New Declaration from Carenet Health Urges Healthcare Leaders to Address Unsustainable Costs Stalling Business and Care Outcomes

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As healthcare organizations contend with rising financial pressures, widespread burnout, and declining patient trust, Carenet has issued an industry call to action urging leaders to confront the hidden costs holding healthcare back.

The “Healthcare Costs Too Much to Ignore” declaration identifies five major categories of costs, beyond the obvious financial ones—operational waste, workforce burnout, eroded trust, declining care quality, and technology misalignment—as critical barriers to progress. The call to action comes amid mounting evidence that these burdens are unsustainable:

• $1 trillion in annual waste, by some estimates
• Nearly 1 in 5 clinicians considering exit due to burnout
• A healthcare system that spends twice as much as peer countries, amounting to nearly $15k per person per year and 18% of our GDP, yet delivers worse outcomes

“The U.S. has the greatest healthcare in the world, but the costs of delivering it are too great to ignore – and they aren’t just financial anymore,” said John Erwin, CEO and Founder of Carenet. “They’re human. Operational. Reputational. And they’re directly impacting growth, retention, and the ability to deliver better care. This declaration is an invitation for leaders to step back, reassess the real impact of complexity, and start building smarter, more sustainable systems.”

The declaration offers a framework to help organizations identify root causes of drag and redirect resources toward scalable, high-impact change. Focus areas include:

• Moving beyond surface-level cost containment to unlock long-term strategic value
• Strategically aligning technology, talent, and operations to reduce friction and drive efficiency
• Recognizing how system breakdowns erode trust among patients and employees
• Pinpointing the right areas to apply AI, automation and other innovations to optimize experiences and lower costs
• Creating cross-functional momentum around sustainable, enterprise-wide improvements

Carenet shared this point of view as part of its Powering Change campaign—an initiative designed to help healthcare leaders rethink performance through the lens of engagement, efficiency, and outcomes.

The full document is available for download here.

Join Carenet and this movement to Power Change at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas, Oct. 19-22. Carenet is an AI Pavilion sponsor and partnering with healthcare leaders to orchestrate AI to transform healthcare experiences.

About Carenet Health

Carenet Health is a tech-enabled healthcare services company dedicated to co-creating value with payers, providers, and health technology partners. For over 20 years, Carenet has combined advanced technology, data insights, clinical expertise, and global talent to improve engagement, efficiency, and meaningful business and health outcomes. To learn more about how Carenet is Powering the Business of Healthcare, visit carenethealth.com.