Staff shortages and financial challenges have become critical issues in healthcare delivery. As we move towards 2025, there is increasing pressure from various stakeholders for greater accountability and transparency. In our recently published Numerof & Associates 2025 Healthcare Delivery Outlook, we outline the current situation and potential solutions.

Redefining Healthcare in 2025 - From Crisis to Opportunity

Staff Shortages and Their Impact

In recent years, staffing shortages have become a widespread problem across the healthcare industry. From nurses to physicians and hospital staff, the shortage has led to large-scale labor disputes and providers seeking alternative employment. One report shows that compared to 27 other industries, healthcare ranks last in terms of employee satisfaction with pay. Healthcare employees also score lower than those in other industries in terms of intent-to-stay, engagement, and experience compared to their expectations. This shortage is not only affecting individual providers but also organizations. Small independent physician practices are overwhelmed by regulatory and reporting burdens, lacking the necessary infrastructure and technology. Even large health systems face strong headwinds, with wage and general inflation increasing operating costs and weakening balance sheets. Industry consolidation continues as health systems try to integrate recently acquired providers into their networks and care delivery models.

The Need for a New Approach

2025 represents a pivotal year for healthcare delivery. Dissatisfaction across all levels of the system has created an opportunity to rethink outdated models. By adopting a new, holistic approach that ties payment to outcomes that matter to patients, healthcare organizations can create value for patients while controlling costs. As stated in "Bringing Value to Healthcare", we need to change the underlying business model. This includes prioritizing transparency in cost and quality, connecting payment with relevant outcomes, and requiring accountability across the continuum. Patient-consumers should be able to easily access relevant data to make informed decisions when shopping for providers and health plans.

The Role of Government

In 2025, the federal government will take a closer look at the bureaucracy and reporting requirements that drive up costs without adding value to consumers. The incoming administration understands that the current regulatory environment is distorting the market and increasing the cost of care. A core pillar of the Trump Republican Platform for the U.S. economy is to "slash regulations that stifle jobs, freedom, innovation and make everything more expensive." At the same time, government-mandated transparency will accelerate the development of tools for comparison shopping for non-emergent care. President Trump pushed for price transparency requirements for hospitals during his first term, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in 2020 despite resistance from healthcare providers. In the recent vice-presidential debate, Trump's future Vice President J.D. Vance also emphasized the importance of this issue.

Provider Responses

Providers must respond to the changing landscape by fundamentally rethinking their business models. Traditional cost-cutting measures will not be enough; success will require redesigning care delivery to focus on patient-centricity, efficiency, and measurable outcomes. Forward-thinking organizations will accelerate their participation in capitated models and pursue direct contracting with employers to stabilize revenue. They will continue to emphasize total cost of care to strengthen integration across the care continuum, expand access through urgent care and home health solutions, and address health equity through community partnerships.

The Turning Point in 2025

Healthcare delivery is at a turning point in 2025. Growing dissatisfaction across all levels of the system has created the opportunity for productive change. Innovative, system-level thinking is needed from both the private and public sectors. The path to better outcomes at lower cost of care and a more sustainable, patient-centered model requires a willingness to rethink decades-old care delivery and payment models. Some promising developments suggest that the time has come to embrace this shift, as both government and private sector efforts begin to align towards greater accountability and transparency in care delivery.