Strategy

Every healthcare executive in America knows the numbers by heart. Costs are climbing faster than reimbursements. Labor shortages drag on. Inflation keeps pushing the price of everything from surgical gloves to software. Meanwhile, the expectation never changes: improve patient outcomes…

Payment delays and denials aren’t new, but the forces driving them are more complex and harder to detect than ever. Many industry analyses use data voluntarily provided by hospitals to track denial trends and payment patterns, but this method often…

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the United States and the second most common type of cancer. Although updated guidelines have expanded screening eligibility to include around 14 million people each year, only…

To meet rising patient expectations, health systems need modern infrastructure and energy strategies that prioritize resilience, efficiency and sustainability. Becker’s Healthcare and Schneider Electric recently surveyed 150 healthcare leaders to learn more about their organizations’ energy and infrastructure priorities and…

As health systems continue to face escalating pressures, from labor shortages and capacity constraints to continued margin compression, leaders are increasingly exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can strengthen utilization management (UM), enhance clinical alignment, and improve operational flow. Yet many…

ECG’s Publicly Traded Hospital Quarterly Earnings Release Update for Q3 of 2025 is now available! This edition includes a spotlight on full-year expectations, with government policy emerging as a primary concern for health systems moving forward. A few notable trends:…

Healthcare is facing a delicate balancing act; systems are striving to elevate care, sustain their workforces, and stay financially viable — all at once. That reality is reshaping what progress looks like inside hospitals and health systems. Efficiency has become…

The complexity of managing clinical, administrative, and operational applications in healthcare organizations continues to grow. While many large hospital systems have invested in robust programs to streamline their application portfolios, any health system that has undergone ownership changes, faced prolonged…

As hospital and health system C-suites navigate new and recurring challenges — from policy changes to workforce shortages — collaboration among executives is essential for success. A successful team dynamic starts with the CEO understanding each executive’s subject-matter expertise and…

Financial sustainability is a growing challenge for health systems, as they feel squeezed between an increasingly complicated payer environment and unrelenting upward pressure on costs (e.g., staff and physician compensation). Against this backdrop, ECG Management Consultants sought to understand howorganizations…