Global consulting firm AlixPartners has released its inaugural U.S. Healthcare & Life Sciences Distress Test Survey of 200 U.S.-based operators, investors, and advisors.
The survey report, available for free viewing here, “digs into what’s behind this elevated distress and, more importantly, how industry leaders are responding.” While the numbers won’t necessarily surprise many perioperative leaders, they put the challenges facilities and systems are facing into sharp focus, and the full report provides a wealth of survey data that leaders can put to use.
Some of the survey’s top-line findings:
- The top three “distress drivers” for the healthcare sector are high labor costs/workforce shortages (51%), regulatory and policy uncertainty (44%) and declining reimbursement rates (44%).
- “Strategic M&A activity is a priority for 77% of healthcare respondents over the year ahead, but only 23% feel very prepared to act on an accelerated timeline.”
- Among “constraints,” financing and cost of capital topped the list, followed by limited due diligence capacity and regulatory uncertainty.
- In terms of “sources of reimbursement pressure,” 71% cited public rates, followed by denials (54%), commercial rates (51%), and mix shifts (40%) “related to the growing number of uninsured patients and other changes, such as the share of revenue derived from commercial and government programs.”
- Prioritization of artificial intelligence (AI) integration was top-of-mind for 65% of respondents, “more than any other activity.” However, noted the firm, even as AI adoption soars, “clear, measurable, and realized ROI remains out of reach for more than 60% of operators who have implemented the various applications they were asked about…Even clinical documentation only delivered fully measurable ROI to 35% of that group.”
- Respondents reported they have implemented AI in areas such as clinical documentation and coding (84%), patient/customer relations (71%), and payor interactions, denials management, and reimbursement optimization (63%).
The full survey report, which contains many more statistical findings, is available here.
