The knowledge emerging from our research initiatives promotes evidence-based approaches to leadership development and organizational excellence in healthcare. Our work provides the healthcare industry with innovative ways to think about improving leadership, enhancing organizational performance, understanding international market trends, and more.
Every NCHL premier program conducts regular benchmarking activities that provide insight into industry trends and enable participants to benchmark themselves against peer institutions. As a result of our research and benchmarking work, a new generation of healthcare leaders is equipped with the knowledge and management tools, insights, and expertise to achieve new standards of excellence.
Leadership Excellence Networks
National Council on Administrative Fellowships
US Cooperative for International Patient Programs
Designed for healthcare organizations and academic partners, this initiative aligns leadership development with evidence-based practices and translates data into actionable insight.
Each year, the National Council on Administrative Fellowships (NCAF) conducts four benchmarking surveys. This process surveys administrative fellowship sites, graduate health management programs, student applicants (to administrative fellowship sites), and administrative fellows.
This annual data collection process, which is overseen by the Benchmarking, Metrics, and Research Subcommittee, is designed to monitor dynamics within the field of administrative fellowships, as well as the impact of NCAF activity on outcomes. Organizations that complete one or more surveys receive corresponding benchmarking reports.
NCAF also produces a public dashboard, which summarizes key findings from the benchmarking surveys.
The Annual Benchmarking Survey of International Programs in the US surveys USCIPP’s member hospitals and health systems with established international programs. Recognizing our members comprise most (but not all) US hospital and health systems with established international health programs, this benchmarking survey is best considered as a lower bound for the actual size of the US market.
The goal of this survey is to allow respondents to benchmark their international program operations against those at peer institutions through the data and insights provided by USCIPP. Due to the diverse group of member organizations, USCIPP’s survey is also able to distinguish pediatric versus adult services, which permits even stronger benchmarking capabilities. The annual USCIPP member survey collected information about services offered, financial metrics, operational metrics, and patient volumes. Additionally, the survey results provide insights into international program structures and geographic regions of home residence for patients traveling to the US for care.
In-depth data and our full benchmarking reports are available to USCIPP’s member organizations that complete the survey. USCIPP also publishes a high-level, public overview of select indicators from the results of the benchmarking survey. The latest version is free to download from the NCHL Online Store
USCIPP is uniquely positioned to combine its annual benchmarking data with up-to-date economic, healthcare, and political information to provide comprehensive analyses on a range of topics. The portfolio and direction of USCIPP’s business intelligence work evolve as Premium members strategically look to the future and make critical decisions for their programs.
Premium members have expressed that USCIPP’s business intelligence work products have been used to inform specific business plans and international marketing, staffing, and business development decisions. USCIPP’s major business intelligence and international market analysis initiatives and deliverables are outlined below.
To date, USCIPP has released long-form market reports for Brazil, Canada, China, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Kuwait, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The market reports provide a comprehensive and deep analysis of each country’s economic, political, and healthcare environment through the lens of opportunities for international healthcare collaborations and outbound medical travel.
The goal of the USCIPP Monthly International Healthcare Digest is to provide a broad understanding of the current international healthcare market. Each newsletter provides recent updates on shifting international market dynamics, with a focus on new global collaborations, international travel trends, political and economic developments in key countries, international insurance news, developments in cross-border telemedicine and remote second opinions, and more.
Updated on a monthly basis, the USCIPP International Healthcare Collaborations Dashboard is an interactive representation of all known international healthcare collaborations. It uses a project classification typology that was developed by the USCIPP team with input from our member organizations. This unique tool enables users to better understand the current players and projects in international markets of interest. (Note that the map is available to all Premium USCIPP members and USCIPP organizational affiliates as a standalone app outside of the Qlik Sense dashboard environment. Corporate members may access the map if they choose the Premium International Market Insights Dashboard as part of the “personalized experience” portion of their benefits, as the map is embedded in this dashboard.)
This Qlik Sense dashboard contains all of the latest news compiled from our monthly digests, country-specific economic information, and healthcare data. The USCIPP International Healthcare Collaborations Dashboard is embedded within and included as part of this dashboard. (Note that all Premium USCIPP members and USCIPP organizational affiliates are entitled to a Qlik Sense license as part of their membership, but members must proactively request access. Corporate members may access the Premium International Market Insights Dashboard if they choose it as part of the “personalized experience” portion of their benefits.)
The USCIPP International Insurance Database offers USCIPP members insights into the international private medical insurance landscape in key international markets. It identifies major insurers offering international coverage options that include the United States. The database also includes information about relevant brokers and third-party administrators. The USCIPP Benchmarking & Research Subcommittee chooses the markets included in the database. Examples include the Cayman Islands, Canada, Mainland China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and more. Additional countries are added to the database as the USCIPP team completes new, long-form, international market reports.
In 2016, USCIPP members identified the need for standardized metrics to measure international patient experience and satisfaction. USCIPP partnered with Rush University’s Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Value (CAHV) to develop the survey instrument, methodology, administration platform, and database necessary to launch this initiative. Since the official launch in April 2019, participating USCIPP members have collectively surveyed thousands of international patients. All survey responses are available in a dashboard environment that enables participants to generate customized reports based on filterable criteria.
Through their participation, USCIPP members gain operational insights based on feedback gathered from international patients and their families’ results that may be benchmarked against trends at other participating organizations, peer discussions via monthly committee meetings, and methodologies specifically designed for international patients.
The USCIPP program and its member hospitals have developed a standardized matrix to analyze the cross-border telemedicine and RSO legal/regulatory landscape in international markets.
The final deliverables address legal issues related to the provision of telemedicine and RSOs in these markets. The resultant documents are meant to inform and empower individual institutions’ business and legal teams to develop tailored models of care with appropriate legal documentation. To date, USCIPP has commissioned reports from the international law firm Hogan Lovells for the following jurisdictions:
Phase I
• Canada: Province of Ontario (UPDATED July 2023)
• Canada: Province of Alberta (UPDATED July 2023)
• Hong Kong (December 2019)
• Macau (December 2019)
• Mexico (UPDATED April 2022)
• People’s Republic of China (Mainland China) (UPDATED June 2025)
• Republic of China (Taiwan) (January 2020)
• Saudi Arabia (UPDATED February 2024)
• United Arab Emirates (UPDATED June 2023)
• United Kingdom (UPDATED July 2023)
Phase II
• Bahrain (UPDATED November 2023)
• Bermuda (UPDATED February 2024)
• Brazil (UPDATED April 2024)
• Canada: Province of British Columbia (UPDATED September 2024)
• Canada: Province of Québec (UPDATED September 2024)
• Colombia (UPDATED November 2024)
• Dominican Republic (May 2020)
• Ecuador (UPDATED December 2023)
• Kuwait (UPDATED July 2025)
• Qatar (UPDATED June 2025)
Phase III
• Costa Rica (UPDATED July 2025)
• India (November 2020)
• Panama (UPDATED June 2025)
• Peru (UPDATED March 2024)
New Markets
• Chile (UPDATED June 2025)
