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The Strategist in Brief: October 29, 2026 · The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch

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  Anika: This is the Strategist in Brief for October twenty-ninth, twenty twenty-six, your quick audio rundown of the top headlines from Strategy Catalyst newsletter.
• 0:13
  Anika: Here's what strategy leaders should know this week.
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  Anika: This week's edition features our quarterly What's Next Digest, with three predictions for the fourth quarter and beyond.
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  Anika: First, regardless of which party controls Congress after the midterms, healthcare policy will favor bipartisan affordability measures such as price transparency, site-neutral payment, and three forty B reform.
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  Anika: Second, Oscar Health is poised to take a larger share of the shrinking market for individual insurance, making it a more consequential player.
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  Anika: And third, AI consumption spend will grow faster than health system IT budgets through twenty twenty-seven, even if average token prices fall.
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  Anika: Be sure to check out the full version on the web for the complete analysis behind each prediction.
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  Anika: Moving on to our market scans.
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  Anika: Bon Secours Mercy Health affiliate Healthspan Partners, agreed to acquire and take Surgery Partners private in a deal that values the company at five point seven billion dollars, with the transaction expected to close in the first quarter pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
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  Anika: Many of the largest national ambulatory surgery center chains might soon be owned by health systems or providers like UnitedHealth Group leaving fewer options for other health systems thinking about copying this playbook for growth Chicago-based Rush University System for Health and Endeavor Health announced plans to combine into a 12-hospital system.
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  Anika: A key dynamic to watch is the impact on referral flows.
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  Anika: The merger could pay off if Endeavor patients who need tertiary and quaternary care go to Rush rather than the academic centers that receive them today Home-based care operator Dispatch Health is scaling back an offering for health systems that deployed advanced practice clinicians into patient homes to help avoid emergency department visits.
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  Anika: The shift is part of a broader reorganization to separate the company's clinical staffing business from its logistics and remote monitoring technology offerings.
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  Anika: Clinical staffing is already a core competency for health systems, but technology often isn't In policy news, A new executive order signed by President Trump directs the Department of Health and Human Services through the National Institutes of Health to create a Women's Health Division and creates a White House task force to coordinate federal efforts.
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  Anika: The order emphasizes healthcare research that translates findings into clinical care, but it doesn't commit any new funds.
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  Anika: And finally, this week's featured graphic highlights new survey data from the Commonwealth Fund that finds the uninsured rate for working age adults rose to eleven point two percent in July twenty twenty-six, up from eight point nine percent in twenty twenty-four.
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  Anika: The survey is an early warning that coverage losses are already beginning.
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  Anika: It will likely be several months before federal data confirms the trend.
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  Anika: Be sure to check out the full newsletter to see the graphic.
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  Anika: That concludes this week's edition.
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  Anika: Be sure to check out the full version on the web at hmacademy.com.
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  Anika: Thanks for listening.