Commentary
HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPE ROUND OF 32 RESULTS: WIDESPREAD UPSETS IN NEWCOMER NATION
The underdogs come out swinging! In the first minutes of this tournament, the championship is already busting brackets with no apologies. A major upset kicks off game play, and we have to say – we love it! As one Committee member declared in the opening rounds, “No one-seed is safe!”
Explore the interactive bracket and watch the tournament unfold weekly on our LinkedIn page, where you can join the discussion too!
Here’s how the four matchups in this region unfolded:
HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPE TRENDS
Lasting Effects of GLP1s Upsets Influence on the Presidential Election
Influence on the Presidential Election (1) was immediately clotheslined by a shocking string of three-pointers from the Lasting Effects of GLP1s (8) when the Selection Committee questioned if the election would have any influence at all on healthcare. Ouch!
Most Committee Members expressed a wish that healthcare would be a big election platform topic, and all agreed that in a stark exception, the healthcare implications of reproductive rights will most certainly be affected by the election. However, none could deny that GLP1s and their proven ability to help people lose weight – and the staggering potential health and economic implications of that outcome – are steamrolling their way through healthcare. The win goes to Lasting Effects of GLP1s in a 4-0 knockout.
“A battle of 24-hour news cycle headlines”
Proving VBC Enablement Overtakes VBC Push from Risant Health
While there’s a great deal of excitement in the market over Risant Health’s value-based care vision with superstar backing from Geisinger and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Committee consensus was that it’s too soon to know if this deal will be a game-changer. Conversely, most agreed that the value-based care enablement sector is overcrowded and overripe for a noticeable narrowing down of effective solutions across the board. Proving VBC Enablement (5) takes a 3-1 edge to upset VBC Push from Risant Health (4) for the win.
“The proving is going to be the pruning, perhaps, of VBC enablement in 2024.”
Monitoring the HATCo Effect Dominates Growing Cross-Market Mergers
Monitoring the HATCo Effect (6) dazzled in this duel, proving to be perhaps less athletic but the master strategists against the giants of Growing Cross-Market Mergers (3). The Committee agreed that cross-marker mergers are something to watch, but shared a concern that they may receive less regulatory scrutiny and are prone to fail to reap key benefits typically conferred by mergers. On the other hand, the uncharted territory and health system transformation on offer from the HATCo deal is causing quite the buzz in the industry – and among our Selection Committee, who gave it the hands-down 4-0 win for a third upset in this region.
“Health care is becoming less local.”
Pursuit of Vertical Integration Holds Line Against Achieving the Payer Mega-Merger
As the only veteran player in the Healthcare Landscape Region, three-timer Pursuit of Vertical Integration (2) did not come to lose. The Selection Committee asked for a technical clarification that this trend in 2024 is focused on the pursuit of vertical integration, not necessarily the achievement of vertical integration. That technicality – and the agreement that the Pursuit of Vertical Integration (2) is still very much in the strategic plans of both payers and providers – gave this trend a 3-1 edge over Achieving the Payer Mega-Merger (7), a trend that most members felt is only creating more confusion and misalignment in the marketplace.
“Payers have not been up to the task of materially changing healthcare in the right way in this country.”
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See the Round of 32 results in the other regions: Delivery, Payment, and Technology