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Oct 7–8, 2027 Meeting, Boston

Join fellow community hospital CEOs for a candid, practical two-day discussion focused on the challenges facing independent community hospitals.

The Economics of the Independent Community Hospital: Managing Costs, Preserving Margins and Competing in a Consolidating Healthcare Market

Zack Cooper, PhD

Associate Professor of Public Health and Economics, Yale University Director of Health Policy, Yale’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy

Community hospital CEOs are operating at the intersection of two competing realities: intense pressure to reduce the cost of healthcare and the equally urgent need to maintain the financial strength necessary to serve their communities.

This fireside conversation will draw on Zack Cooper’s research into hospital markets, healthcare spending, consolidation and competition to explore what those forces mean specifically for leaders of independent and community hospitals. Rather than a broad discussion of healthcare policy, the session will focus on the practical economic questions facing CEOs:

Where can hospitals meaningfully reduce costs without compromising quality?
How can they contribute to lowering healthcare spending while protecting already-thin margins?
And what does it take for an independent community hospital to remain competitive as health systems continue to consolidate?

Zack Cooper, Associate Professor of Public Health and Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University; Director of Health Policy, Yale’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy

Professor Cooper is a health economist whose work is focused on producing data-driven scholarship that can inform public policy. In his academic work, he has analyzed the impact of competition in hospital and insurance markets, studied the influence of price transparency on consumer behavior, investigated the causes of surprise out-of-network bills, and examined the influence of electoral politics on health care spending growth.

Cooper has published his research in leading economics and medical journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the New England Journal of Medicine. He has also presented his research at the White House, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Cooper received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his PhD from the London School of Economics, where he received the Richard Titmuss prize for Best PhD thesis.

Dennis Sullivan

Founder & CEO, 40 Groups, Inc.

Dennis is an experienced executive, entrepreneur, professor, and author. He has launched or turned around more than 100 products and businesses. He has also served as a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, recently named one of the world’s top business professors, and serves on the faculty of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. He is a professor at the Community College of Baltimore where he also serves as Executive Director of CCBC Center for Business Innovation & Trades that has helped launch 65 new businesses in mostly underserved communities.

Seth Kerker

President, Community Hospital CEO Network

Seth Kerker is an executive community builder with more than 30 years of experience creating professional networks, membership organizations and forums for CEOs, CFOs and other C-suite leaders. His career has focused on bringing senior executives together around shared challenges and opportunities, based on a simple principle: the greatest value comes from being in the right room, with the right peers, having conversations they cannot have elsewhere. Seth has held senior leadership roles with The Institutes, PEI Group, The Economist and American Conference Institute, building executive communities in more than 25 countries and working with thousands of senior leaders and industry experts.

Agenda

Thursday, October 7, 2027

6:00 PM–8:00 PM

Opening Evening Dinner & Cocktail Reception
(spouses and partners welcome)

Friday, October 8, 2027

7:30 AM– 8:30 AM
Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Welcome and Group Introduction

Seth Kerker, President, Community, Hospital CEO Network

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Featured Discussion: The Economics of the Independent Community Hospital: Managing Costs, Preserving Margins and Competing in a Consolidating Healthcare Market

Zack Cooper, Associate Professor of Public Health and Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University; Director of Health Policy, Yale’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Applying the Economic Trends & Forecasts to Your Community Hospital

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Morning Break

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Roundtable Discussions on Current Challenges/Opportunities

12:30pm – 1:30pm
Networking Lunch

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM
Deep Strategic Thinking on the #1 Challenge Facing Your Community Hospital Today

2:15 PM – 3:00 PM
Roundtable Discussions on Current Challenges/Opportunities

3:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Afternoon Break

3:15 PM – 4:00 PM
Best Practices Workshop

4:00 PM – 4:45 PM
Turning Ideas into Action – Practical Steps for Implementing Your Take-Home Plans

Next Meetings

Oct 7–8, 2027
Boston, MA

Feb 3–4, 2028
Phoenix, AZ

May 11–12, 2028
Denver, CO

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