During a recent panel, hospital leaders discussed how they approach the balancing act between innovation and financial sustainability. They shared tactics such as reassessing vendor contracts, leaning into existing tech capabilities and finding creative ways to support patients without compromising margins.
Amid market shifts and shallower pockets, health system leaders are restrategizing. Hospitals across the country are juggling new and ongoing financial pressures, increasing digital health initiatives and the need to provide high-quality care.
On Monday during a session at the symplr Healthcare Operations Summit in Chicago, hospital leaders discussed how they approach the balancing act between innovation and financial sustainability. They shared tactics such as reassessing vendor contracts, leaning into existing tech capabilities and finding creative ways to support patients without compromising margins.
Hospitals’ shaky margins are becoming even more unstable than usual thanks to the flurry of policy changes made during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, noted Sandra Johnson, chief revenue officer at Maryland-based MedStar Health.
For instance, hospital leaders are strategizing how to best address supply chain issues and the ongoing uncertainties surrounding tariffs.
MedStar recently had a meeting going over the health system’s plans to stockpile critical supplies, as well as how to account for expiration and practical limitations, Johnson said.
She also pointed out that the federal government’s massive wave of layoffs has led to thousands of patients losing their insurance mid-treatment.
Many of those laid-off individuals were patients in the middle of receiving critical treatments, such as cancer care. Patients who were already on payment plans have been calling MedStar and asking the health system to pause or defer the payments while they search for new employment or coverage, Johnson stated.
“We just had a meeting to try to strategize around how we can possibly help them and still keep some kind of margin,” she remarked.
Hospitals often find themselves caught up in a tricky set of circumstances in which they must balance compassion and fiscal responsibility. MedStar is working with vendors to explore assistance programs for insurance premiums, as well as copay support to help patients continue care — at the same time, the health system is managing tight margins and can’t jeopardize financial stability, Johnson explained.
Another panelist — Taylor Hamilton, chief consumer officer at Tennessee-based Ballad Health — noted that her organization is currently in the midst of budgeting, and it’s feeling the squeeze just like its peers.
“I went back to my team and said let’s look back at all of our vendor partners that we have. Everyone’s evolving constantly. I mean, symplr has this new wonderful product, and Epic is rolling out all these new things with MyChart from the consumerism side. And we’re already paying for these — it’s already in our contract. Let’s go back to a clean slate — like we’ve never had an engagement with this vendor before, even though we have a contract — and figure out what we have, what we need, and where the gap is,” Hamilton remarked.
On the marketing and consumerism side of things, Ballad is planning to bring on zero new vendor partners for the next two years, she stated.
“[The plan] is to leverage our existing partnerships and optimize those current contracts, because there’s all of these tools that we’re just not using,” Hamilton declared.
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Source: https://medcitynews.com/2025/04/hospital-healthcare-innovation/
