich Liekweg, CEO of BJC Health System in Missouri, and Nick Barto, president of BJC Health System

Downgrades continued to outpace upgrades in 2024 although at a lower rate than in 2023. Many of the downgrades reflected ongoing expense pressure that exceeded revenue growth. Rating affirmations remained the majority rating action in 2024, as in prior years.

It has been an incredibly busy and exciting year for our Strategy & Business Transformation practice at Kaufman Hall. In 2024, we observed hospitals and health systems take steps to reinvigorate their strategic efforts amid a stabilizing, but still challenging, outlook.