Sg2 Blog

Many health systems have explored direct-to-employer opportunities at some level in recent years, but there needs to be more traction to show for these efforts. It is no secret that employer-funded commercial health insurance has provided the financial margin for providers, payers, benefits advisers and others in the ecosystem. Despite offerings from new entrants and incumbents designed to help em...

At Sg2, our job is to stay ahead of changing health care trends—and to help you, our members, proactively navigate industry change to benefit your top lines. Over 10 years ago, we introduced the smart growth concept because we foresaw the need for a course change in health care strategy. Smart growth challenged members to invest in services not just clinically appropriate, but also financial...

How serious are health care systems about their consumer strategy? For decades, consumerism in health care has been a “nice to have” but not a “must have.” Health care as an industry didn’t value customer loyalty because they didn’t see those utilizing their services as customers, they saw them as patients—and patients require care. Thus, the health system...

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has seized the public consciousness, signaling a potential disruption that could be one of the most profound in generations. Large language models, such as ChatGPT, are advancing rapidly, demonstrating an uncanny ability to process natural language and write compellingly (if not always accurately) by predicting word sequences. As more AI tools become avai...

Making Care Primary Model Overview On June 8th, CMS announced the upcoming launch of the Making Care Primary (MCP) model. This new CMS model aims to achieve three goals: Provide patients with primary care services that are integrated and coordinated with specialty care as well as leverage community-based connections to better address patients’ social determinants of health (SDOH) needs...

Health care providers in many markets have found themselves becoming a part of something larger than they originally signed up for. For hospitals and health systems to be sustainable during current workforce challenges and margin pressures, they are increasingly joining large networks to drive revenue. As a result, the health care industry is seeing record numbers of mergers and acquisitions, ofte...

As part of Sg2’s value-based care (VBC) analysis and market research, we review the quarterly earnings calls from a subset of publicly traded legacy payers and VBC-focused entrants. The summary is designed to highlight emerging trends and dynamics in these closely related industries, especially as they tie to VBC. The following post draws from recently released earnings call transcripts fro...

The health care industry is facing economic headwinds: surging inflation, pandemic-driven staffing shortages and rising competition from novel disrupters. About half of all hospitals reported a loss in 2022, according to Kaufman Hall, and the outlook for 2023 isn’t much better. Today’s conditions demand a new business model, one that centers on customers first—not products or s...

Our opinions, beliefs and values influence our choice of words and phrases. However, we are not always conscious of the reverse — that our choice of language can influence our opinions, beliefs, and values. This is a highly overlooked factor in humans’ adaptability to change. When we use terms that have a significant and emotional meaning in one context to another, we bring that contex...

The Kaiser-Geisinger Partnership Enables Value-Based Care The newly announced deal between Kaiser Permanente and Geisinger could turn out to be one of the most impactful health system partnerships in recent years. The deal is subject to regulatory review, but if it goes forward, Geisinger will join Risant Health, a new nonprofit formed by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals with an emphasis on value-ba...