The 2025 Best Firms to Work For: ECG Management Consultants

CONSULTING SERVICE LINES: Strategy, Financial, Digital Transformation, Operations

ECG is a national consulting firm that focuses exclusively on the health care services sector. Founded in 1973, ECG is the most comprehensive and experienced health care consulting firm in the United States. With eight offices in the U.S. and one in Dubai, the firm offers a broad range of strategic, financial, operational and technology-enabled consulting services. ECG’s clients include hospitals, health systems, medical groups, academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, investors and payers/health plans. The firm is an affiliated partner of Siemens Healthineers, where advisory services are blended with cutting-edge technology to provide a broad range of solutions to the health care delivery system.

CMAG: What characteristics and elements would you attribute to your firm’s inclusion as a Best Firm to Work For?

ECG’s continued recognition as a “Best Firm to Work For” reflects our deep commitment to employee growth, well-being and an inclusive, high-performing culture. We actively listen to our people—and act on their feedback—to foster an environment where individuals are supported and empowered to succeed.

A cornerstone of our success is the ongoing investment in career development and internal mobility. This past year, we enhanced our performance calibration process to ensure greater consistency in how we evaluate and promote talent across the firm. We launched a formal consulting pool to broaden project opportunities for early career consultants and foster more equitable access to experience-building work. In tandem, we refined our career progression framework to provide greater clarity and transparency at every stage of advancement.

Skill development and mentorship remain core to our model, supported through Consultant Fundamentals, customized learning modules, in-person retreats, personalized growth plans, and direct engagement with firm leadership.

Our dedication to employee well-being remains central. In response to employee feedback, we changed our health care provider to offer improved coverage and service, reinforcing our commitment to benefits that truly support our team. Additional benefits include unlimited personal leave, subsidized backup care for children and adults, a free concierge service, and curated wellness resources designed to meet the needs of our team.

To stay responsive to evolving needs, we revamped our engagement survey process to gather more frequent, real-time feedback—allowing us to take quicker action on issues that matter most.

Our DEI efforts advanced significantly with the hiring of a Head of DEI, reinforcing our goal to create a workplace where everyone feels included, supported and respected.

Engagement and culture remain central to our long-term strategy. We believe that investing in people and fostering a strong, inclusive culture is essential to both employee satisfaction and client success.

CMAG: Are there any specific programs or initiatives that contributed to you being included as a Best Firm?

A key factor in our inclusion as a “Best Firm to Work For” is ECG’s unwavering commitment to culture, engagement and talent development. These values are deeply embedded in our day-to-day operations and long-term strategy.

We’ve built a robust foundation for growth, supported by our Learning and Development team and an extensive library of resources in our Learning Management System. Each year, our L&D team also designs an in-person team experience focused on development, connection, and engagement. We recently launched a consulting pool to give team members greater flexibility to explore new areas of interest and expand their skillsets.

In support of long-term development, we introduced a tuition reimbursement policy, providing team members with greater access to continued learning opportunities.

We continue to strengthen our commitment to DEI, including the hiring of the Head of DEI and the enhancement of inclusive hiring, engagement and training strategies. These efforts ensure that every employee feels supported, valued and empowered.

Transparency and open communication are also core to our culture. Our CEO regularly answers anonymous employee questions at monthly firmwide meetings and hosts quarterly town halls where he addresses feedback directly, reinforcing a strong connection with our people.

Employee well-being remains central to the ECG experience. We offer initiatives such as firmwide wellness challenges, a free concierge service, and subsidized backup care to help our employees thrive both personally and professionally.

These programs reflect our belief that a strong, inclusive and responsive culture—where employees are heard, supported and given room to grow—is what makes ECG not just a great place to work, but a great place to build a career.

CMAG: In describing your firm, what would you say sets it apart from other consulting firms?

What sets ECG apart from other consulting firms is the rare combination of deep health care expertise, long-standing client partnerships and a culture where people—both employees and clients—truly come first.

As the longest-serving health care consulting firm in the U.S., our decades of experience give us unmatched insight into the evolving complexities of the health care industry, allowing us to deliver practical, high-impact solutions that drive lasting change. Our longevity is a testament not only to our expertise, but also to the trust our clients place in us over the long term.

Our commitment to client relationships goes beyond project delivery—we prioritize lasting partnerships, investing time to understand each client’s challenges, culture and goals. This collaborative approach enables us to design sustainable strategies that support their continued success.

Internally, what truly differentiates ECG is our people and our culture. Our consultants are among the smartest and most experienced in the industry—and they bring a deep sense of purpose and professionalism to every engagement. We also have some of the highest retention rates in the field, especially at the senior level, with many of our leaders having spent more than two decades at the firm.

What stands out most is that ECG is a firm where leadership genuinely cares. They listen and act on employee feedback, creating an environment where people feel heard, valued and supported. This is reflected in our culture of development, commitment to a consistent and transparent performance management process, our comprehensive wellness and benefits programs, and our emphasis on work-life integration.

Together, these elements create a workplace—and a client experience—that is consistently exceptional, purpose-driven, and truly distinct in the consulting industry.

CMAG: Where your workforce is concerned, what would you say your priorities look like for the upcoming year and beyond?

Our workforce and culture are central to ECG’s strategic plan for the coming year and beyond. A top priority is continuing to invest in our culture—ensuring that ECG remains a place where employees feel valued, supported and connected.

We’re focused on strengthening our culture of recognition so employees at all levels feel seen and appreciated for their contributions. We’re also taking a more deliberate approach to integrating senior hires, with structured onboarding that fosters early connection and long-term success.

In our hybrid work environment, we aim to create a more intentional and inclusive experience for both office-based and remote employees. We're assessing how and when we gather, prioritizing in-person collaboration where it adds the most value while ensuring all employees feel part of a cohesive culture.

We are also expanding our community engagement efforts by building out firmwide service initiatives that bring employees together and deepen our impact beyond the firm.

DEI remains a core focus. With the addition of our first Head of DEI, we are refining our goals and embedding equity and inclusion into all aspects of the employee experience—from recruiting and development to culture and leadership practices.

At the same time, we continue to invest in developing future leaders, maintaining competitive compensation, and enhancing analytical capabilities to strengthen both our employee and client experience.

These priorities reflect our belief that culture is a strategic advantage—and that by investing in our people, we ensure ECG remains a best place to work and the healthcare consulting firm of choice.

CMAG: What opportunities do you see as the most promising?

There are endless opportunities for improvement in our sector, but we will call out three where we, in partnership with our clients, can make a significant impact through 2026:

1. Payers/Health Plans: By leading with data and advanced analytics, we see an opportunity to make major advancements in the provider-payer relationship with the shared goal of improving quality, safety and access. While the general public often perceive large commercial payers and providers as adversaries focused on the bottom line, ECG is encouraged by growing collaboration and innovation from these players, including major commercial payers and provider-sponsored health plans. With rising consumerism and AI-enabled access to information, we expect major advancements in this space beginning in 2026.
2. Physicians/Health Care Professionals: Health care delivery depends on physicians and other health care professionals, yet media coverage often overlooks them. ECG is proud of our clients who have embraced physicians as true partners and leaders, but many have not. With burnout lingering from COVID and a looming shortage of specialists within the next 7 to 10 years, highlight the need for greater focus on physician organization, recruitment, retention and engagement. We see a clear correlation between engagement and performance/outcomes.
3. AI: While AI is on every industry’s radar, health care is consistently identified as one of the sectors where its impact will be most profound (e.g., imaging). We are proud to be associated with Siemens Healthineers and witness the advanced technologies they are bringing to the market that will transform health care. In consulting, AI can increase efficiency, reduce costs and enable client-facing, tech-driven tools that replace some traditional engagements. Consultants come and go, but this new wave of platforms will help our clients drive change from within and have a greater impact on patient engagement by 2026 and over time, modernize the business model of health systems.

The health care services sector is unique. The vast majority of health systems are nonprofit with razor-thin margins, which leaves little room for error. Yet this same sector is focused on wellness and healing of the human body. The system ultimately hinges on reimbursement rates that are largely indexed to Medicare and often unrelated to costs. In short, the reimbursement system and funding levels remain the overarching challenge, and 2026 will be particularly intense given the uncertainty around Medicaid and NIH funding. Politics aside, there will be cuts, which will have a domino effect in the industry. When an individual loses Medicaid coverage, demand for care doesn’t evaporate. That demand will still be serviced by a provider, but it may become bad debt that ultimately is passed on to the taxpayer. The same is true for NIH funding. If a faculty member loses support for research funding, this burden will shift to the health system. We look forward to helping our clients face these realities and navigate through these challenging times.

CMAG: What impact do you think Best Firm to Work For honors will have on your employees? The firm overall? Clients?

ECG is proud to be recognized as a Best Firm to Work For, for the second consecutive year. We’re grateful to our employees, whose engagement, feedback, and dedication continue to shape our culture and fuel our success.

For our employees, this recognition affirms the value of their contributions and reflects the progress we’ve made together in building a workplace where people feel supported, included and empowered to grow. It reinforces our shared commitment to making ECG a firm where top talent can thrive. The honor also boosts pride in the organization and deepens connection to our mission and one another.

For the firm, this recognition strengthens our brand and reputation in the health care consulting industry. It sets us apart in a highly competitive talent market, helping us attract and retain the very best people. It also aligns with key goals in our strategic plan—namely, investing in our culture, advancing employee engagement, and building a workplace defined by excellence and belonging.

For our clients, this honor signals the strength, stability, and quality they’ve come to expect from ECG. Clients benefit from working with highly motivated and well-supported consultants who are proud of where they work—and it shows in the level of service and outcomes we deliver. Our culture is directly tied to the long-term relationships and trusted partnerships we build with our clients.

Ultimately, this recognition validates the intentional effort we’ve made to create a great place to work and inspires us to keep raising the bar—for our people, our clients, and the future of health care.