Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1541770
16 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP center of the health delivery ecosystem for a very long time. I believe the next three to four years will be defined primarily by strategic partnerships that accelerate and improve care outside of the hospital setting or those that decrease administrative burden. Hospitals and health systems will accelerate their impact by aligning with traditional and non-traditional partners who can meaningfully advance clinical quality and patient experience while radically decreasing costs. Hospitals will remain trusted community assets but they will need to evolve as these relationships take foot and drive impact in the communities we are privileged to serve. Deborah Visconi. President and CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (Paramus, N.J.): Hospital consolidation will continue, but I believe the conversation will shi from bigger is better to stronger together. e pressures of workforce shortages, reimbursement challenges, and infrastructure modernization will push organizations to align more closely — not just through mergers, but through strategic collaborations that expand access and stabilize care in their communities. At Bergen New Bridge, we see consolidation less as an endpoint and more as an opportunity to create partnerships that preserve local care, strengthen safety nets, and integrate behavioral health, addiction treatment, and medical care in ways that reflect the real needs of the people we serve. e future won't be defined by who owns what, but by who's willing to innovate, share, and lead with purpose. Peter D. Banko. President and CEO of Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.): e Affordable Care Act drove a sharp rise in both hospital consolidation and physician employment by health systems. I fully expect the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to have an even more profound impact than the ACA on mergers and partnerships over the next 3-4 years. For many health systems, there is just not enough population growth, market share movement, and cost transformation to overcome coverage losses in Medicaid and ACA contraction, utilization reduction due to Medicaid cost sharing, and state-directed Medicaid reimbursement reductions. We envision a future at Baystate that requires tripling the size of our health plan and doubling the size of our physician- hospital network through inorganic growth, and aggressively managing systemness and scale from that growth. Perry M. Gee, PhD, RN. Enterprise Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, Nurse Scientist and Associate Professor of Research at Intermountain Health (Salt Lake City): As a nurse scientist and nurse leader, my outlook on hospital consolidation over the next three to four years is one of cautious optimism. Consolidation is likely to continue as health systems seek financial stability, workforce resilience, and broader access to value-based care models. From a nursing science perspective, this trend offers opportunities to standardize evidence-based practices, streamline care delivery, conduct multi-site research, and enhance data-driven decision-making across larger organizations. However, it also presents challenges, particularly around maintaining community- centered care, preserving nursing autonomy, and ensuring that frontline voices remain integral to strategic planning. Nurse leaders must advocate for inclusive governance structures that prioritize patient outcomes and the professional development of nursing teams during these transitions. Ultimately, consolidation must be guided not only by operational efficiency but by a commitment to compassionate, evidence-based, high- quality care. Ethel Hoffman.Vice President of Payor Contracting and Relationships at Tower Health (West Reading, Pa.): In my humble opinion, hospital consolidation will continue to accelerate over the next three to four years as a strategic imperative to keep pace with the growth among third party payer partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. With the advances in technology, this consolidation should reduce the care fragmentation the industry has seen evolve over the last couple of decades. One can only hope! Deepti Pandita, MD. Vice President of Clinical Informatics and Chief Medical Information Officer at UCI Health (Orange, Calif.): Hospital consolidation will continue to accelerate over the next three to four years, driven by a combination of financial pressures, workforce shortages, and the strategic imperative to scale for value- based care. We're seeing a shi from reactive mergers — where struggling systems seek lifelines — to proactive alliances among strong regional and national players. ese consolidations are increasingly designed to optimize care delivery, expand geographic reach, and enhance negotiating power with payers. Athena Minor, DNP, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing and Clinical Officer of Ohio County Healthcare (Hartford, Ky.): Hospital consolidation continues to be a discussion in healthcare circles, and like many other similar initiatives in the whole scheme of world dynamics, it looks like an efficient model on paper. In reality, merging hospital corporations to maximize resources only leads to minimizing the opportunity to meet patient's needs. Our organization has been successful because we know our community, we know the unique challenges facing our people in this specific location of rural America. e decisions we make are made locally and would not always be looked upon favorably by a larger organization but they are best for us and the needs of our people. When autonomy to make those types of decisions is removed because you are now a part of a larger organization, the decisions made will be best for the organization as a whole and not necessarily be specific to the needs of each community. While the business aspect of healthcare is necessary, it should be for the purpose of providing quality healthcare, we shouldn't be providing healthcare because it is good for business. Business- minded success does not always translate to successful healthcare delivery. Dorinda Mueller, MSN, RN. CEO of Aliso Ridge Behavioral Health (Aliso Viejo, Calif.): As a freestanding acute psychiatric hospital, hospital consolidation is definitely a consideration for strategic marketing over the next three to four years. As an acute psychiatric hospital with strong referral networks and high bed utilization, we will be viewed as a valuable asset to larger organizations seeking to contract for behavioral health services. Some of the operational challenges, i.e., clinical workforce gaps and rising costs, will make this idea much more attractive as seeking partnerships or mergers will help to stabilize operations. Changes in Medicare coverage limits and payment systems for inpatient psychiatric care will also influence strategic decisions over the next three to four years. As freestanding facilities face pressure to align with larger systems to navigate reimbursement complexities, I will be seeking creative programming opportunities to avoid being absorbed in this consolidation push. Rebekah Fincher. Chief Administrative Officer of Conway Regional Health System (Ark.): e financial instability of rural hospitals is an underappreciated threat to both healthcare access and local economies. More than 700 rural hospitals nationwide are at risk of closure, with Arkansas being among the hardest-hit states. Without policy and funding solutions, communities risk losing their healthcare safety nets altogether.