Representatives from Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P Global joined us at the 2023 Healthcare Leadership Conference to discuss the impact of issues ranging from labor to consolidation to financial performance on not-for-profit hospital and health system credit ratings.

The concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence explored by Arthur Brooks in his new book, “From Strength to Strength,” offer a new way for health system leaders to look at their executive team and find the proper balance between different types of intelligence.

Watch Kaufman Hall’s Performance Improvement practice discuss insights from our 2023 State of Healthcare Performance Improvement report. The webinar features expert commentary on issues affecting the workforce, the revenue cycle, care transitions, supplies and purchased services, the physician enterprise, and the balance sheet.

The latest Kaufman Hall Report includes an inside look at strategies for successful payer-provider partnerships in a rapidly changing macroeconomic climate.

How can board members play a helpful role in rating agency meetings if they are invited to attend? Here are three ways in which board members can add value to the rating presentation.

Hospital performance in October reflects continued stabilization with margins above pandemic levels and volumes holding steady. The median Kaufman Hall Calendar Year-To-Date Operating Margin Index reflecting actual margins was 1.2% in October.

A changing interest rate environment has reopened the opportunity to consider terminating an organization’s swap position. Organizations should take a measured approach in determining whether this is an opportunity they wish to pursue.

Responses to Kaufman Hall’s 2023 “State of Healthcare Performance Improvement” report indicate ongoing concern regarding covenant challenges in 2024. Organizations need to understand the causes of covenant misses and near misses and build a durable financial plan for the future.

Explore the current state of health system growth and performance measurement; progress the industry has made in adopting consumer-centric, relationship-focused metrics; the barriers they face; and the types of decisions and strategies that arise from taking a more consumer-centric approach.

Physicians are operating at record-high levels of productivity compared to recent years but receiving less pay per unit of work. The median investment/subsidy per provider continues to increase, but the pace is slowing with only a 1% change from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023.

While hospitals’ overall performance declined slightly in September compared to the previous month, the median Kaufman Hall Calendar Year-To-Date Operating Margin Index reflecting actual margins was 1.4% in September.

Some institutions have addressed the tuition pricing problem by instituting across-the-board tuition resets. A better approach is one that combines evaluation of the competitive landscape with a careful analysis of the institution’s current academic product mix.