Edge Perspectives

The Sg2 team of policy experts, Valinda Rutledge (former hospital CEO and a leader of CMMI) and Leslie Kamel, unpack the proposed payment changes for virtual health and Chris Pagano, Senior Director of Virtual Health, explain the strategic implications for health systems.

The Sg2 team of policy experts, Valinda Rutledge (former hospital CEO and a leader of CMMI) and Ryota Terada, Director Orthopedics and Policy, unpack the proposed payment changes around site of care and Chad Giese, Associate Principal Cardiovascular, explores the varying impact it will have across service lines.

Health care is considered a high stakes issue in the 2020 presidential election in terms of both health insurance coverage and affordability of care. In Part 2 of Sg2 Perspectives' 2-part election series, Vizient Senior Government Relations and Policy Director Steve Rixen once again joins Sg2’s Bill Woodson and Valinda Rutledge to discuss the potential fate of the Affordable Care Act as well as th...

All day, every day we are flooded with 2020 presidential election coverage, but rarely do we get a nuanced analysis of how a new or continued administration will impact policies most important to health systems. In Part 1 of Sg2 Perspective’s 2-part election series, we discuss one such policy as Vizient Senior Government Relations and Policy Director Steve Rixen joins Sg2’s Bill Woodson and Valind...

Sg2’s Principal Tawnya Bosko, DHA, and Senior Director Justin Cassidy, PhD, share insights on what the last six months of the pandemic looked like for academic medical centers, and how those challenges and adaptations are contributing to the evolution of their historic role from destinations for care to destinations of expertise. Sg2 members can dive deeper with our AMC Resource Kit . Contact the...

As Providence St. Joseph Health System’s James Harker, Chief Population Health Officer, said, “…value-based care, though,” calling out that even though 2020 hasn’t been smooth, value-based arrangements are helping health care organizations. This week, we continue our focus on value-based care with him, discussing the opportunity for business model disruption in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial p...

We all know it: 2020 has been a rough year so far. But as this week’s guest, Providence St. Joseph Health System’s James Harker, Chief Population Health Officer, said “…value-based care, though.” What he means: payment news in health care isn’t all bad, and those with value-based care arrangements are faring a bit better. In this episode, we discuss how value-based care models serve as a stable bu...

News is changing fast about the rapid progress being made to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.  Sg2 Principals Henry Soch and Jeff Moser help sort through the noise and highlight the most important things for health systems to know. Please share your feedback about this episode, or other comments with Trevor and Kelly at sg2perspectives@sg2.com

The shift to value from fee-for-service in health care was already progressing slowly before COVID-19 overtook the US. In the spring, the pandemic has all but halted elective care, laying bare the vulnerability of a volume-based model, as well as emphasizing the importance of revenue predictability. In this week’s episode, Sg2’s Principal Jim Reilly and Associate Principal Brian Esser discuss the...

COVID-19 continues its unpredictable surges and declines across the world. In the US, and across the northern hemisphere, a more predictable virus is around the corner in seasonal influenza. While we have never seen seasonal influenza during a global pandemic, symptom overlap and fear of simultaneous infections add significant uncertainty to this flu season. Sg2’s Medicine expert, Justin Cassidy,...

COVID-19 has revealed critical weaknesses in health system supply chain, which is an area long relegated strictly to hospital operations that could now benefit from strategic scrutiny by other areas of the organization. On this week’s episode of Sg2 Perspectives, Vizient Senior Principal Dr. Blane Schilling and Sg2 Principal Mark Larson change the supply chain discussion to shift away from price a...

Health care has long been plagued by challenges with behavioral health issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only brought more: an epidemic of mental illness and substance use disorders. This week, Sg2’s behavioral health experts, Principal Jayme Zage and Senior Consultant Stephanie Snider, discuss how health systems can address both new and old challenges through creative care delivery, cost avoi...

In today’s climate, health systems are focused on the short-term now more than ever. However, it’s also necessary to plan strategies across various timeframes, while navigating tough decisions on how to prioritize the multiple opportunities on their horizons. This week, Sg2’s National Vice President Jim Jacobsohn and Consulting Principal Amit Sharma join Trevor to discuss strategy leader uncertain...

Executive Summit is Sg2’s leading annual conference series that provides our members with Sg2 experts’ strategic perspective and expertise across the health care landscape. This year, the COVID-19 public health crisis took center stage, and we not only pivoted to provide our members with a virtual experience, we took on the theme of Tomorrow Is Here: Strategy for the New Clinical Enterprise, cover...

Shawn Valenta, MUSC Administrator for Virtual Health, joins Trevor and Sg2 virtual health expert Chris Pagano to share their long journey to use virtual health as a tool to improve access and convenience for patients.  Their historic work positioned them well to rapidly expand virtual visits and remote patient monitoring as in-person business shut down.  Now they are looking forward and planning b...

Skilled nursing facilities have been difficult places to both receive care and work during COVID-19.  These challenges led to changes in payment and policy that accelerated the shift to home as a safer and more effective site of care.  Jayme Zage, PhD, and Katie Elia join Trevor to discuss the trends in post-acute care that were already transforming the industry and how responding to COVID-19 has...

Health systems across the US are striving to understand the potential future scenarios for unemployment and associated shifts in payer mix caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, Sg2 Principal Mark Larson and Director Tori Richie join you’re a favorite hosts and experts Trevor and Kelly to share key findings from their payer mix research, and how these insights can help inform health system st...

This week on Sg2 Perspectives, we continue with the second installment in our Grill Bill series, with a bonus guest. We discuss the latest on how health systems are navigating COVID-19 with Joan Moss, Managing Principal of Intelligence and CNO, and Bill Woodson, Sr. Principal and senior-most thought leader.   Contact us any time at  sg2perspectives@sg2.com     Subscribe Today! Apple Podcasts Spoti...

As the Louisiana market reopened amidst COVID-19, Ochsner Health quickly pivoted to address the needs of the employers in its market. In this week’s episode, Donny Lawrence, the health system’s VP of Business Development, joins us to discuss Ochsner’s historic perspective on the value of direct-to-employer, along with what new employer needs it is meeting today and its view on future opportunities...

Growing Medicare costs had already set the stage for Medicare Advantage (MA) growth long before the COVID-19-induced economic downturn. Now, the pandemic is likely to further accelerate that growth trajectory. In this week’s episode, Sg2’s Senior Advisor on health policy, Valinda Rutledge, and our resident MA expert, Trevor DaRin, discuss the market conditions and model dynamics that support a bri...

Each year Sg2 builds our proprietary 10-year Impact of Change® forecast to project health care demand at the disease and procedure level, which can also be hyperlocalized to the zip code level. We recently released our 2020 forecast, and this week, our 2 senior-most thought leaders behind it—Dr. Madeleine McDowell and Lisa Slama—join us to discuss the trends driving the forecast in the near- and l...

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted people of color and communities of lower socioeconomic status. The role of the health system in public health is no longer optional. Sg2’s Karyl Kopaskie, Becca Segel, and Kelly Richard discuss how health systems can address the social determinants of health in the context of the pandemic, the lessons learned, and the importance of community health improvem...

During the COVID-19 surge, many patients deferred seeking care either because services were no longer available, or out of fear of contracting the coronavirus themselves. In this week’s episode, our cardiovascular, medicine and surgery, and orthopedics service line experts explore the various near- and long-term impacts that have resulted from these deferrals. They also discuss site of care shifts...

COVID-19 has forced a rapid shift to virtual health.  Now, health systems—and their virtual health teams—are thinking about the role they should play in antibody testing and digital public health monitoring as well. In this week’s episode, Sg2’s Chris Pagano and Tony Guth not only discuss what has already happened in virtual health and what we anticipate for the future, but also what other countri...

The health care industry has lagged behind others in viewing patients as consumers even prior to the pandemic and, as systems resume elective services, stakes are higher than ever.  In this week’s episode, Sg2’s Mark Larson and Vizient’s Dr. Tom Villanueva discuss health system approaches to meeting patient needs for safety,  cost and convenience in the wake of COVID-19.   Resources:  Tom hosted M...