No hospital or health system leader can afford inaction amid intensifying margin pressures and a rapidly restructuring market.

Employers, retailers, and health plans are all searching for disruptive solutions to bend the health care spending curve. At the same time, mega-mergers and a new wave of vertical integration are creating different-in-kind delivery systems. In the public sector, states and the federal government are picking up cues as to what works—and embedding those mechanisms into provider reimbursement and regulation.

Beyond new threats of disruption, hospitals and health systems face unprecedented financial challenges. Purchasers increasingly seek to commodify the acute care business to drive down prices. At the same time, volumes are stagnating, further eroding the financial performance of hospitals and health systems. Expense growth continues to outpace revenue growth, and operating margins have hit a record low at not‑for-profit hospitals.

As a result, developing a comprehensive margin management strategy—one that includes sustainable approaches to both cost control and revenue growth—must be the central priority for CEOs and their executive teams in 2019.

This is the key to achieving financial viability and securing the strategic flexibility necessary to respond to new market entrants and disruptors. Download this briefing to learn the top 15 insights that will drive health system success in 2019 and beyond.