The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch
The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch brings healthcare strategy professionals into the room with leading health system executives to explore how innovation, clinical leadership, and enterprise strategy intersect. Designed for strategy executives, physician leaders, and healthcare innovators, the podcast offers actionable takeaways to help organizations drive both clinical and financial impact.
The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch
The Strategist in Brief: April 17, 2025
This episode covers the Trump administration's rollout of reciprocal tariffs on 60 trading partners, followed by a 90-day pause after market turmoil, with health systems anticipating significant supply cost increases despite pharmaceuticals being initially exempted. The episode also discusses insights from a health strategy leadership forum, CMS's 5.1% Medicare Advantage rate increase for 2026, and UnitedHealth Group shareholders dropping a proposal for annual reporting on prior authorization practices.
This is the strategist. In brief. For April 17th, 2025, the Trump administration rolled out a new set of reciprocal tariffs on approximately 60 US trading partners. After several days of market turmoil, the administration announced a 90 day pause in the reciprocal tariffs and steeper tariffs on China. Other sectors targeted by new tariffs include raw materials such as steel and lumber, automobiles, and auto parts. Pharmaceuticals and electronics were exempted from the reciprocal tariffs, but the administration says they'll be subject to new tariffs in the coming months. Although details are scarce, health systems anticipate significant direct hits to their bottom lines from rising supply costs. A view echoed by rating agencies addressing supply chain vulnerabilities is shifting from an operational concern to a strategic imperative. Economic uncertainty and the risk of recession could impact consumer spending and slow m and a activity across the industry.
Health systems might have an opportunity to invest in domestic suppliers, but retaliatory foreign tariffs and increases in input costs could complicate efforts to reshore manufacturing capabilities. Moving on to our next article, top Strategy Leaders from 15 Leading Health Systems joined us earlier this month for three days of panels and networking at the Spring 2025 CSO Forum, Cleveland Clinic, CSO, Jim Coel. Led a presentation on the changing role of the CSO, discussing the many roles strategy executives play as their organization's. Swiss Army knife attendees. Discuss the importance of being an objective voice within the organization, the pros and cons of small team sizes and time management pressures. Indiana University Health CSO, Nicole Polk led a session on strategic trade-offs using her system's decision to sell its health plan to Anthem As a jumping off point on the importance of saying no. Capital constraints were a major theme of the discussion. Lastly, during a session on asset light growth strategies for mitigating risk, the CSOs debated the combination ED Urgent Care facilities that some systems are piloting in partnership with Intuitive Health. In other news, CMS finalized a payment rule giving Medicare Advantage plans a 5.1% increase in their benchmark rate for 2026. A significant increase over the Biden error proposal. Separately, the agency proposed a 2.4% rate increase for inpatient hospitals. The rate increase will be a boon for MA plans and could relieve some of the margin pressure that has encouraged more aggressive behavior on prior authorizations and denials. The American Hospital Association expressed disappointment with the proposed increase for inpatient hospitals, but the proposed rules request for information. Could give health systems an opportunity to influence the new administration's make America healthy again. Agenda. And now our final piece of news. A group of United Health Group shareholders has dropped their proposal to require an annual report on how business practices like prior authorization, restrict access and worsen medical outcomes following significant pushback from the company. While the proposed report would probably be too high level to offer health systems much in terms of actionable intel, the company's poor reputation among both policymakers and providers is a legitimate risk for its bottom line in the longer term, and a mandated report would've forced the company to outline those risks in intangible fiduciary terms. That concludes this week's strategist. In brief, be sure to check out the full version on the web@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.