Radio Advisory 282: What CEOs need to know in 2026 (Part 2)
Jan 20, 2026
Max Hakanson, Advisory Board expert on payer and employer strategies and specialty drug management. Natalie Trebes, Advisory Board expert on healthcare strategy, cost management, and behavioral health. They unpack rising spend, purchasers handing off outcomes to third parties, PBMs and startups reshaping obesity and GLP-1 care, tech platforms altering behavioral health, and how AI, wholesalers, and variable copay plans are shifting influence in healthcare.
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Why Traditional Cost Controls Fail
- Utilization, drug prices, coding sophistication, and an aging sicker population are driving medical cost growth.
- These combined forces explain why traditional purchaser levers alone no longer contain spending.
Vendors Starting To Own Outcomes
- Health plans increasingly delegate outcomes management to specialized vendors who take responsibility for patient cohorts.
- This represents a shift from subcontracting tasks to vendors owning care pathways for specific diseases or treatments.
PBMs Move Into Care Coordination
- PBMs are expanding from drug procurement into holistic GLP-1 and weight-management programs offering coaching, nutrition, and medication management.
- This is a major role shift from supply function to patient-facing care coordination.