Healthcare Leadership 2026 & Beyond
Healthcare Leadership 2026: Navigating the Future body { font-family: ‘Roboto’, sans-serif; background-color: #F3F4F6; color: #1F2937; } h1, h2, h3, h4 { font-family: ‘Montserrat’, sans-serif; } .chart-container { position: relative; width: 100%; max-width: 600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; height: 350px; max-height: 400px; } /* Specific height overrides for different charts if needed */ .chart-container-large { height:…
Predictive Outcome Model
Designed by Kelly Emrick, DHSc, PhD, MBA Horizon Health Predictive Model /* Base Container Styling */ .horizon-wrapper { font-family: ‘Inter’, system-ui, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; background-color: #f1f5f9; padding: 1.5rem; border-radius: 0.75rem; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.3s ease; } /* FULLSCREEN MODE CSS This class is toggled by the button to expand the view */…
Could a five-minute low-dose CT (LDCT) really save your life?
If you meet high-risk criteria, the honest answer is yes. Lung cancer is most deadly when detected late, yet it is much more treatable if caught early while still localized. LDCT screening was developed specifically for this purpose, and two large, randomized trials have demonstrated that it reduces lung cancer deaths. The National Lung Screening…
Error Management Training and Error Reduction in Healthcare
Every person in healthcare, including clinicians, technicians, pharmacists, schedulers, and leaders, works in a system where errors are inevitable because the work is complex, fast-paced, interrupted, and constantly evolving. Formal Error Management Training (EMT) matters because it provides everyone with a shared playbook for what to do when things start to go wrong: recognize issues…
Nonprofit Hospital CEO Compensation: Does Quality Matter?
In the following article, I investigated a research study by Jenkins, Short, and Ho (2024) that poses a targeted question with real policy relevance: in nonprofit hospitals, does executive compensation reward clinical performance or something else? The authors answer this question with a design that is intentionally straightforward, transparent, and easy for boards to grasp.…
Why Irony Feels Like It Strikes at the Worst Possible Moment
We have all lived the unlucky moment: the call freezes when the CEO joins, coffee lands on a white shirt before the big pitch, traffic stalls on the way to an interview. People nod and say, “Murphy’s Law.” Yet much of what we label “irony” grows from regular features of attention, memory, and control. When…
Doing the Right Thing, Even When No One is Looking
Integrity as an Operating System for Healthcare Leadership: Integrity isn’t just a poster on the wall. It’s the quiet decision a leader makes when no audit is scheduled, no camera is pointed, and no one is waiting to applaud. In healthcare, where lives depend on small choices repeated at scale, the habit of doing the…
Essentials of Radiology KPIs
Radiology KPIs only matter if they tell a clear story about patient movement, safety, and image fitness. The new KPI dashboard does exactly that. Radiology KPI Analysis – Healthcare Leadership & Management. It pairs fast, patient-relevant timeliness measures, order to scan, scan to final report, and abnormal screening to biopsy, with closed-loop communication, dose benchmarking…
How I built an interactive community diabetes model from a recent systematic review
A Math Model for Community Diabetes – Healthcare Leadership & Management After weeks of trial and error, I finally worked all the code bugs out of an interactive community diabetes math model based on a peer-reviewed article by Andriyana and Abdulah (2025). The interactive model that I designed is a mathematical model for community-based intervention…
Leadersh Write, Share, and Build Knowledge That Outlives Them
Published Books: https://www.amazon.com/author/kellyemrickphd If you care about being a leader, you should care about sharing those ideas with others. Not the decorative kind that gathers dust, but the practical notes, drafts you wrestle with, white papers you publish, and books you someday ship. Writing is not a side task. It’s how you clarify your thoughts,…
News Flash: AI Won’t Fix Obesity
Obesity is not a failure of character; it is a predictable outcome when cheap, hyper-palatable food meets biology sculpted for scarcity. AI will make care more precise and more equitable in many areas of medicine. It will not lower the calorie density of takeout or slow the speed at which we eat. The only plausible…
A Leader’s Guide to Honest Disagreement
The story starts with two people observing the same act but reaching different conclusions. One calls it bravery; the other sees it as damage. A nurse posts a thread about staffing issues that reveals safety concerns. Patients praise the honesty. An administrator worries about trust, privacy, and the unit’s stability. Both believe they are morally…
Leadership Model Explained
Leadership Success: Explanation of the Model Healthcare organizations demand leaders who can absorb incessant policy shifts, guide multidisciplinary teams, and simultaneously safeguard quality, equity, and solvency. A recent scoping review of the expanding role scope of health-system executives underlines that the skills contributing to success differ from those that guaranteed promotion a decade ago, with…
Capacity Management in the Emergency Department
ED and Hospital Capacity Analytics A while ago, I observed an older gentleman pacing outside an ED curtained bay while paramedics waited for their stretcher. He had arrived with short breath, received excellent care, then spent four additional hours on a hallway gurney because no inpatient bed was available. This is not a one-off, but…
I Should Have Been a Plumber!
I Should Have Been a Plumber! Last Friday, I found myself across a small wooden table from Dr. Martin, a medical school professor with two doctorates, a publication list that could span a hallway wall, and a résumé stretching from epidemiological modeling to biochemistry. Our discussion slipped into that familiar conversation about academic life. “What…
Building a High-Performance Population Health Strategy
Hospital executives often recognize the importance of “population health management (PHM)” but struggle to fully understand its concepts and translate it into a sustainable management discipline. The confusion is understandable. Over the past decade, insurers, consultants, and regulators have used the term to describe everything from accountable care organizations to social needs screening. Because of…
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5-Star Rating System
The Five-Star rating system may seem bureaucratic, but its core reveals where federal policymakers see value: preventive care, managing chronic conditions, empowering patients, efficient administration, ensuring drug safety, and promoting fairness. Each upcoming change emphasizes one of these themes. Hospitals that align their goals with this guiding principle not only secure bonus money but also improve…
Will Consumers Embrace Personalized Medicine?
Forecasts about personalized healthcare often present the future as a binary: either every patient will soon have a digital twin and wear biosensors that whisper customized advice, or the entire movement will stall due to privacy concerns and clinician fatigue. Reality lies somewhere in between. Let me see how effectively I can present my narrative…
Radiology KPIs: An Interactive Dashboard
Essential Step in Building Radiology Key Performance Indicators: First Critical Step: Gather and Prepare Data Sources Let’s start with the foundation: Why bother with KPIs at all? In radiology, where precision and speed are paramount, KPIs serve as the vital signs of your department. They provide a clear, quantifiable picture of performance, helping you monitor…
Calling All Radiology Leaders
Picture this: a trauma patient rolls in, time is short, and every scan must be right the first time. Your team’s speed and accuracy can spell the difference between relief and complication. That razor-sharp performance isn’t luck; it’s the product of proven methods, clear metrics, and a culture that refuses to coast. That’s why I…
Cutting the Credit Lifeline: Bad News for Academic Medicine and Universities
The dust has barely settled on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), yet its shock waves are already rattling deans’ suites and residency offices across the country. Hidden within the sprawling law, Subtitle B eliminates Grad PLUS borrowing after July 1, 2026, and sets strict limits on every other federal loan a graduate or professional student can take.…
OBBB Section (71113): One-Year Medicaid Funding Ban
OBBB Section (71113): One-Year Medicaid Funding BanSection (71113) is a provision that withholds all federal Medicaid payments for twelve months from nonprofit “essential community providers” whose core business is reproductive and family planning care, if they both received at least $800,000 in combined federal and state Medicaid reimbursements during FY 2023 and deliver abortion services outside the limited…
OBBB Section (71112): Medicaid and CHIP Retroactive Coverage
So, what are the implications for healthcare providers and patients? As healthcare leaders navigate the evolving reimbursement landscape and policy reforms, it is essential to stay ahead of changes that could impact patient access, financial stability, and operational efficiency. One such shift is outlined in Section 71112 of the budget reconciliation measure passed in 2025.…
Section 71110 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Means for Emergency Medicaid Care to Non-Citizens without Lawful Status
Every chief financial officer and chief operating officer who manages a safety net footprint is familiar with the uneasy arithmetic of emergency care for individuals who fall outside full Medicaid eligibility. Federal law requires Medicaid to pay for the treatment of an emergency medical condition for certain non-citizens who are otherwise eligible, except for their…
Breaking News: Medical Debt Back on Credit Reports
A Major Win for Lenders, Blow to Millions of Americans? Imagine waking up to a hospital bill that not only drains your wallet but also tanks your credit score, making it harder to buy a home, get a loan, or even land a job. For 15 million Americans, relief from that nightmare was on the…
(Sec. 71103): OBBBA: Eligibility Checks and Duplications
Medicaid fraud and duplicate enrollment siphon precious dollars from patient care. Recent investigative reporting found that taxpayers spent nearly $4.3 billion covering many of the same beneficiaries twice in just three years, primarily because individuals who relocated did not surrender their original Medicaid enrollment. Private insurers kept the surplus premiums while public budgets absorbed the…
The Value of Population Health
For years, healthcare systems have been innovating with programs designed to personalize services and care experiences for the growing population aged 65 and above. While it’s expected that utilization trends for adults aged 18-64 differ from those of adults aged 65 and older, a closer look reveals surprising variations even within the senior demographic. This…
Updated Language: One Big Beautiful Bill Act, July 12, 2025
Over the past several weeks, I have provided my analysis of the “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” There has been much confusion about what is in the “Act”; therefore, over the coming weeks, as the final language is set in stone, I will provide my straightforward, real-world explanation of the newly enacted”Act”. This legislative…
A Mathematical Model for Thriving Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Request your free copy! By: Dr. Kelly Emrick In the wake of President Trump’s signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, 2025, is sweeping reform to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, slash ACA premium tax credits by 20%, and reshape the healthcare ecosystem overnight, healthcare financial leaders are staring down a…
Financial Models in Healthcare to Predict Fiscal Outcomes
Abstract Financial forecasting underpins every strategic decision a hospital or health system makes, from capital expansion to population-health investments. The past decade has witnessed a rapid diversification of modeling approaches, ranging from classical proforma templates to machine-learning algorithms that scan terabytes of billing and clinical data in real-time. Additionally, financial models in healthcare play a…
Section 44124: One Big Beautiful Bill: Pharmacy Benefit Pass Through
The ground rules that govern how state Medicaid agencies may pay pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, require a pass-through model and prohibit the practice commonly known as spread pricing. When federal law uses the term pass-through, it means the state (or its managed-care contractor) reimburses the PBM for the exact amount the PBM paid the…
Section 44123: One Big Beautiful Bill: Nationwide Pharmacy Survey
Section 44123 directs new federal dollars to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through fiscal year 2033, earmarking those funds for a nationwide survey of pharmacy invoice prices. The measure instructs CMS to gather purchase data not only from traditional storefront pharmacies but also from mail order, specialty, and other non-retail channels. By combining…
Section 44111: The One Big Beautiful Bill: Undocumented Adults
Imagine a Medicaid expansion state spending roughly $1 billion a year on its adult expansion enrollees. Today, the federal treasury contributes $900 million, while the state contributes $100 million. Under Section 44111, the federal contribution would fall to $800 million. Unless lawmakers roll back coverage or raise new revenue, the state would need to come…
Section 44108 of the One Big Beautiful Bill: Enrollee Checks
Think of Medicaid eligibility as the backstage pass that lets low-income adults move freely through your hospital’s doors without fretting over the bill. Under today’s rules, most states update their laws annually. Section 44108 of the Big Beautiful Bill shortens the clock: starting December 31, 2026, every state that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care…
One Big Beautiful Bill” Section 44105: Provider Checks
Picture your medical staff office processing a locum tenens anesthesiologist who wants admitting privileges. The résumé looks solid, malpractice coverage checks out, and the state’s online enrollment portal spits back an “active” Medicaid ID. A year later, an auditor discovers that before landing in your OR, the same physician had been excluded from Medicare for…
Section 44104 of the “Big Beautiful Bill”: Master Death File
Imagine your billing office closing the books for the quarter. One report shows that Medicaid still lists Mr. Thompson as an active beneficiary, even though your hospice team certified his passing six months ago. Because the state never updated its eligibility file, you continued to send claims against a policy that, on paper, still covered…
Section 44103: Big Beautiful Bill Act
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Section 44103: Reducing Fraud and Improving Enrollment Processes Section 44103 of the “Big Beautiful Bill” addresses a loophole with a straightforward solution: build a single, coast-to-coast cross-check and require states to provide it with timely data. Picture your hospital’s revenue-cycle team checking the Monday morning remittance files. Every claim…
Healthcare Analysis: “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”: Part I: Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Over the next several weeks, I will be providing a plain-language walkthrough of sections of the “Bill” relating to healthcare. In Part I, below, I analyze Section 44305 (“PBMs: flat fees and full transparency”) Imagine you are organizing a neighborhood block party. You put one friend in charge of buying all the food and drinks…
National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2026 Goals
America’s health report card reveals a troubling story. Weight-related diseases, heart conditions, and cancer take years from loved ones’ lives and place a heavy burden on the economy. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has responded with a 2026 budget request of $27.9 billion and a clear message: scientific discovery must lead to longer, healthier…
Way Past DUE
Imagine hospital hallways exhaling in relief as the Joint Commission announces it will slash its rulebook in half, shrinking 1,551 check-boxes to 774 and distilling them into 14 clear objectives; leaders who once taped smoke-free signs on every doorway—long after such policies became law—can now spend that energy on work that truly protects patients, because…
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