Read the Gist Weekly for February 27, 2026 — expert analysis on the latest healthcare trends, including measles outbreaks, major hospital strikes ending, Medicare trust fund projections, and industry policy shifts to help leaders stay informed.

As care expands beyond inpatient settings and quality scrutiny grows, hospitals must elevate clinical documentation integrity into a strategic, enterprise-wide capability supported by aligned leadership, strong processes, and thoughtful technology to accurately reflect patient complexity and performance.

The last decade in healthcare has focused on building scale through mergers, diversification and integration. But scale alone does not guarantee coordination, access or performance. In this perspective, Vizient CEO Byron Jobe explains why systemness in healthcare is no longer a strategic preference but an operational imperative.

Explore how the rural family physician workforce is declining, what structural challenges are driving shortages, and potential solutions from experts on the Kaufman Hall Gist Healthcare Podcast.

As the use cases for artificial intelligence-enabled solutions (AI) continue to expand, many health system financial leaders are asking what the “right” level of IA investment is for their organization. against other priorities.

The most recent National Hospital Flash Report highlights stabilizing hospital margins at the end of 2025.

Expanded pre-merger reporting rule struck, Amazon Pharmacy expands, younger adults are getting sicker

Learn why healthcare strategic partnerships falter and how to improve outcomes with credible business cases, aligned incentives, durable structures, rigorous due diligence, and simpler, effective agreements from real-world deal insights.

Explore how the loss of a family physician affects rural communities’ health access, economies, and quality of life in this Kaufman Hall Gist Healthcare Podcast episode featuring expert analysis on physician shortages and community impact.

This week’s graphic highlights data from Kaufman Hall’s recently published 2025 Hospital and Health System M&A in Review on the dynamics in health system merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.