Wall Street Comes to Washington health care roundtable

Nearly a year after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the U.S. health care system continues to adjust and adapt to changes in the organization, financing, and delivery of care. Hospitals appear to be rebounding financially, with wage and supply costs easing as inflation slows. Patient volumes are up. Construction is booming, with lots of outpatient capacity expansion, raising fears of higher spending trends.

At the same time, insurers face financial head winds as utilization increases and Medicare Advantage payments remain under scrutiny. Unprecedented needs for behavioral health care go unmet amid record numbers of suicides and drug overdose deaths. The role of artificial intelligence in health care continues to expand with uncertain impact.

On Monday, April 8, the Brookings Center on Health Policy hosted the 28th Annual Wall Street Comes to Washington Health Care Roundtable as a webinar to discuss these and other health care trends. Designed to bridge the worlds of Wall Street and federal health policy, an expert panel of equity analysts, moderated by Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Paul B. Ginsburg, discussed market trends shaping the health care system that policymakers need to know about.

Topics included hospital trends ranging from the outpatient building boom to mergers and antitrust enforcement, and care innovations; Medicare Advantage trends; the impact of the Medicaid enrollment unwinding; insurer-provider contract negotiations and value-based payment strategies; private equity investment in health care; artificial intelligence; behavioral health care; pharmaceutical and pharmacy benefit manager trends; and the upcoming elections.

Viewers submitted questions for panelists before and during the event by emailing [email protected] and via X with #WallStHealthPolicy.