Health system margins have struggled throughout 2026, and the pressure shows no sign of easing. Rising costs and demographic shifts away from traditional profit centers now collide with newer threats: OBBBA-driven coverage reductions, rising payer denials, the accelerated outpatient shift and mounting patient obligations. These forces threaten nonprofit and for-profit systems alike, and a new five-year outlook projects industry margins could fall well into negative territory absent a deliberate response.
This session brings together senior strategy and data leaders, including Ben Gerber, chief strategy officer at WVU Medicine, to dissect these forces and map how leaders can respond.
In this discussion, attendees will learn:
- Where margins are heading, based on a five-year outlook and what it implies for systems that hold their current course
- Why leadership teams are rethinking long-held assumptions about margin strategy
- How a structured framework helps systems diagnose their own exposure and build a response