Sg2 Blog

Editor’s note: Joe Cummings, PhD, Vizient Technology Program Director, authored this post, which was originally published on Sg2’s parent company Vizient Inc’s blog. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on our country’s most vulnerable populations, from who gets the SARS-CoV-2 virus to its impact on mental health and access to care. For example, the pandemic ...

Understanding the timeline: application process starts June 1, 2022 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is Medicare’s established accountable care organization (ACO) program that allows for new participants every performance year (PY). To participate in MSSP, an organization must submit an application and be approved by CMS. For PY2023, the application process is as follows: An organ...

Understanding the Transition: ACO REACH Replaces Current Direct Contracting Model On February 24, 2022, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced the ACO REACH (Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health) Model, with an application period ending April 22, 2022. ACO REACH will replace the current Direct Contracting Model (DC) on January 1, 2023, as the highest level of...

The outpatient shift is changing the high reliability paradigm for health care organizations. What historically has been an acute care and IP focus will need to expand across the enterprise as the locus of care moves away from hospitals and into diffuse ambulatory and home settings. More sites of care, workforce challenges and higher disease complexity have led to increased risk and more obstacl...

At the end of 2021, we celebrated Sg2’s 20-year anniversary with heartfelt reflections from friends and colleagues past and present. This year Sg2 celebrates another milestone: five years as part of Vizient, the largest member-owned health care company. Sg2 members have heard us speak often about our System of CARE (Clinical Alignment and Resource Effectiveness) concept, which is our ...

Sg2, a Vizient company, is pleased to announce the addition of Laura P Jacobs as a Senior Advisor in its consulting practice for value-based care. “Laura is one of the greatest minds in health care with an innate ability to see challenges clearly and successfully drive change,” says Sg2 senior consulting principal Tawnya Bosko, PhD, DHA. “I have had the privilege of having her a...

As we kick off 2022, health systems may feel they are playing out the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray, trapped in a time loop, endlessly relives a day with Andie MacDowell. The movie serves as an omen three decades in the making, shining a light on the importance of perseverance and human connections—attributes that continue to epitomize health care. It is in the spirit of forgin...

Editor’s note: Heather Ramirez, MS-HSM, Vizient Ventures Director, also contributed to this post, which was originally published on Sg2’s parent company Vizient Inc’s blog. As hospitals grapple with how virtual and digital health will change the health care landscape, it’s hard to ignore its continued influence and disruption since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly two ye...

Each year, Sg2 experts examine trends that will change health care utilization across the care continuum, which results in our Impact of Change® (IoC) Demand Forecast. Our health system members leverage the IoC forecast to revise their strategic plans, prioritize investments and redesign their health care systems. Predicting the future in this time of uncertainty is far from easy, but the Sg2 ...

Nearly 16 years ago, I made the fortuitous choice to join a small but mighty team of health care change agents at a company called Sg2. In a conference room in Skokie, IL, Sg2’s founder, the late Michael Sachs, addressed a team of about 20 new hires (representing about 20 percent of the rapidly growing company) with what I came to understand was his everyday passion: health care and our need...