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In an increasingly competitive environment, colleges and universities must define and assert where they have a competitive advantage and ensure that they are reaching their full market of potential enrollees. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to enhance market essentiality.

A question often asked by health system leaders is what will be required for future success. Responses from some of Kaufman Hall’s smartest consultants are featured in this new blog from Ken Kaufman. One common element: The need to make and stick with really hard decisions.

As healthcare market conditions continue to stabilize after several years of pandemic-era volatility, many hospital and health system leaders are revisiting their organizations’ strategic options for long-term sustainability.

The new generation of weight-loss drugs has the potential to help reduce prevalence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, two of the most prevalent chronic conditions. How might that affect hospital operations and capital and financial planning?

Strategic planning and financial planning are highly interrelated and interdependent disciplines. Institutional financial literacy creates the perfect environment and means of communication in which an integrated strategic financial planning process can thrive.

Promoting financial literacy serves two important purposes. First, it makes everyone aware of the institution’s current financial health. Second, it makes everyone aware of what will be required to ensure the institution’s financial health over the long term.

The many forces driving some hospitals to financial distress make it impossible to maintain the status quo. Leaders can move beyond a binary close-or-don’t-close decision to reconsider what it means to deliver healthcare in communities that struggle to support a hospital.

In recent years, many healthcare organizations have invested less effort in long-range financial planning to confront more immediate challenges to their margins and balance sheets.

Health system leaders focused on the day-to-day needs of their organization can sometimes lose sight of key developments in other sectors of healthcare. But in an interconnected healthcare ecosystem, understanding the trendlines their payer counterparts are facing is an essential task.

Some colleges are pursuing athletic program expansion to boost enrollment and tuition revenue. The key question is whether this strategy will boost the institution’s financial performance as well.

This past year in higher education has been fraught with challenges, both new and chronic. A focus on objective assessment, planning, and preparation will be vitally necessary to survive the ever-changing weather of higher education.

Higher education is facing a crisis of confidence in the value of a college degree, with risk implications for enrollments, tuition pricing, and capital spending. Avoiding these risks begins with finding and quantifying the appropriate “corridor of control” for your institution.