Research Report

Dallas – October 06, 2026 -- Hospitals with greater digital investment showed stronger patient experience in 11 of 12 technology measures, according to new research from AMN Healthcare covering more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals. Of 96 statistical tests run across the dataset, 32 produced significant results, and 30 of those favored hospitals with higher digital intensity.

The findings appear in a new white paper, 'AI Starts With What Leaders Build,' based on an analysis of 2,089 hospitals for efficiency and 2,185 hospitals for patient experience, supplemented by interviews with 12 senior executives leading digital transformation initiatives. Efficiency was measured through Medicare Spending per Beneficiary, while patient experience was tracked via Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems data.

Boston – – October 06, 2026 -- Students at one Texas elementary school achieved nearly twice the national average in academic growth in both reading and science during the 2024–25 school year, according to a new research brief from NWEA, a K-12 assessment and research organization.

Researchers identify three interconnected practices driving the growth

The study, titled "The Power of Connectedness: A Case for a Coherent Instruction System for Reading and Science Improvement," attributes the results not to a single initiative but to a coherent instructional system combining a shared instructional vision, aligned professional learning, and regular coaching and feedback. The school was identified using national MAP Growth data as a statistical outlier.

Novato, Calif. – October 01, 2026 -- Only about 6.9 million of the estimated tens of millions of Americans with atopic dermatitis (AD) had a documented diagnosis in 2023, roughly one in five of those believed to be affected, according to a new CDC-funded report from the National Eczema Association (NEA).

The State of Atopic Dermatitis Indicator Report, conducted by Milliman and released with 51 state-level briefs covering all 50 states and Washington, D.C., establishes the first national baseline on AD diagnosis, treatment and specialist access. It anchors the four-year State of AD initiative and NEA's October Eczema Awareness Month campaign.

Holmdel, N.J. – September 30, 2026 -- Index Engines' CyberSense Research Lab found that 47.8% of 1,064 ransomware strains detonated in the first half of 2026 relied on directory-entry destruction, more than double the 18.3% that used full encryption, marking a shift away from techniques that trigger standard security scans.

Attackers now suppress the telltale signs security tools rely on

The lab documented new ransomware built to preserve file extensions and timestamps, maintain low entropy, and encrypt only selected sections of files slowly enough to avoid detection thresholds. One variant, Encoder, destroyed file content while leaving names, sizes, timestamps, and entropy readings unchanged, according to Jim McGann, CMO of Index Engines. A surface scan would report that data as clean, McGann said, while CyberSense identified the corruption by analyzing file content and structure directly.

London – September 30, 2026 -- A new global study from Everpure (NYSE: P) finds that 64% of enterprises operate without a formal data sovereignty strategy, even as 88% of large-enterprise C-suite leaders believe a sovereignty failure could cost them their job.

Executives fear financial and reputational fallout from sovereignty failures

The Global Data Sovereignty Report 2026, based on a Vanson Bourne survey of 2,100 C-suite and IT leaders across the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and India in June 2026, found 91% of respondents worry about financial and reputational damage tied to sovereignty lapses. Ninety percent recognize data sovereignty as a core business concern.

Austin, Texas – – September 29, 2026 -- A new national study of 8,353 family members across 77 colleges and universities finds that philanthropic giving is driven primarily by trust and visible student success rather than direct fundraising appeals. Encoura and CampusESP jointly released the findings from "Drivers of Family Giving: The 2026 National Study," based on data collected in May 2026 through CampusESP's family engagement platform.

Family members ranked trust and relevance above fundraising volume

The research shows that families who feel informed about their student's progress and trust the institution are more likely to engage philanthropically over time. Sarah Kleeberger, senior vice president of consulting fundraising management at Encoura, said the surveyed families made clear that seeing students supported and succeeding builds the foundation for lasting relationships with an institution.

New York – September 28, 2026 -- Eighty-four percent of global wealth management firms say their operating models need a fundamental redesign to capture AI's full value, yet fewer than 10% report being prepared for that shift, according to a new HCLTech study.

The report, titled "Hidden In Pl(AI)n Sight," is based on a synthetic research methodology surveying 1,066 AI personas modeled on senior wealth management decision-makers across 17 global markets. It was produced in partnership with research firm Evidenza.

Adoption outpaces agentic AI deployment by a wide margin

While 98% of leadership teams in the sector are actively pursuing an AI agenda, only slightly more than 7% are building agentic AI capabilities, the study found. HCLTech attributes the gap to firms funding AI primarily for efficiency gains rather than structural transformation.

Rosemont, Ill. – September 28, 2026 -- More than 75 million people in the United States live in a county without a vascular surgeon, according to new county-level data released by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), exposing a care gap as the population most vulnerable to vascular disease grows sharply toward 2030, when all baby boomers will be at least 65.

New mapping tool counts just 4,685 vascular surgeons across 3,144 U.S. counties

The ACS Surgical Workforce Mapping Tool, built with the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), found an average of 1.4 vascular surgeons per 100,000 people nationwide. While 290 hospital referral regions contain at least one vascular surgeon, 2,320 counties within those same regions have none, showing that regional averages mask local access failures.

Washington – September 28, 2026 -- More than 15 million Americans live in one of 1,180 US counties with no general surgeon, according to a national analysis unveiled at the ACS Clinical Congress 2026 and published simultaneously in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Study maps 12 surgical specialties across all 3,144 US counties for the first time

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill identified 201,394 surgeons practicing nationwide as of April 2025, equal to 59.2 surgeons per 100,000 people. Of the country's 3,144 counties, 951 (30%) had no identified surgeon in any of the 12 specialties, affecting 9.6 million people, while 1,180 counties (38%) had no general surgeon, affecting 15.1 million.

Jacksonville, Fla. – September 28, 2026 -- The U.S. independent workforce reached a record 74.9 million people in 2026, driven by a 114% surge in full-time independent professionals since 2020, according to the 16th annual State of Independence study released by MBO Partners by Beeline.

Full-time independents now account for 22% of all full-time U.S. workers

That share is nearly double the level recorded in 2019, marking a structural shift from supplemental gig work toward independence as a primary career path. Among independent professionals surveyed, 78% plan to remain independent or scale a larger business, with nearly six in 10 intending to continue working independently and one in five aiming to grow their operations.