The Financial Squeeze

The health care delivery system is once again under financial pressure. What was once a slow boil of cost pressure has, with current and pending federal budget changes, erupted into a full-blown crisis. Executives today are grappling with a trifecta of converging challenges: accelerated shifts in federal policy, technological disruption, and maneuvering by health plans to find the most value. The mandate to "do more with less" is no longer rhetorical—it's the defining management feature at many organizations.

A new report from the American Hospital Association offers a sobering snapshot of the current state of play (see . . .