Sg2 Blog

I had just finished giving a presentation to a room of hospital CEOs on the current AI landscape when one of the executives raised her hand. “Is AI really going to be a thing in health care? We’ve spent over a decade installing EHRs in our system and all they have done is increased cost and burnout. And with cybersecurity threats, I feel AI is only going to make things worse,” she said. I responde...

Virtua Health is a five-hospital system with more than 350 locations in southern New Jersey, including 40+ ambulatory surgery centers, seven emergency departments, and seven urgent care centers, as well as telehealth options; its specialties include orthopedics and advanced surgery. The system aimed to optimize its digestive disease services after acquiring several gastroenterology groups and Lour...

Direct-to-employer healthcare offerings benefit from proof-of-concept, and often your employees can provide an excellent test group. As health systems pursue employer engagement through direct-to-employer healthcare solutions, two of the first questions health systems marketing their services to local employers should expect are: Have you done this with your own employees? and How did it go? Organ...

Legacy healthcare, a domain once perceived as an unassailable fortress, now finds itself besieged by unconventional adversaries. Retail powerhouses, tech titans, venture capitalists and insurance providers are collectively reshaping the healthcare terrain. The expansion of these 'game changers,' propelled by mergers and acquisitions (M&As), appears limitless, showing no regard for geographical...

Sg2 is tracking the top four areas in which innovation will most significantly impact orthopedic care over the next five years. Health systems must stay abreast of these advances to make informed technology investment decisions and seamlessly integrate new technology into their orthopedic offerings. 1. Robotics Use varies significantly across organizations, especially as procedures shift outpatien...

Increasing demand is making it difficult for provider systems’ cardiovascular service lines to maintain access for patients across the care continuum. Growth is fueled not only by the aging of the population but also a concerning rise in disease onset and acute events in patients younger than 45. Here at the start of 2025, a couple of areas have bubbled to the top of systems’ CV priori...

Numerous issues continue to impact systems’ payment and accounts receivables. Among the top ones according to the recent Vizient® Payer Strategies Network Survey: clinical and technical denials, DRG downgrades and claim delays. Source: Vizient Member Networks, Payer Strategies Network, 2025. In response, health system finance teams are deploying myriad tactics to address payer complian...

Hospital at home programs have been gradually increasing in number in recent years, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the shift to home health and virtual care greatly accelerated. Half of families are more likely to choose in-home care for their loved ones now than they were prior to the pandemic, and almost half of physicians use virtual health technologies to treat patients. Now that home is ...

Editor’s note: Answers have been edited for clarity. Sg2 was formed in 2001, and, today, our cutting-edge expertise, analytics and tailored consulting offerings help health industry leaders anticipate health care trends and provide them with unparalleled insight into local market dynamics. We are just one of the companies that founder Michael Sachs started—and grew—with his visio...

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...