Most U.S. hospital leaders expect financial pressure to intensify in the coming years as affordability concerns, policy changes, workforce
FTI Consulting’s third annual Hospital Operations Outlook Survey found that 92% of hospital leaders expect major or moderate effects on their financial performance over the next decade. The firm said this year’s findings point to a more connected set of challenges affecting financial stability, workforce capacity, and patient care.
Hospital executives also identified physician recruitment constraints, cybersecurity and data privacy, and workforce shortages and burnout as key pressures. According to the survey, 86% of respondents cited physician recruitment constraints, while 57% pointed to data security and privacy concerns and 39% cited workforce shortages and burnout.
The survey also found that hospitals are continuing to expand digital capabilities, with 92% of respondents operating digital front doors and 89% supporting integrated virtual-to-physical care models. However, patient wait times have continued to rise, averaging five or more hours, pointing to ongoing challenges around patient throughput and staffing.
Cybersecurity and data privacy have also moved higher on hospital leaders’ priority lists. In last year’s survey, AI applications in hospital operations ranked as the top technology concern. This year, cybersecurity and data privacy tied as the leading concern at 57%, while AI concerns fell below 40%, suggesting hospitals may be becoming more comfortable with AI governance.
Lauren Crawford Shaver, Head of the Americas Healthcare & Life Sciences practice within FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications segment, said hospitals are facing heightened scrutiny as affordability and reform remain central policy issues. “The leaders and hospitals that will emerge out of these challenging times will be those that zoom up, see the big picture, and chart a path forward that addresses the problems of today, while planning for the ones of the future,” she said.