2023: Recession fears grip health executives

Many hospitals expect they'll struggle with staffing next year.

Health systems can expect a difficult 2023, a new survey from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found.

Firms brace for trouble: More than 8 in 10 C-suite executives from health systems, device and pharmaceutical companies and insurers polled by the consulting firm expect they’ll struggle with staffing. More than 3 in 4 said the same about inflation.

The increased cost of capital could also delay health systems’ technological upgrades. Less than a third of executives surveyed said they'd be able to accelerate their digital modernization efforts.

Health insurance executives were more optimistic, though, with nearly half saying technology would have a “great impact.”

Explaining the difference: “Many health system leaders want to digitally transform but do not know how to pay for it,” Tina Wheeler, health care sector leader at Deloitte, wrote in a blog post.

Health insurers, by contrast, are often further along than health systems and might better grasp digital transformation’s importance, according to Wheeler.