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Challenges such as emerging technology, government regulations, workforce shortages and increasing labor costs have driven a number of health system strategic leaders to pivot their approach for 2026. Faced with these challenges, leaders are creating new ways to empower frontline staff and upgrade patient care while trying to increase system…

The hardest work ahead for CFOs isn’t finding opportunities for growth. It’s narrowing them. In a recent conversation with “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast,” Sophia Holder, executive vice president and CFO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, described the next phase of leadership as one defined by discipline and discomfort. “Our hardest work…

Medicare Advantage now covers about 55% of eligible beneficiaries nationwide — more than 35 million people — but health systems are confronting a question that until recently felt almost taboo: What happens when participation in the country’s fastest-growing Medicare program no longer makes financial sense? Over the past three years,…

After exiting the World Health Organization in January, the Trump administration is proposing to spend $2 billion annually on a U.S.-run replacement, The Washington Post reported Feb. 19. The effort would replicate systems provided by the WHO, including laboratories, rapid-response systems and data-sharing networks, three administration officials briefed on the…

The American Hospital Association is suggesting that hospitals and health systems consider deploying “zero trust” architecture to improve their cybersecurity. The National Security Agency recently released implementation guidelines for zero trust, a strategy that assumes no users or devices are safe and they must always be verified, according to a…

Jason Caron, MD, has stepped into his role as president and CEO of Sanford Health in Bemidji (Minn.). “After more than 20 years in this hospital, one thing remains clear: rural health care works best when the community and the hospital support each other,” he wrote in a Feb. 13…

New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi | North Central Bronx unveiled a new $2 million MRI suite at its North Central Bronx campus. The upgrade includes renovated rooms and new MRI machines, which the system said offer faster scan times and clearer, more distinct images to improve diagnostic capabilities…

Walgreens is laying off hundreds of employees in two states as its new private equity owner looks to cut costs, Bloomberg reported Feb. 19. The company is eliminating 469 jobs in Illinois, where it is based, and plans to cut another 159 positions in Texas, where it is closing a…

The Lown Institute Hospitals Index named the top 10 hospitals for cost efficiency. The institute used clinical outcomes and cost Medicare fee-for-service claims for patients hospitalized from 2020 to 2022. The cost efficiency metric includes sub-metrics for 30- and 90-day cost efficiency, and measures risk-standardized hospital mortality rates against cost…

NYC Health + Hospitals has appointed Svetlana Lipyanskaya as the next CEO of Maimonides Health, pending formal approval of the partnership between the two New York City-based health systems. Ms. Lipyanskaya has served as CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health since 2020 and is part of the leadership…

Members of the California Nurses Association have called off their one-day strike planned for Feb. 19 after reaching a tentative labor contract with AHMC Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif. The union — which represents about 300 nurses at the hospital, according to a Feb. 18 CNA news release…

Shelly Schorer, California CFO at Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, has accepted a role as the system’s South region CFO, effective March 1, according to a Feb. 19 LinkedIn post. CommonSpirit South Region comprises 42 acute care, specialty and critical access hospitals and spans across Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, North Georgia and…

Nearly 90% of healthcare organizations say they must modernize operations to keep pace with mounting clinical, regulatory and financial pressures, according to a new survey of healthcare technology leaders. The 2026 Leadership Pulse Survey from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, conducted by RLDatix, found broad concern that fragmented…

San Diego-based Scripps Health recorded an operating income of $52.2 million (4.1% operating margin) in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, down from an operating income of $67.3 million (5.5% margin) during the same period last year.  Scripps reported total operating revenue of $1.3 billion for the three months ended…

McLaren Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant has named Kelly DeBolt, BSN, RN, chief nursing officer. Ms. DeBolt will lead a team of more than 100 nurses at the hospital, according to a news release shared with Becker’s Feb. 19. She joins Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care from Select Specialty…

Krista Curell, RN, was appointed president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, effective late 2025. Ms. Curell will continue serving in her prior roles as president of UChicago Medicine Crown Point (Ind.) and executive vice president and system COO at UChicago Medicine, according to a Feb. 19 health system…

Recently, payers and providers have been engaging in a slew of transparency campaigns, with some aiming to “expose” pricing and denial concerns. For example, Hospital Watch has come to the forefront, shifting blame to hospitals. “Hospital Watch is a watchdog group dedicated to shining a light on corporate hospitals as…

Nurses at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pa., have ratified a three-year labor contract, according to a Feb. 18 news release from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents the workers. The agreement covers 630 registered nurses at the 373-bed hospital. Union officials said 94%…

Providence, R.I.-based Care New England has partnered with Rhode Island College in Providence to create a pipeline of digitally educated, EHR-trained nurses and healthcare administrators, Tomas Gregorio, CIO of the health system, told Becker’s. The partnership, announced Feb. 5, aims to build a pipeline of nurses and healthcare technology professionals…

Two Connecticut cities filed federal lawsuits against Cigna, CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group — targeting their pharmacy benefit managers — over an alleged “insulin pricing scheme,” according to January filings in the U.S. District Court for the state. Along with Express Scripts, Evernorth, CVS Caremark and Optum Rx, Norwalk and…

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has divested around 35% of its portfolio since 2019, but net revenue has stayed relatively the same, shifting slightly from approximately $13 billion in 2019 to $12.5 billion in 2025. “The EBITDA is also relatively close, even though we have 35% fewer facilities,” Kevin Hammons,…

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage has named four new leaders. The appointments come less than a year after the hospital named five new C-suite leaders, including a new CEO. Melissa Butler was named COO, according to a Feb. 5 hospital statement shared with Becker’s. She brings…

Optum has launched Value Connect, an AI-powered platform designed to help payers and providers operationalize value-based care models by combining clinical, operational and financial data into a single system. The platform uses AI across quality measures, utilization patterns and risk indicators to flag patients who need intervention and route next…

Michael Porter defined value as outcomes divided by cost1. Healthcare embraced the equation quickly but applied it unevenly. For decades, nurses have been treated primarily as a cost to be managed rather than as the people and capability that make outcomes possible. They are bundled into room charges, excluded from…