Welcome to Gist Insights, where we share our thinking on healthcare trends and key issues facing the industry, and provide actionable guidance for CEOs and senior executives.
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Featured Insight
Preparing for generations of Medicare growth
by Gist Healthcare, Sep 24, 2021
The healthcare industry is now at the peak of the long-awaited transition of the Baby Boom generation into Medicare. The “greying” of the Boomers will…
Younger hospital nurses leaving the profession altogether
The prevailing opinion earlier this year was that the hospital registered nurse (RN) shortage was being driven by older nurses retiring early or leaving hospital employment for less-demanding care settings…
Hospitals face increasing competition for lower-wage workers
Although the nursing shortage has attracted much attention in recent months, the healthcare workforce crisis is hitting at all levels of the labor force. As the graphic below shows, the attrition rate for…
Anticipating the end of the public health emergency
The Biden administration recently signaled that it will extend the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which has been in place for nearly two-and-a-half years, beyond its current July 15 expiration date.…
How other industry players are expanding their healthcare platforms 
Last week, we introduced our framework for value delivery as a “healthcare platform”, in which an organization’s proximity to both the consumer and to the premium dollar determines how it…
Becoming a healthcare platform
As we’ve been discussing over the past few years, several environmental forces—shifting consumer behavior, evolving demographics, new technology, and a flood of new market entrants—are pushing health systems to adopt…
The domino effect of missed cancer screenings
From delayed check-ups to postponed elective procedures, missed or deferred care during the pandemic will continue to strain the healthcare delivery system for the foreseeable future. The graphic below shows…
Hospital volume return remains uneven, while virtual care holds
More than two years after the pandemic’s onset, some types of hospital volume still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. The graphic below uses recent data from analytics firm Strata Decision Technology to…
Healthcare’s impact on global warming
In honor of Earth Day, our graphic this week breaks down healthcare’s carbon footprint. Each year, the US healthcare sector emits around 540M metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (a…
Investment gains masking health system operating margin difficulties
The combination of the Omicron surge, lackluster volume recovery, and rising expenses have contributed to a poor financial start of the year for most health systems. The graphic below shows…
Rising turnover, agency costs compound hospital labor problems
Even as COVID admissions continue to wane, hospitals report that workforce shortages persist. The impact on hospital finances is stark: as shown in the graphic below, there has been an eight percent increase in…
