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: January 15, 2026
This week's episode explores OpenAI's new healthcare-focused AI products, Cencora's new majority stake in OneOncology, the 340B rebate pilot ruling, and our predictions for 2026.
This is the strategist in brief for January 15th, 2026 for this week's key market dive. We wrote up two of our major predictions for the new year. Payvider m and a is likely to rebound, but it might change focus after slowing acquisitions due to Medicare advantage, pressure and weak clinic margins. Major Payviders still have strong cash flow and a sound vertical integration strategy pointing to renewed, but more targeted m and a. Trump administration policy will also likely be more predictable in 2026 With less political capital and more legal scrutiny, healthcare changes are expected to move through formal rulemaking, slower, more transparent, and harder to challenge while still advancing priorities like ai, private sector partnerships, the MAHA agenda and cost containment. Moving on to our market scans. Open AI is shaking things up with multiple new healthcare focused AI products. Chat GBT for Healthcare is a HIPAA compliant version of the company's chat bot that is designed to help clinicians with advanced search capabilities, care pathway management, and referral letter generation. Multiple health systems are already using the service. Consolidating multiple AI tools into one platform could help health systems simplify governance, but it also raises the risk of vendor lock-in. A second product chat. GBT Health is a consumer facing chat bot that will let patients upload their medical records and ask about everything from test results to appointment prep. Millions of healthcare related searches are already being conducted on platforms like Chat GBT, and rolling out a cohesive marketed product could massively accelerate adoption for our second market scan this week, Synco is doubling down on specialty care. The distributor is acquiring TPGs remaining stake in one oncology in a$5 billion debt finance deal. Continuing a broader strategy by distributors to move into higher margin specialty services. Distributor backed oncology platforms are emerging as major competitors for health systems. Oncology is one of health systems most profitable and strategically important service line. Platforms like One Oncology Give community practices the scale capital and support needed to compete as payers push lower cost community-based models. And for our final piece of news, a federal court ruling has blocked the Trump Administration's three 40 B rebate pilot arguing that HHS did not adequately consider the impacts on safety net hospitals. The ruling prevents implementation in the short term. But the Trump administration will likely continue to push the pilot towards implementation by going back and creating a more substantive administrative record. That concludes this week's edition. Be sure to check out the full version on the web@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.