Last week, the war in Iran intensified and Kristi Noem’s tenure as DHS Secretary came to an unceremonious close. Perhaps lost in the noise was the February jobs report issued Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It showed a surprising decline in job growth prompting speculation the economy might have taken a downward turn. Some headlines….
- Payrolls unexpectedly fell by 92,000 in February; unemployment rate rises to 4.4% (CNBC)
- Employers Cut Jobs in Sign of a Shakier Economy (New York Times)
- Paychecks keep rising for American workers, providing boost to household budgets (Fox Business):
- The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, stoking labor market worries (NBC News)
- The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% (CNN)
Anticipation that the jobs report portends bad news for the economy followed the news cycle all day and through the weekend. And a few, like Axios, went further: “The surprise to many was where the biggest since job growth especially in healthcare and social assistance had buoyed the labor market for 3 years.” Others attributed the decline to hangovers from recent nursing strikes (USC Keck, Kaiser Permanente, MarinHealth) and layoffs by many health systems.
To industry insiders, the BLS jobs report’s capture of declines in healthcare hiring was no surprise. Operating cost reduction has been a strategic imperative in every hospital, long-term care, ancillary and medical group since the pandemic (2020). In tandem, investments in workforce productivity enhancements via technology-enabled workforce redesign and performance-based compensation have elevated human resource management to C-suite status in most organizations. It’s understandable:
Healthcare is capital intense: it needs appropriations from government and in-flows from employers and individual taxpayers to pay its bills. Most of that pays for its labor costs. Today, most Board agenda include updates on labor relations, human resource management issues and workforce adequacy—it’s standard fare. And all weigh options to outsource and devour progress reports from HR management on AI-enabled investments anticipated to reduce labor costs.
Healthcare is highly regulated, especially in workforce activities, and labor-management relationships impact organizational performance and reputation. Every sector in healthcare is regulated by combinations of federal, state and local rules, laws and agency directives that define roles, responsibilities, decision-rights and constraints of its workforce. It’s complicated by the politics of healthcare which avoids policy changes that threaten protections sought by each labor cohort in healthcare. Protecting funding and restricting infringement on scope of responsibility by unwanted outsiders is the primary rationale for professional society’ advocacy efforts. In hospital and long-term care settings, the healthcare workforce is a cast-system that keeps doctors at the top of the pyramid, licensed mid-levels in the middle and everyone else below. In other healthcare settings, executive-level designations dominate hierarchies, and in some Boards play roles in workforce structure and compensation schemes. Workforce modernization in most healthcare settings is acknowledged as a critical need but most default to layoffs and fail to enact a comprehensive strategy.
Looking ahead, technology will alter the status quo for workforce modernization efforts in healthcare:
1-Less dependence on physician recommendations. Might patients access customized clinical decision support tools more widely in the future and make more choices themselves (especially if incentives support self-care)? Might other sources of clinical counsel be more accurate, more accessible and less costly in the future, prompting acceptance (trust and confidence) by patients? Physicians and other caregivers will play key roles, but in concert with tools and processes that enable consumer engagement.
2-More access to verifiable cost, price and value information. The underlying costs and prices for healthcare services are unknown to their caregivers at the points of care so the majority of transactions require pre-authorization by a third-party adjudicator with payments that follow. Physicians bear no responsibility for advising patients about costs and prices: theirs is exclusively the domain of clinical counsel. Thus, labor costs in healthcare presume third party payments, middlemen, incapable self-care and work rules that reinforce old ways and torpedo better ways of work. Might the role and scope of insurer activity be integrated with delivery so that “costs and quality” are directly accountable to providers? Might primary and preventive health hubs (physical + behavioral + nutrition + prophylactic dentistry + self-care enablement + insurance) become the centerpieces of community health replacing traditional insurers and hospitals? Where will the workforce choose to work?
Per the Healthcare Workforce Coalition (www.healthcareworkforce.org), healthcare workforce shortages are a near and present danger to the U.S. health system: shortages of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals are significant, especially in rural areas. The 18-million who constitute the healthcare workforce today are being told to work harder with less. It’s no secret.
In the Affordable Care Act (2010), Title 5 (Section 5101), healthcare workforce modernization was authorized: “The purpose of this title is to improve access to and the delivery of health care services for all individuals…” Subtitle B authorized creation of a 15-member National Health Care Workforce Commission to recommend modernization policies. It would have coordinated workforce initiatives across federal agencies (HRSA, CMS, MedPAC, MACPAC, GAO, et al) along with states and private sector operators to address long-term issues and short-term execution challenges. The Commission never met because its funding was not authorized by Congress.
If the overall economy is dependent on healthcare to produce an appropriate share of job growth while reducing overall costs, modernizing its workforce is key. It must include unpaid caregivers, licensed and unlicensed providers and technology-enabled solution providers—not just traditional licensed professional groups and their academic partners. That’s not going to happen in the current political environment where each sector’s primary focus is protecting reimbursement and guarding against scope of practice threats.
The health system needs transformation. Workforce modernization is where to start.
Paul
P.S. My journey as a heart patient continues to teach me just how far we have to go as a “system.” Understanding what I have been billed for, by whom, when and why is like reading Russian. As best I can see, $267,490.30 has been charged by the hospital and 13 different doctors who’ve treated me in some way. How much I end up spending after rehab et al remains a mystery but it’s not remotely close to the hospital’s “price estimator” tool. Little wonder consumers are frustrated about healthcare costs pushing its affordability to the top of their Campaign 2026 concerns.
Resources
U.S. payrolls unexpectedly fell by 92,000 in February; unemployment rate rises to 4.4% https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/february-2026-jobs-report.html (CNBC)
U.S. Employers Cut Jobs in Sign of a Shakier Economy: A weaker-than-expected report for February showed a decline of 92,000 jobs, and a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/06/business/jobs-report-economy
Paychecks keep rising for American workers, providing boost to household budgets: Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals 3.8% annual wage increase that exceeded forecasts https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/paychecks-keep-rising-american-workers-providing-boost-household-budgets
The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, stoking labor market worries: The economy has remained a mixed bag, in part because of a government shutdown and a lack of clarity over the Trump administration’s tariff agenda. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/2026-labor-market-set-begin-taking-shape-february-jobs-report-rcna261994
The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/economy/us-jobs-report-february
Sections in today’s report
- Quotables
- Health Economy
- Hospitals
- Physicians
- Polling
- Population Health
- Workforce
Quotables
AEI on fraud in welfare: Per the American Enterprise Institute paper: “For six decades, Washington has waged a War on Poverty with ever‑increasing sums of money. According to the House Budget Committee, federal means‑tested welfare spending now exceeds $1 trillion a year, with more than $12 trillion projected over the next decade. When counted as income for recipients, all that spending has reduced poverty, even as it has left growing numbers dependent on government benefits instead of their own work and earnings. In too many communities, dependency has become entrenched rather than reduced.
Another costly legacy of the War on Poverty is that this system has become increasingly vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse…
Reform today should start by restoring that federalist balance. Washington’s role should be to provide predictable funding, set clear goals, ensure program integrity, and measure outcomes. States should have more accountability for results while being given far more authority and flexibility to design the strategies — whether through stronger work expectations for able‑bodied adults, targeted supports that help families transition to employment, or new models that reflect local realities. The aim is not to abandon the War on Poverty, but to finally fight it effectively by aligning incentives with results.
The timing could not be more consequential. In 2026, voters in at least 39 jurisdictions — 36 states and three territories — will elect governors. Nearly half the country will choose new chief executives in a single election cycle.”
States Can Strengthen Families and Fight Welfare Dependence and Fraud American Enterprise Institute March 5, 2026 https://www.aei.org/op-eds/states-can-strengthen-families-and-fight-welfare-dependence-and-fraud
WSJ on healthcare job market: “The healthcare and social assistance category—which includes a wide array of jobs, including hospital workers and home-health aides—has been the main engine of jobs growth over the past couple of years. But it cut nearly 19,000 jobs in February, marking the first decline in over four years and a sharp U-turn after adding 116,000 in January.
What happened? The Labor Department said strike actions were the driving force behind the 37,000 jobs lost in physicians’ offices. Hospitals added jobs. Still, payrolls declined at diagnostic labs and at nursing and residential-care facilities. “
The Month Healthcare Jobs Stopped Propping Up the Labor Market https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/the-month-healthcare-jobs-stopped-propping-up-the-labor-market-
Trilliant (Andrews) on value in healthcare: “Instead of talking, health economy stakeholders would be wise to begin listening, seeking the signal in the noise. What frustrates politicians and policymakers and the public is that everyone wants to get what they pay for, and nobody – including you and me – really knows what we are paying for in healthcare. Even if the American public doesn’t have the data to prove this, they sense it, and they are increasingly frustrated about it…which is why Secretary Kennedy and Theo Von are discussing it.
In reality, consumers want more than value – they want a good deal. You want a good deal. I don’t know of many good deals in healthcare.
You should want to know whether your organization delivers value for money, even if you might not like the answer. Ignorance is not bliss.”
What CMS Doesn’t Understand About Consumer Price Transparency
Forbes on private equity in healthcare: “While it is tempting to demonize private equity, the source of capital investment is neither inherently corrosive nor inherently virtuous. Outcomes that patients care about depend on incentives and market structure…
But the absence of price effects today does not eliminate the need for vigilance. The most effective safeguard against rising prices is not ownership restrictions — it is competition. Encouraging entry, preserving network flexibility, and scrutinizing mergers that threaten local market concentration are far more productive than debating ownership labels alone.
Private equity is not the enemy. Losing the competitive discipline of the market would be.”
Private Equity Isn’t the Real Issue in Healthcare. Competition Is
Health Affairs Op Ed on Price Transparency: “Policy makers, researchers, and advocates have long promoted health care price transparency as a remedy for wide price variation and opaque negotiated rates in the United States. Large variation in prices for similar health care services is well documented; one study found that roughly half of variation in hospital spending across US hospitals reflects price differences rather than use. In response, federal policy has prioritized disclosure, including the 2021 Hospital Price Transparency Rule and the 2025 executive order calling for clear, accurate, and actionable pricing information. The underlying logic is straightforward: When price information is clear and actionable, consumers and insurers will, theoretically, choose lower-price options, forcing high-price providers to lower rates to stay competitive….We argue that, in the US, transparency must be paired with steerage and competition guardrails to realize savings without inadvertently enabling coordination”
Chuanzi Yue, Marisa Miraldo Department of Economics and Public Policy at Imperial College Business School “To Make Health Care Price Transparency Work, Prioritize Actionable Disclosure And Competition Guardrails” https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/make-health-care-price-transparency-work-prioritize-actionable-disclosure-and
Archelle Georgiou on ChatGPT accuracy: “40 million people worldwide turn to ChatGPT, Claude and other chatbots every day for health questions. So, a new Nature Medicine study looked at how good the responses are. The answer? AI models nailed the diagnosis 94–97% of the time — when they were given the full medical story. But when everyday people used the same tools, accuracy dropped to 34%.
Why the difference? AI isn’t “bad at medicine.” Rather, users often don’t include key details. In one example, the user asked the bot about “stomach pain after getting takeout food”. The bot though it sounded like heartburn. But, the real diagnosis was gallstones. Here’s what went wrong: the user didn’t mention that the pain was in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen and felt like waves of cramps.
Chatbots are great for explaining medical terms and helping you think of questions to ask your doctor. But diagnosing yourself? That requires context — and details matter”
arcHealth March 2025 https://www.archellemd.com/newsletter
Health Affairs Opinion on CMS New LEAD model: “Whether LEAD represents a sustainable improvement or another incremental reform will depend on CMS’s ability to balance simplicity of implementation with sufficient adjustment for social risk. If implemented thoughtfully, LEAD could strengthen care coordination for high-need dual-eligible beneficiaries and promote longer-term investment in accountable care infrastructure. If not, it may reproduce familiar patterns in which well-resourced organizations succeed while providers serving the most vulnerable communities face structural disadvantages. Moving forward, careful evaluation will be essential to determine whether LEAD advances the longstanding goal of delivering high-quality, coordinated, and equitable care for the most vulnerable beneficiaries.”
Will The New CMS ACO Model LEAD To Better Care for High-Need Medicare Beneficiaries? March 6, 2026 https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/new-cms-aco-model-lead-better-care-high-need-medicare-beneficiaries
Health Economy
EBRI Simulation Model: Retiree medical savings requirements: “To project how much Medicare beneficiaries may need to save to have a reasonable chance of meeting their health care spending requirements in retirement, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) built a simulation model allowing for uncertainty due to mortality and investment returns. The model reflects the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 cap on Part D out-of-pocket spending in 2025 and varying assumptions about Medicare Advantage and Medigap coverage. EBRI’s analysis finds:
- The predicted savings target increased slightly from last year for Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medigap Plan G and remains sensitive to assumptions about premiums, drug costs, and health care use.
- A 65-year-old man enrolled in a Medigap plan with average premiums will need to have saved $120,000 to have a 50% chance of having enough to cover premiums and median prescription drug expenditures, and a 65-year-old woman will need to have saved $146,000.
- To have a 90% chance of meeting their health care spending needs in retirement, a man will need to have saved $212,000, and a woman will need to have saved $252,000. Couples enrolled in a Medigap plan with average premiums, meanwhile, will need to have saved $267,000 to have a 50% chance of covering their medical expenditures in retirement and $405,000 to have a 90% chance.
- Representing an extreme case, a couple with particularly high prescription drug expenditures will need to have saved $469,000 to have a 90% chance of having enough money to cover their health care costs in retirement.
- Although there is significant individual-level variation, enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans generally have lower savings targets
“Some Couples Could Need as Much as $469,000 in Savings” March 5, 2026 https://www.ebri.org/publications/research-publications/issue-briefs/content/projected-savings-medicare-beneficiaries-need-for-health-expenses-in-retirement-up-again-in-2025
BLS: February Jobs report: Total nonfarm payroll employment edged down by 92,000 in February, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in health care decreased, reflecting strike activity. Employment in information and federal government continued to trend down. Both the unemployment rate, at 4.4%, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.6 million, changed little in February.
Total nonfarm payroll employment edged down by 92,000 in February, following an increase in January (+126,000). Employment in health care decreased in February, reflecting strike activity. Employment in information and federal government continued to trend down. Payroll employment changed little on net in 2025.
Health care employment declined by 28,000 in February, following a large increase in January (+77,000). Offices of physicians lost 37,000 jobs in February, primarily due to strike activity. Hospitals added 12,000 jobs. Over the prior 12 months, health care had added an average of 36,000 jobs per month. Employment in social assistance continued its upward trend in February (+9,000), driven by individual and family services (+12,000).
Employment Situation Summary March 6, 2026 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
NYT on jobs report, economy: “…The latest figures signaled that renewed vigor in the economy could take longer to materialize than anticipated.
Revisions to previous months bolstered the case that the job cuts in February were consistent with a broader decline rather than a blip. In December, employers shed 17,000 jobs, down from an earlier estimate of a gain of 48,000, and hiring figures for January were also revised downward slightly, to 126,000. Taken together, job growth for the last three months effectively slowed to zero.
Employment in February fell in industries across the board, including in manufacturing, which lost 12,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality shed 27,000 jobs. Construction cut 11,000 jobs. The most destabilizing losses occurred in health care and social assistance, whose growth had for months helped offset sluggishness elsewhere. Weighed down by a nurses strike in California and Hawaii involving 31,000 workers, the sector lost 19,000 jobs last month, depriving the labor market of its most reliable ballast…”
Jobs Evaporated Unexpectedly, a Troubling Sign for U.S. Economy https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/business/economy/what-to-know-about-the-report.html?nl=the-morning®i_id=68174794&segment_id=216285
WSJ on jobs report: “The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, a widespread and unexpected downturn for a job market that continues to struggle across a broad range of sectors.
The employment numbers, reported Friday by the Labor Department, fell far short of January’s gain of 126,000 jobs. They were also much worse than the gain of 50,000 jobs that economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 4.4%. While that is still low, the Friday report exposes troubling weaknesses in a labor market that has shown very little employment growth in recent months.
Healthcare jobs, which have propped up the labor market for months, collapsed. A strike in California was partly to blame, but it also highlighted problems in the rest of the market. Private-sector jobs fell by 86,000.
Employment growth slowed markedly last year, and the U.S. has now lost jobs in three of the past six months. Many employers have been unnerved by back-and-forth tariff policies. Expectations that artificial intelligence could reduce staffing needs have cut into hiring plans. What’s more, the Trump administration has also slashed the federal workforce…
Healthcare and social assistance shed 18,600 jobs in February, after adding 116,400 positions in January. The strike that weighed on results included 31,000 workers at Kaiser Permanente…”
U.S. Loses 92,000 Jobs in Widespread and Unexpected Downturn https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/february-jobs-report-unemployment-
Kenny Capital on jobs report: “…The latest, annual population projections for the U.S. which runs retrospective from 1980 to 2100 suggest we top out around 2080. And, of course, that would happen when the silver tsunami (grey area) is clearly grabbing more overall share. If anything, I suspect these estimates are rosy and population decline happens sooner given the powers that be are full tilt, blackout hammered on deficit spending, but you know that already…
The main outlier was healthcare, which fell in part due to labor disputes from the likes Kaiser Permanente and others during the survey period.
As you can see below, offices of physicians (NAICS 6211) was the anomaly, but even if you add back that back, growth for the sector was essentially flat for February.”
K Pow on Jobs Report https://kennycapphd.substack.com/p/bad-february-jobs-report
Derek Thompson on Jobs Report: “On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that employment growth plunged last month, as the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. Every major sector saw losses. Even health care, which has accounted for the majority of job growth in the last year, is so weak that a nurses strike in California was enough to push overall job growth into the red. The hiring market is frigid, and monthly job growth since last summer is averaging negative 10,000 per month.”
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Could Get Very Bad, Very Fast
Axios on BLS February Jobs report: “The labor market surprisingly shed 92,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate was 4.4%, the government said Friday. Why it matters: It was the worst month for payrolls since October, signaling that the labor market is on weaker footing than previously believed. And the data provides a bleak snapshot of that market before the Iran war and before Trump’s promises to reinstate tariffs injected fresh uncertainty into the economic outlook.
Economists expected roughly 50,000 jobs to be added last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said job growth over the last two months was weaker than initially estimated, including a sharp revision in December. December was revised down from a gain of 48,000 jobs to a loss of 17,000 jobs. Gains in January were revised down by 4,000, to 126,000.
The big picture: The data defies other private sector indicators this week that showed evidence of labor market healing. Health care has been the dominant hiring engine of the economy. That changed last month, with the sector shedding 28,000 jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that decline reflected strike activity.”
Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/03/06/jobs-february-unemployment-trump
Hospitals
| Chartis Report: Rural Health: Highlights of Chartis’ Rural Health State of the State report:
· Over 40% of rural hospitals operate at a loss; that number rises to over 50% in states that have not expanded Medicaid. · 417 rural hospitals are considered vulnerable to closure. · 300+ rural hospitals have eliminated obstetrics services, 300+ have stopped offering general surgery, and 450+ no longer provide chemotherapy. · 89% of rural census tracts are designated Behavioral Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), and in 13 states, that figure is 100%. · States’ RHT plans emphasize telehealth, AI, interoperability, and clinically integrated care models. Eight RHT applications mentioned CON reform. |
Study: Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) utilization, projected use: National all-payer claims were analyzed to examine the volume of RPM codes and the associated diagnoses/clinical reasons. Findings:
“The clinical reasons for RPM visits have remained fairly consistent over time, although the relative utilization has changed substantially. Diseases of the circulatory system accounted for the largest share of RPM visits in both 2020 and 2024, increasing from 49.0% to 59.8% over the period. Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, including diabetes, represented the second largest share, growing from 18.8% to 23.9%. The remaining diagnostic categories each accounted for less than 10% of visits in both years. Diseases of the nervous system declined from 14.0% to 3.8%, and factors influencing health status declined from 5.2% to 0.7%, while symptoms and abnormal clinical findings increased modestly from 3.4% to 5.8%… The five-year trajectory of RPM reflects the predictable progression of a reimbursement-enabled innovation amid a favorable regulatory environment. Following Medicare’s broad coverage framework in 2019 and subsequent alignment by many commercial payers, RPM utilization increased, with some codes reaching 350% in year-over-year growth. By 2024, growth had slowed substantially and become concentrated in cardiovascular and metabolic conditions rather than diffusing across a wide range of clinical categories.
Without stronger evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness beyond cardiovascular applications, broader commercial coverage expansion is unlikely. As spending growth and value scrutiny intensify, RPM will be assessed on measurable clinical outcomes and cost savings, rather than technological potential. “
As RPM Growth Slows, Medicare Expands Coverage While Commercial Insurers Question Effectiveness https://www.trillianthealth.com/as-rpm-growth-slows-medicare-expands-coverage-while-commercial-insurers-question-effectiveness
Physicians
HRSA Report: Physician demand: Highlights: “Nationally, across all physician specialties in the United States, there is a projected shortage of 141,160 full-time equivalent (FTE)2 physicians in 2038 (88% adequacy). In fact, 30 out of the 35 physician specialties reported in this brief are projected to have shortages in 2038, with a combined shortage of 158,990 FTE physicians for those specialties reporting shortages. Excerpts:
- “The adequacy of all physicians in the U.S. in 2038 is lower in nonmetro areas than metro areas…Supply adequacy varies greatly across specialties, ranging from 66% (a shortage of 34%) for vascular surgeons to 116% (a surplus of 16%) for emergency medicine physicians.
- The specialties with the lowest supply adequacy in 2038 are vascular surgery (66%), ophthalmology (72%), thoracic surgery (73%), plastic surgery (74%), and family medicine (76%). The specialties with the largest supply adequacy in 2038 are emergency medicine (116%), critical care and pulmonology medicine (112%), endocrinology (109%), and neonatology (106%)…”
Physician Workforce Projections 2023-2028 HRSA https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/physicians-projections-factsheet.pdf
Nature Medicine Study: ChatGPT diagnostic accuracy: Background: “ChatGPT Health launched in January 2026 as OpenAI’s consumer health tool, reaching millions of users. Here, we conducted a structured stress test of triage recommendations using 60 clinician-authored vignettes across 21 clinical domains under 16 factorial conditions (960 total responses).” Results:
Performance followed an inverted U-shaped pattern, with the most dangerous failures concentrated at clinical extremes: non-urgent presentations (35%) and emergency conditions (48%). Among gold-standard emergencies, the system under-triaged 52% of cases, directing patients with diabetic ketoacidosis and impending respiratory failure to 24–48-hour evaluation rather than the emergency department, while correctly triaging classical emergencies such as stroke and anaphylaxis…Our findings reveal missed high-risk emergencies and inconsistent activation of crisis safeguards, raising safety concerns that warrant prospective validation before consumer-scale deployment of artificial intelligence triage systems.”
ChatGPT Health performance in a structured test of triage recommendations https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04297-7
Athena Institute Physician Sentiment survey: The fifth annual athenahealth Physician Sentiment Survey was conducted online with 1045 participant physicians (752 primary care & 293 specialists) conducted by Harris Poll October 14-26, 2025. Highlights
- Physicians’ top policy concern today is access to affordable healthcare (52%) – up 14 percentage points over the past three years.
- Just half of Americans (51%) haveaccess to and can afford quality health care.
- Access to healthcare is no longer solely a patient issue but a critical challenge for physicians who deliver care. Only a third of physicians feel optimistic about the future of healthcare in the U.S.
2026 Physician Sentiment Survey
Polling
Annenberg Poll: Trust in scientists: The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania was conducted Feb. 3-17, 2026, with a nationally representative sample of 1,650 U.S. adults. Highlights:
- Career scientists vs. health agency leaders: Two-thirds of Americans (67%) have confidence in career scientists working at U.S. federal health agencies, compared with just 43% confidence in agency leaders overall.
- RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz: About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are confident Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (38%) and Dr. Mehmet Oz (42%), administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, are providing trustworthy information on public health…
- Confidence in experts outside government: People have greater trust in major health and science associations outside government – such as the American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and National Academy of Sciences – than in U.S. health agencies.
- AAP vs. CDC: On vaccinating newborns for hepatitis B, Americans say they are more likely to accept the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics than the CDC by nearly a 4-1 margin.
- Trust in CDC, FDA, NIH sinking: Year over year in February surveys, public trust in the CDC, FDA, and NIH dropped significantly from 2024 (74%-76%), the final year of the Biden administration, to 2025 (67%), the first year of this Trump administration – and fell again, now, in 2026 (60-62%)
Annenberg “Stark Divide: Americans More Confident in Career Scientists at U.S. Health Agencies Than Leaders” March 5, 2026 https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/stark-divide-americans-more-confident-in-career-scientists-at-u-s-health-agencies-than-leaders/
Johns Hopkins poll on equity in the health system: Highlights of the poll of 1578 US adults fielded September 24–October 7, 2025 conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Solutions:
- 67% agree the nation should prioritize eliminating health inequities for everyone.
- 70% say health care is a right, not a privilege;
- 75% believe everyone should have access to care regardless of ability to pay
- 81% say the health system should prioritize keeping people healthy and preventing illness.
Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Solutions https://online.flippingbook.com/view/430854979/
Vanderbilt Poll: Regulation of AI: A Vanderbilt University survey about AI regulation conducted February 20-23 with 1,032 adult participants released last Thursday found…
- 61% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats nationwide favor regulating AI.
- There was agreement across age ranges, with 56% of respondents 18-29 years old supporting regulation as well as 58% of those 65 and older.
- About 37% said they were worried about job security due to AI. Young people were much more worried than retirement-age respondents.
- 66% of respondents said the country is on the wrong track, while 56% said they believe that the country’s “best days are behind us.”
Vanderbilt poll finds bipartisan support for AI regulations – Axios Nashville
Economist Poll: You Gov polling: “Some political issues disproportionately concern political partisans. Immigration is a key issue for Mr. Trump’s Republican base, as are taxes and government spending. Democrats are more worried about health care and climate change. The chart above shows the most important issues among American adults and members of each party.”
Most important issue facing America: 2026:
- Inflation and prices 22%
- Jobs and the Economy 14%
- Healthcare 10%
- Immigration 8%
- Civil rights 8%
- Taxes and government spending 7%
% agreement from 2023 on healthcare as “the most important issue facing America” by party affiliation:
- 2023: All 12% Dem 16% Rep 7%
- 2026: All 10% Dem 14% Rep 8%
The Economist March 7, 2026 https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker
CA Poll on healthcare affordability: The California Health Care Foundation California Health Policy Survey was conducted October 3, 2025, through November 10, 2025 using a random representative sample of 2,552 adults age 18 and older living in California. Highlights:
- Half of Californians say their health care expenses have increased faster than their income. Seven in 10 Californians feel that health care expenses place a financial strain
on their household. - Nearly wo in three Californians (64%), including 75% of those with low incomes and 62% with higher incomes, are worried about unexpected medical bills. In comparison, 48% are worried about rent and 47% about groceries.
- Four in 10 Californians have medical debt, including 55% those with low incomes and
37% with higher incomes. - About 8 in 10 Californians (83%) say that making health care affordable is an “extremely” or “very” important priority for state policymakers in 2026.
CA Health Foundation Poll: The 2026 CHCF California Health
Policy Survey FEBRUARY 2026 https://www.chcf.org/wp
Population Health
Vizient Report: Chronic Disease Prevalence: Vizient evaluated claims information for nearly 81 million Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance members. Highlights:
- Despite making up 11% of thepopulation, patients with multiple chronic conditions accounted for more than half of inpatient visits, 35% of emergency department visits and 32% of office visits in 2024.
- Patients with one or more chronic conditions made up the majority (80%) of inpatient admissions, emergency department visits and office visits in 2024, according to the report.
- Patients with multiple chronic conditions generate around 10 times more inpatient admissions and emergency department visits than those with no chronic conditions, the report said.
- Additionally, patients with multiple chronic conditions have more than six times as many office visits as those without any.
Vizient https://www.vizientinc.com/
CDC: Maternal mortality rate: Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, the maternal mortality declined from 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 17.9 in 2024. At the same time, fewer pregnant patients are receiving prenatal care in their first weeks of pregnancy, risking reversal of the maternal mortality trend. From 2021 to 2024, the CDC found, first-trimester prenatal care initiation dropped 4%, second-trimester initiation rose 12% and initiation in the third trimester or not at all rose 16%. It notes 87% of maternal mortality deaths are preventable with adequate resources and appropriate care.
Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024
Workforce
Gallup: Workforce Engagement: “Women employed full time in the U.S. report higher employee engagement and stronger motivation for career advancement than men. At the same time, they are more likely than men to say they feel burned out at work. According to Gallup’s Q4 2025 data:
- Women lead men by six percentage points in workplace engagement, 34% versus 28%.
- Women are also more likely to say they are extremely motivated to explore career growth opportunities: 20% say this, compared with 16% of men.
- Nearly a third of women (31%) versus less than a quarter of men (23%) say they “very often” or “always” feel burned out at work.
For now, women’s higher engagement and higher burnout are coexisting. This dynamic raises important questions about how sustained effort can be supported, and whether unaddressed burnout could ultimately limit women’s long-term leadership trajectories.”
Women Show Stronger Employee Engagement Amid Higher Burnout March 8, 2026
