The country’s trajectory has been building for years. A fast-growing middle-income population, rising chronic disease burden, and expanding health infrastructure have created both demand and urgency. What is changing now is the environment in which innovation can move, driving faster approvals, a culture of collaboration, digital infrastructure and a government signaling policy readiness to engage global partners in shaping the next era of medicine.

The economic momentum is significant. The Indian health ecosystem has expanded from roughly $372 billion in 2023 to $638 billion in 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing major health markets in the world. The broader industry is expected to exceed $610 billion by 2026, fueled by rising insurance coverage, expanding hospital infrastructure, and growing demand for chronic disease management. Health growth in India continues at approximately 10–12 percent annually, well above the growth rates typical of mature markets, reflecting both rising access and structural transformation.

BIOAsia 2026 reflects this inflection point. The global gathering in Hyderabad, themed “TechBio Unleashed: AI, Automation & the Biology Revolution,” highlights the (bio)convergence of biology, data, and intelligent systems reshaping health worldwide. Organizers emphasize that the meeting aims to drive health transformation and reinforce India’s position as a leading global life sciences force. For multinational innovators, the message is increasingly clear: India is not only where innovation is deployed; it is also where it is developed. It is where innovation is increasingly defined. India has become a go-to market for multinational enterprises.

Policy Signals and Market Scale: From Opportunity to Strategic Partnership

India’s regulatory and policy environment is evolving in ways that matter deeply to multinational innovators. One pivotal shift came with the country’s decision to allow certain medicines approved in specified developed markets to launch without local clinical trials, a move designed to accelerate patient access while aligning more closely with global regulatory science. This policy shift reflected confidence in international data, a commitment to innovation, and recognition that faster access must remain central to national health strategy.

The scale of India’s pharmaceutical and life sciences market reinforces this transformation. The pharmaceutical sector reached approximately $68 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to more than $170 billion during the next decade, driven by expanding middle-income demand and strong domestic manufacturing. India already supplies roughly one-fifth of the world’s generic medicines. It produces the majority of global vaccines by volume, positioning the country as a central player in global health supply chains.

As Aman Gupta of SPAG/FINN wrote in Medika Life, “India’s health sector is undergoing a profound transformation, bolstered by government-led reforms and a favorable FDI regime. The allowance of 100% foreign direct investment through automatic routes in health and related sectors has already attracted global giants.” His observation reinforces a central reality for multinational innovators: India’s policy environment is increasingly designed not only to welcome global participation, but to encourage long-term strategic partnership in building the future of healthcare.

Investment trends tell the same story. Health and pharmaceutical private equity and venture investments have reached multi-billion-dollar levels annually. At the same time, India’s contract drug development and manufacturing sector is projected to exceed $22 billion within the next decade. These dynamics position India as a growth market and as a strategic partner across the innovation lifecycle from discovery and clinical development to manufacturing and global distribution.

Shakthi Nagappan, CEO of Telangana Life Sciences Foundation, captured this moment clearly, noting that BIOAsia arrives at a time when technology and biology are redefining healthcare and creating “unprecedented opportunities for innovation, investment, and impact.” The language reflects partnership rather than transaction, a signal that India is moving from market opportunity to strategic collaboration.

Digital Infrastructure, BIOAsia and the Multinational Innovation Imperative

India’s digital transformation may be its most potent catalyst for long-term health innovation. Unlike many mature systems, the country is building a national-scale digital health infrastructure designed to connect patients, providers, and health systems across a population of more than 1.4 billion people, with a rising middle class of 400 million.

The Global Digital Health Market is projected to grow from USD 288.55 billion in 2024 to USD 2,688 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 22.55% during 2025–2035. This surge is driven by the rapid adoption of AI-powered diagnostics, telemedicine, wearable devices, and data analytics solutions that are revolutionizing patient care and operational efficiency worldwide.

Hundreds of millions of citizens are already using digital health services, including telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, and remote care. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is creating an interoperable national health ecosystem, enabling secure health records, improved care coordination, and population-scale data infrastructure that supports research, real-world evidence, and precision health.

For multinational companies, this digital backbone creates a uniquely strategic environment, enabling large-scale clinical research, faster pharmacovigilance, AI-supported health insights, and rapid deployment of innovation across diverse populations. India’s digital infrastructure is not simply modernizing health delivery. It is enabling national-scale transformation.

BIOAsia sits at the center of this conversation and convergence. The gathering reflects India’s ambition to lead at the intersection of biology, artificial intelligence, and scalable innovation. Leaders from industry, government, and science convene not only to discuss growth but to shape the next phase of global life sciences, where biology, data, and digital systems converge to influence global health.

One conference panel, among the many high-powered sessions, brings together global leaders in advanced therapeutics to explore how next-generation modalities are moving from discovery to scalable care. Panelists across biopharma, translational science, and hospital systems are examining progress in cell and gene therapies, mRNA, and radiopharmaceuticals, underscoring that innovation now depends as much on manufacturable scale and delivery as on scientific breakthrough. India’s expanding capabilities in clinical research and bioprocessing strengthen its role as a key partner in advancing next-generation therapies.

For multinational innovators, the implications are clear. Engagement in India now extends beyond commercialization. It calls for collaboration in research, investment in digital and scientific ecosystems, alignment with national health priorities and partnership in strengthening health delivery.

India’s Strategic Role in Global Health Innovation

India’s rise in global health innovation reflects the alignment of policy, market growth, digital infrastructure, and scientific capability forces that together are reshaping where and how healthcare innovation occurs.

For multinational companies, India now represents a full-spectrum innovation environment. It is a place to conduct clinical research across diverse populations, scale manufacturing and supply chains, deploy digital health at a national scale, and co-develop solutions addressing both local and global health challenges. Increasingly, India is not simply a recipient of innovation developed elsewhere. It is becoming a co-creator of next-generation health.

This shift changes the strategic equation. Market entry alone is no longer sufficient. Meaningful engagement requires partnership with policymakers, regulators, scientists, health providers, and digital health ecosystems. Organizations that invest in collaboration, align with national health priorities, and contribute to strengthening healthcare systems are most likely to succeed in India’s evolving landscape.

BIOAsia sets the stage for this transformation. It is more than a conference. It is a convergence of global health ambition, scientific capability, and policy momentum. The conversations taking place in Hyderabad mirror a broader reality: the geography of health innovation is expanding, and India is now central to its future.

For global health innovators, the question is no longer whether India matters. The question is how deeply they choose to engage in shaping what comes next.

The post India: The Growing Focal Point for Health Innovation appeared first on Medika Life.

CNS Summit: A Community, Not a Conference

The CNS Summit is less an event and more a movement, the roughly 900-person ecosystem of leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and communicators is bound by purpose. Through the years, it has become an “industry reunion” for those working at the intersection of science and humanity. Attendees don’t simply show up for “unscripted” presentations or networking; they come to commune, share ideas, listen and support each other’s journey.

Founded and carefully curated by Amir Kalali, MD, a former Quintiles executive, who focuses on the intersection of life science and technology, believes collaboration unleashes humanity’s greatest potential, Summit operates on the belief that innovation in clinical research and drug development depends on curiosity and connection.  Summit cultivates an atmosphere where hierarchy dissolves. CEOs engage with early-career professionals. Startups find champions among seasoned executives. Conversations flow freely, often long after formal sessions end. As the website declares, “The Summit brings together a curated group of top decision makers from pharma, biotech, CROs, investigator sites, patient advocacy groups, investors and other stakeholders.”

The site also notes a key differentiator for the 2025 gathering: “Networking tables throughout the day. A dedicated space for connection and conversation throughout Summit.” The Summit agenda reinforces that the gathering isn’t just about sessions; it’s about forging connections.

This is the kind of conference where attendees return year after year, sometimes at personal expense, because they recognize that the ROI is more than professional – it’s personal. You leave Boston with new insights, renewed energy and, often, lifelong friends.  What makes CNS Summit unique is that the “price of admission” includes year-long networking gatherings sponsored by Summit community leaders.

“When people introduce themselves at Summit, I want to hear about them — their backstory motivation first, and only then about the problem they are looking to solve,” shares long-time Summit attendee Craig Lipset, DTRA.org Co-Chair, and an advisor to global health innovation enterprises. “This is an event that cherishes long-term relationships between people, which is why this space has become so critical during such a volatile time in the industry,” he adds.

Communication Tip: At CNS Summit, authenticity amplifies influence. Don’t arrive with a set corporate pitch; come ready to share experiences and learn from others. This is a platform for vulnerability, curiosity and conversation, not self-promotion. In a community built on trust, the most powerful communication skill is listening.

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference: The Ecosystem’s Main Stage

If the CNS Summit is a retreat for reflection, the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is the watering hole of the life science world, crowded, noisy and absolutely vital. JP Morgan frames it as the “largest and most informative healthcare investment symposium in the industry, which connects global industry leaders, emerging fast-growth companies, innovative technology creators, and members of the investment community. For one week in January, from January 12^th to 15^th 2026, the health innovation universe converges in San Francisco.

In contrast to the CNS Summit’s intimacy, JPMorgan thrives on scale. It is where biotech, pharma and health system hopefuls present their value proposition to investors, and where global biopharma companies reaffirm strategic direction. From hotel lobbies to sidewalk cafés, every table and hallway becomes a “pitch” space. Deals are initiated, relationships rekindled, and reputations built, rebuilt or crushed. Mega consulting groups such as McKinsey emphasize that this gathering unites “global health and life sciences industry leaders, emerging fast-growth companies, innovative technology creators, and members of the investment community.”

You might attend JPMorgan for 72 hours and never set foot in an official session. Yet those unscripted encounters, coffee chats, quick handshakes, five-minute updates, often shape company trajectories and careers alike for the coming year.

Fern Lazar, Managing Partner and Global Health Practice Lead at FINN Partners, has attended the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference since its early days as the original Hambrecht & Quist Healthcare Conference—later acquired by J.P. Morgan. Her advice is straightforward: “Preparation is power. The companies that arrive with clarity, confidence, and proof of momentum leave with stronger reputations, investor trust, and new alliances. Those that don’t are quickly forgotten.”

Communication Tip: At JPMorgan, clarity is currency. In a sea of sound bites, those who communicate with precision rise above the noise. Be concise, compelling, and credible. Articulate what your company does, and why it matters to patients, to systems, and to investors. Every sentence should connect back to the vision and value with plenty of proof points to show you’re on the right track.

Why Both Matter to the Future of Health

Both conferences reveal something fundamental about the health industry’s DNA: innovation depends on both connection and coopetition. CNS Summit reminds us that science is human, built on relationships of trust. JP Morgan reminds us that sustainability requires strategy, clarity and capital.

For communication leaders, the lesson is clear: health innovation demands head, heart and gut.  You must speak to investors in the language of returns and to peers and partners in the language of purpose. The best communicators, like the best leaders, bridge both worlds seamlessly.

The life sciences sector is undergoing constant ebbs and flows: AI, digital biomarkers, decentralized trials and real-world data are reshaping how therapies are discovered, developed and delivered amid this race to raise the bar on all aspects of health access, affordability and delivery, leadership visibility and stakeholder trust matter more than ever.

At the CNS Summit, you cultivate the credibility that comes from empathy and engagement. The Summit community underscores that year-round social element: “Your event registration also provides access to our year-round programming and community activities.”  At JP Morgan, you demonstrate the confidence and messaging that attracts capital and partnership.

One builds influence, the other builds momentum. Taken together, they form a powerful narrative arc for any organization serious about advancing science and health innovation. The leaders who succeed in the next decade won’t just be the ones with great science, they will be those who can translate that science into stories that move payers, policymakers and patients alike. It’s the combination of IQ and EQ that will rally companies toward success.

Final Words: Show Up, Listen, Learn and Lead

Conferences are catalysts for connection.  Their value lies in what happens after the panels end and the flights home begin. Do you follow up? Do you stay in touch? Do you turn introductions into impact?

Whether you’re heading to Boston or San Francisco or both remember: your presence is an investment in the future of your career, company and community. Be intentional. Be visible. Most importantly, be human. In this ecosystem of change, as in medicine itself, the most significant advances begin when people listen, learn and lead together.

The post Two Gatherings, One Mission: Elevating Life Science Leadership and Communication appeared first on Medika Life.

After cardiac surgery, patients are at risk for both high and low blood sugar, which can lead to serious complications. Managing these fluctuations requires careful insulin dosing, but existing protocols often fall short due to the unpredictable nature of ICU care and differences among patients, say the investigators. 

To address this challenge, the research team created a reinforcement learning model, named GLUCOSE, that recommends insulin doses tailored to each patient’s needs. In tests using data from real-world ICU cases, GLUCOSE matched or even outperformed experienced clinicians in keeping blood sugar levels within a safe range—despite having access to only current patient data, while doctors used full patient histories. 

“Our study shows that artificial intelligence can be thoughtfully and responsibly developed to support, rather than replace, the clinical judgment of health care professionals,” says co-senior corresponding author Ankit Sakhuja, MBBS, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine (Data-Driven and Digital Medicine) and a member of the Institute for Critical Care Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “In complex and high-pressure environments like the ICU, tools like GLUCOSE can provide real-time data-driven guidance tailored to individual patients. This kind of decision support can enhance safety, reduce the risk of complications, and ultimately allow clinicians to focus more of their attention on critical aspects of patient care.” 

The research team trained GLUCOSE using reinforcement learning, which allowed the system to learn optimal decisions through trial and error. They also used advanced methods—conservative and distributional reinforcement learning—to ensure the model made cautious, reliable recommendations. The model was then rigorously evaluated and compared to real-world clinical practices. 

While the results are promising, the researchers caution that GLUCOSE is not intended to replace doctors. It serves as a clinical decision support tool, offering suggestions that physicians can choose to follow based on their judgment and the broader clinical picture. 

The model could eventually be integrated into electronic health record systems to provide real-time insulin dosing guidance in the ICU, helping reduce complications and improve outcomes. Future steps include adapting the tool for use in other hospital settings, running clinical trials, and exploring ways to integrate it into routine care. 

One current limitation is that the model does not yet factor in nutrition data, which may affect longer-term glucose control. Still, the ability of GLUCOSE to make accurate recommendations based on limited real-time data highlights its potential to enhance safety and efficiency in postsurgical care. 

“Our goal is to develop AI systems that meaningfully augment the capabilities of health care providers and ultimately improve patient outcomes,” says co-senior corresponding author Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, MPH, Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health, and Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chief AI Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “By learning from real-world clinical data and delivering personalized recommendations in real time, models like GLUCOSE represent an important advance toward integrating trustworthy data-driven tools into the clinical workflow. This study offers a glimpse of how AI can be thoughtfully embedded into care to support providers in delivering safer, more precise treatment.” 

The paper is titled “A Distributional Reinforcement Learning Model for Optimal Glucose Control After Cardiac Surgery.” 

The study’s authors, as listed in the journal, are Jacob M. Desman, Zhang-Wei Hong, Moein Sabounchi, Ashwin S. Sawant, Jaskirat Gill, Ana C. Costa, Gagan Kumar, Rajeev Sharma, Arpeta Gupta, Paul McCarthy, Veena Nandwani, Doug Powell, Alexandra Carideo, Donnie Goodwin, Sanam Ahmed, Umesh Gidwani, Matthew A. Levin, Robin Varghese, Farzan Filsoufi, Robert Freeman, Avniel Shetreat-Klein, Alexander W. Charney, Ira Hofer, Lili Chan, David Reich, Patricia Kovatch, Roopa Kohli-Seth, Monica Kraft, Pulkit Agrawal, John A. Kellum, Girish N. Nadkarni, and Ankit Sakhuja. 

The study was funded, in part, by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health grant 5K08DK131286, and by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) grant UL1TR004419 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Research reported in this publication was also supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers S10OD026880 and S10OD030463.  

See the journal paper for conflicts of interest: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-01709-9. 

About Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health   

Led by Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, MPH—an international authority on the safe, effective, and ethical use of AI in health care—Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health is the first of its kind at a U.S. medical school, pioneering transformative advancements at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human health.  

The Department is committed to leveraging AI in a responsible, effective, ethical, and safe manner to transform research, clinical care, education, and operations. By bringing together world-class AI expertise, cutting-edge infrastructure, and unparalleled computational power, the department is advancing breakthroughs in multi-scale, multimodal data integration while streamlining pathways for rapid testing and translation into practice.  

The Department benefits from dynamic collaborations across Mount Sinai, including with the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai—a partnership between the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering in Potsdam, Germany, and the Mount Sinai Health System—which complements its mission by advancing data-driven approaches to improve patient care and health outcomes.  

At the heart of this innovation is the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which serves as a central hub for learning and collaboration. This unique integration enables dynamic partnerships across institutes, academic departments, hospitals, and outpatient centers, driving progress in disease prevention, improving treatments for complex illnesses, and elevating quality of life on a global scale.  

In 2024, the Department’s innovative NutriScan AI application, developed by the Mount Sinai Health System Clinical Data Science team in partnership with Department faculty, earned Mount Sinai Health System the prestigious Hearst Health Prize. NutriScan is designed to facilitate faster identification and treatment of malnutrition in hospitalized patients. This machine learning tool improves malnutrition diagnosis rates and resource utilization, demonstrating the impactful application of AI in health care.  

For more information on Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health, visit: ai.mssm.edu  

The post AI-Driven Model Supports Safer and More Precise Blood Sugar Management After Heart Surgery appeared first on Medika Life.

In this exclusive conversation, I join Hal Wolf, President and CEO of HIMSS, to explore HIMSS’s evolving role in fostering collaboration between hospitals, startups, and policymakers. With the health-ecosystem landscape tracking the early days of a new administration, uncertainties remain—ranging from regulatory shifts to funding allocations. Yet, as Wolf underscores, HIMSS remains steadfast in advancing health equity, supporting digital transformation, and offering actionable strategies that improve care delivery.

This conversation occurs between ViVE in Nashville and HIMSS in Las Vegas—two health gatherings that bring innovators, policymakers, and industry leaders together. While ViVE spotlights digital health startups, investment trends, and edgy sparks, HIMSS serves as the broader convening ground for professionals shaping the future of health information and technology. HIMSS is where the work happens—the “Davos” of health information.

Wolf outlines key issues such as integrating artificial intelligence in hospital systems, the role of primary care in driving better patient outcomes, and how organizations must balance innovation with financial realities. At HIMSS, essential dialogue between established institutions and emerging disruptors has never been more crucial.

Join us as we delve into the forces shaping the health system’s future—where technology, policy, and leadership converge to improve patient outcomes and system-wide efficiency.

Medika Life Editor Gil Bashe: In examining hospital systems, we focus on how information flows within our industry and who has access to it. We still have a lot to learn. These are the first few weeks of the new administration, and we don’t know how things will unfold, how the Senate Committees will approach these discussions, or how actions will be implemented. Will we rely on Executive Orders? If that’s the case, we know where to focus our attention. You’re a remarkable ambassador for the discipline and the sector, and certainly for HIMSS, a professional association, trade association, and global NGO.

People come to HIMSS with tremendous optimism, hoping to gain insights that will make them more effective. I prefer to focus on current developments and HIMSS priorities rather than just reacting to them; that’s a different conversation. I’ll also note that the administration’s conversation around health access, cost, and priorities is still in motion.

HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf: We don’t know enough to discuss new policies and their potential outcomes. One challenge will be securing funding. While we know things will be different, we don’t know where the policies will land. Still, we know that HIMSS is dedicated to its vision and mission statements as they fundamentally relate to realizing the full health potential of every human everywhere.

We are dedicated to health equity and will stay dedicated to it. Our collaboration with governments and NGOs worldwide and our fundamental principles will not change, nor should they! We’ll work with our principles within the context of whatever comes out of the White House.

We worked well with the previous Trump administration and collaborated effectively with ONC and HHS on various initiatives. We look forward to advancing the HIMSS mission within the established parameters.

Bashe: HIMSS is far more than an annual mammoth gathering; it’s a professional society that covers the full spectrum of health information and technology – from cybersecurity to economics to professional development and government policies. Unlike other popular meetings that primarily focus on networking, HIMSS is where professionals from around the globe come to set objectives, strategies, and operational priorities. It’s 30,000 feet and 3,000 in scope.

Wolf: This morning at 6:00 a.m., I had an interesting conversation with the CEO of a successful start-up that is getting distribution now and beginning to roll. At HIMSS, we see the merging of different worlds.

We have our core population, core members of the health ecosystem– hospitals, clinics, health operations, nurse practitioners, CMIOS, CIOS, physician leaders, and administrators. This group represents a significant portion of the HIMSS membership, which includes over 120,000 members.  

On the other hand, we have the entire global app ecosystem that drives innovation and introduces new ideas. As you know, many of these ideas and innovations are driven by personal experiences. A family member encountered a situation, and they tried to solve it. Or have worked in the industry, identified a gap, and pursued it.

They often have a long list of improvements to address, and, often, they aren’t performing well financially. Their reimbursement processes are a little murky, and this uncertainty might increase in 2025.

How much time do they have to integrate innovations that don’t directly impact their outcomes, quality, access or bottom line? Because everything’s being looked at in that piece.

We need to understand that the situation changes as the market evolves. What is the critical point where innovation intersects with standard operating procedures, and what does it look like? How can information from one area influence the other? We must determine how to identify the good and the bad and how to present them to the market.

What happens at the global conference? What happens in chapter meetings? What happens in the papers that are submitted? What happens in the insights? Much of this depends on how these elements connect.

Bashe: Many diverse health information communities come together yearly at HIMSS. You have consistently made this gathering relevant. This year, a new startup section called Emerge addresses a critical need within the HIMSS community. You just started with the story about a startup enterprise. Could you share some important and innovative aspects that will be highlighted at this year’s gathering?

Wolf: That’s a pressing question, so I’ll divide it into multiple parts because it’s challenging.

We’re part of the industry, so let’s return to your original premises to find the answer. You mentioned “competing,” which refers to people competing against each other. However, you also have specific points of interest to consider.

The benefit engine can determine how much money you’ll receive in reimbursement for a particular service. However, if you’re on the insurance or payer side, the configuration may depend on whether it’s for North America or a Ministry of Health. Here, the goal is to anticipate the costs incurred in treating a patient. This perspective aligns with an actuarial professional trying to understand and guide the process forward.

I’ve observed hospital systems are starting to integrate AI functionalities, but currently, only 5 to 7% are using it effectively, from an operational standpoint,

For example, when someone walks to the front desk and says their right arm is hurting, the staff collects the information by typing it into a form. They ask a couple of questions, such as “Who’s your primary care doctor? Who’s your insurance company? Are you on managed care? Is this new? What other ailments do you have? What other prescriptions do you have?” They must ask those questions if they don’t have that information readily available. That data feeds into new algorithms on the AI side.

In the background, AI analyzes the information and makes predictive models about how long this person would be in the hospital, what resources they will consume, and how much revenue it will generate. It’s occurring in the background, without the front desk staff being aware of AI’s calculations; meanwhile, the administrator is beginning to recognize the impact of these advancements. The inbound process begins with appropriate testing, questioning, and, if necessary, into a bed.

Meanwhile, the hospital administrator or the system managing the situation assesses the resources the patient will need, whether they will need a specialist and whether the specialist will be available when needed. By the time an exam takes place, they can inform the patient about what to expect in the next 24 to 48 hours, whether they will be staying at the hospital or going home. This preparation and communication represent the positive aspects of the process.  

The dark side is that the hospital engine in the background might say, “We’re not going to get a lot of money out of this. This is not a good use of our beds/time. If we maximize profits, we should send this person on and see what the next person will bring because our algorithm told us that five people would come in with congestive heart failure, and we do make money on that.”

The person writing this down may never realize what is happening; they won’t know that the system will indicate that the hospital is full, even though there might be capacity. Instead, they will tell the person to go down the street to Acme Community Hospital, which can take care of them, explaining that their system lacks resources. That is a dark coin flip to what could happen.

Bashe: Many hospital networks are acquiring primary care practices as feeder systems in their facilities. For example, if a patient is told, “You need to do a cardiac stress test. Do you have a cardiologist?” and they respond with “No?” the primary care provider can then say, “Why don’t you let me arrange that for you.” The primary care satellite site is closing the loop on a fragmented system. While the hospital system benefits economically from the service, patients benefit, and the primary care satellite site serves as a conduit for care.

I’m always thinking about the benefits of technology in enhancing the hospital and primary care systems. Imagine a doctor saying, “You know, you’ll have many questions. I will be here to help you frame your thinking around those questions. Our system has an LLM model. Let’s call it Dr. Hal. You can ask Dr. Hal every question regarding your congestive heart failure or prostate cancer. Dr. Hal is the composite wisdom of all the experts in our system and is here to address your questions.”

The creative aspect of our discipline, combined with information, is becoming a superpower. We use data to guide our supply chain resourcing and leverage information to promptly provide patients with confidence and comfort. We ensure greater access to accurate information vetted by the system, so patients do not depend solely on Dr. Google.

Wolf: The actual value of AI is knowledge management. It allows a very broad and capable synthesis of vast amounts of data and information that no human can keep up with. For example, in the 1970s, clinicians had access to three to four journals, where editors picked what was important enough to be published. These journals had to be printed and mailed out, resulting in about 400 peer-reviewed articles per year reaching healthcare professionals. If you read one a day, you could keep up. Today, more than 10,000 articles will be published this year alone. All that information, knowledge management, and sharing will occur collaboratively, and there is no way for anyone to synthesize all that.

AI plays a crucial role in operational and clinical decision support by turning information into knowledge, with recommendations that lead to changes in operations, suggestions, and care.

In clinical care, pharmacy, or whatever path you’re on, these recommendations are communicated back to physicians with an explanation of why they are a recommendation and the source of that information.

I think part of the maturity that we’re seeing, and you’ll see at HIMSS 2025, is the evolution of AI since our session three years ago. Back then, we held a session titled, “What is AI, and what does it mean?” The panel discussed its potential application in healthcare, and at that time, chat had just been introduced, and people were starting to look at it. Some people were on stage calling for a six-month hiatus before we allowed anything to go forward.

Last year, we saw glimpses of initial uses of AI being deployed operationally, albeit only in a few hospital systems. But it was beginning to happen, and we knew that AI was in the background of devices or operational considerations. Where would the benefit engines come from? The algorithms were starting to be built, and we had a particular point of looking out for biases. We started talking about biases within AI and realized that no matter what you do, there will always be some biases. It’s unavoidable. What was the source information for AI, and how do I ensure I utilize it to the best of my ability?

You’ll see the presentation of how people are using it on a scale. What are examples of its success, and what are some of its limitations? Numerous applications are set to emerge. You’re going to see them on the floor, where people are using components of AI in the background to produce better products that are more efficient and can guide operations as well as at-home care, and all those pieces are being brought forward. The common link between it and your point is on the information side of the house. How good is the starting information, and how broad does it go? Where is the opportunity from a linking standpoint?

To achieve this, a private-public partnership is essential. If you’re looking at algorithms and information that utilize global data that gets turned into global information, it has an impact. Most healthcare systems around the globe are publicly held. They’re not privately held. The United States is an aberration due to its vast amounts of privately held institutions versus publicly held ones.

Bashe:  Are you seeing more of that regarding the technology being used proactively?

Wolf: Yes, and that’s a good thing. We’ve always wanted to see that proper reimbursement takes place and proper services rendered. Many things in a system can get missed, but not an overwhelming amount.  If hospital systems perform well, they typically operate on a 2 percent to three percent margin, but many run at a loss, making proper reimbursements difficult. Large actuarial departments played a key role in the past, with various organizations providing revenue support, which was a huge thing even 15 years ago. However, over time, those efforts began to converge.

The real opportunity lies beneath the surface. It must coincide with an understanding of the care that was delivered. Right next to that benefit realization is the value proposition. What was the quality of what was rendered? Was the care appropriately given? Did we miss something in the diagnosis?

Bashe: One of the things that I worry about is not New York City or Los Angeles. Medical centers such as Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, Weil-Cornell, Columbia Presbyterian, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, much like their counterparts in Boston, Chicago, and the Bay area, provide excellent care. However, in rural America, someone can live three hours from a tertiary care center.

Your approach of using information to improve the care of almost 29 percent of the US population applies, I think, to other nations where people live far from centers of excellence. What are your thoughts about devices, wearables, remote patient monitoring and information, and protecting the information from your standpoint?

Wolf:  Wearables and home monitoring have transformed patient engagement, making health data more immediate and actionable. It’s fascinating. My wife and I compare our Oura daily. How did you sleep? How’s your heart rhythm? We’re finding the features and working through them. She lives anonymously. We are very engaged in our health. How far did we walk? What was our heart rate? Let’s do the 6-minute walk today and see. Were you snoring last night?

All of that is going on, and that’s an engagement level. The information flows from me to my ring, and then my ring says, do you want to share it with Apple? I said yes, and my wife said no; she didn’t want it to flow to another company. Apple will know how well I sleep – I don’t worry about it. If they want to dive into it, there is a profile about me and my general health. They could also derive that from the stuff I buy and the credit card information. That’s always been the case.

If you remember, back in the 1980s, we were already using demographic data with Donnelly overlays. I worked for Time Warner in the early 1990s when Time magazines were delivered to your door. The Time magazine that arrived at your next-door neighbor was different from yours—not the content, but the cover and the ads in the back. You may have gotten an ad for a sports car, and your neighbor may have gotten one for a minivan.

It was specifically designed based on the Donnelly reports, which provided insights about the household. We’re starting to shape recommendations at the personal level of the care an individual should receive.

Why wouldn’t a physician or a clinician want every piece of information on this Oura ring to be included in a patient’s profile? This information would help complete the picture needed to utilize sophisticated knowledge management systems, tapping into tens of thousands of research papers and combining that data with the person’s unique health details. The richer that information becomes, the more accurate it becomes, the more mistakes it makes, the more positively it helps the next person.

Bashe: Often, when I speak to doctors and nurses in the health system, we talk about the Electronic Medical Record (EMR). They’re candid: “We have an EMR system—it’s not perfect, we know that, and it’s getting better and better.” Yet, they often say, “Did you read that patient’s EMR data?” and then they’ll say, “I don’t have time to read the EMR.” While best practices come from committees, you play a unique role as an advisor to corporations. You’re the sounding board for major corporations, whether AWS, Epic, Microsoft, or Oracle. I’m sure they will listen to you because you’re the voice of the global community.

Wolf: We don’t have a dog in the race against them as a competitor.

Bashe: As a not-for-profit society that operates at a global NGO level, when you look at your role and the challenges you face, how does HIMSS address constant sector transformation? HIMSS and its members are constantly evolving because you represent applied information. The system is getting more interesting and more creative.

Look at the challenges that HIMSS owns and represents and your mission, which is obviously to improve access to care. As the organization’s leader, you’re clear and committed to this role, but you’ve seen difficulties implementing cultural or systemic changes.

What’s your guidance for the community? Please don’t take out a ruler and slap people on their hands. You’re obviously about supporting the system’s evolution, making it better. Can you share insights on how you’re filtering down best practices within this evolving landscape? How do you reflect on these challenges that arise and guide systems to understand that care is delivered to the front lines and is not always in hospitals? It’s specialists or primary care—physicians in their little offices worldwide.

Wolf: This is precisely what we discuss daily at HIMSS, and it’s central to our global work. Let’s walk through our view of the ecosystem and how we influence what you just related to because it’s our core.

Hospital systems – or, more importantly, governments worldwide – including our own, recognize their fundamental responsibility to care for their populations. Let’s set the United States aside for a second.

Ministries of Health in countries around the world are accountable for the well-being of their citizens. We’ll talk about citizens for a minute. The people living within their country want a healthy population, which improves the economy. They’re smart enough to know that a healthier population, or one cared for, efficiently reduces the constant increase in costs within healthcare systems. No one is looking to save money; instead, the goal is to slow the escalating costs of healthcare systems, which seem to rise every year.  

Information is the driver behind everything, but to your point, the combination of people, processes, and technology shapes the outcome. Technology is rarely an issue here; the challenge lies in implementing and changing culture. The pandemic forced a significant global cultural change, and while it may seem that it’s deeply in our rear-view mirror, its impact is still felt. Telemedicine, the idea of using information, and the idea of remote care to alleviate the pressures on the front line became a standard feature, and people recognize that.

We see the impact in our relationships with organizations like the WHO in Europe. Take Romania, for example, where we just signed an agreement to help them develop a strategic plan to deliver digital health transformation. HIMSS is focused on four major points.

1. First is digital health transformation.
2. Second is the deployment and utilization of AI as a tool.
3. Third is cyber security to protect that information and ensure that it works for the betterment of their ecosystem with less hassle.
4. Fourth is workforce development, which trains people to understand these tools before they can utilize them to their fullest extent.

Those are our four main areas. When we think about digital health transformation, we start with the HIMSS maturity models from five to seven years ago.

Back then, our maturity models were a checklist of technology. Do you have that technology? Are you wired? That used to be the baseline, what we now consider table stakes. It’s not table stakes anymore.

We’ve transformed our maturity models to reflect quality, access, correctness, and fundamental value. How are you using the information? How does it improve the flow?

From an IT standpoint, we began looking at our maturity models like a stack. It starts with the information layer. What does the infrastructure look like? How is it laid out? How does your data need to be laid out? Where does the electronic medical record go on top of that? How do those two pieces feed into each other? How do you utilize the radiology and the pictures that are in there? How does that flow? What’s your analytical layer? How does this work?

Where are you getting your information, and how are you handling your analytics? How does that tie itself back into the infrastructure? How does that information flow from your reporting back into your EMR and the data layer? How does that data layer tie in when discussing the imaging ecosystem? What’s your continuity of care, the CCMM? How does it flow across the board to ensure you’re not dropping a patient?

We’ve created a stack of maturity models that form the foundation of how information flows from the patient across hospitals, clinics, and homes, wherever the case is provided, to ensure you can keep up with them. And we present these maturity models not just as a technology checklist. Anyone can do that—it’s not meaningless—but anyone can do that. The true focus is on how you use these technologies.

How do you ensure that the relationship between the patient and pharmacy utilization, as well as the benefit realization, is maintained? And how does all this tie together?

Whether it’s community service, a hospital system, or a home, what we’ve created in those stacks is a blueprint that any hospital system, country, or large-scale region can use to identify the technology needed and deploy it for its maximum benefit. 

People do assessments in hospital systems. For HIMSS members in the United States, these assessments are part of the membership, allowing them unlimited access to evaluate their systems. They can conduct these assessments online, check their status, and aim for levels 6 and 7, which is when all those benefits kick in. That’s when we do our validations.

We also do white papers, thought leadership, and HIMSS events, panels and educational programs. More than 300 academic programs are coming up at HIMSS in 2025, with more than 150 offering CE credits.

But these experiences are all based on the output, what worked, and what didn’t work. As you know, learning from others’ mistakes is just as valuable as learning from their successes. Some of the most impactful lessons come from those who try something, fail, and then fix it.

That’s where HIMSS and advisory services come in. We’re presenting the aggregated global knowledge of what’s working and what isn’t.

Most ecosystems don’t work the same way the United States does because most don’t have the same amount of money invested in it. We draw from many healthcare systems- from the U.S., to Romania, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. We learn from all these countries, bring it together in our membership, and figure out what we have learned. How does it impact the models? We do these reviews in a constant session. That’s how we make the society work.

Bashe: It’s a brilliant use of human capital and composite wisdom. As we’re gearing toward the end of our conversation, I wanted to ask you about the Emerge Innovation Experience– this is a first-time gathering, but the concept of start-ups at HIMSS is nothing new. What’s different now is that you’ve recognized that start-ups are a unique culture with unique needs. You’ve assembled a cohort of leaders dedicated to helping these start-ups succeed. What are your expectations from Emerge?

Wolf: First, I’m very interested in the outcome of Emerge. This is the first time that we’re going to try to bring that mesh point I mentioned earlier, where innovations meet operations. They’ve chosen some excellent examples of what can come forward. I think it’s got the right practicality and innovative forethought. From what I’ve heard from people involved in it and talking to people on the committee, I’ve listened to everything from “Wow! This is fantastic and very innovative!” to “It could have been stronger.”

If I talk to heavy innovator startups, they reply that it doesn’t go far enough and could be really “wow.” Meanwhile, those focused on operations often reply that it’s “really pushing the edge.” What that tells me is that it’s in the right mesh point.

What I’m curious to see is how it is received. Many smart people have been working on it, focusing on what will have the biggest impact on operations and be ready for prime time tomorrow, especially in areas like AI utilization and operational impact. What is one step beyond? We also have an incubator ecosystem there.

The Emerge Innovation Experience will be unique, and I look forward to that outcome.

Bashe: I always value your candor.

Wolf: Sometimes, I can get criticized for it, but I believe in absolute transparency. The beautiful part about thought leadership is that we share these thoughts, which makes HIMSS thrive. Transparency is a strength in a positive society. If we’re not transparent with each other, we can’t advance. My grandfather taught me a long time ago that the three most essential phrases in business are “I don’t know, I’ll find out, and I’ll get back to you.” “I don’t know” is critically important.

What’s beautiful about healthcare is that you learn something new every day. It’s impossible to be in the health sector without learning something new every day unless you don’t ask a single question, read nothing, or stay in a room and shut the door.  

Just today, I learned something about HIMSS. I didn’t know because I was asking about a process. A question was raised, and I followed the thread through the organization and found one I’d never seen before, which was exciting.

I appreciate the philosophical and real questions you’re asking. We’re excited about HIMSS 2025 and the learning opportunities it will offer. It’s also about the big picture of what’s happening globally. We call it the Global Conference because it brings together Ministries of Health and NGOs worldwide. It all comes together. This is our largest membership meeting, and we’re thrilled that there’s at least a 35% increase in people signing up for HIMSS membership compared to last year.

Bashe: I’ll be attending this year. As always, thank you for the in-depth exchange. *****

In this insightful conversation, Hal Wolf, President and CEO of HIMSS, explores the critical forces shaping the sector’s future. As industry and governments navigate a rapidly evolving policy landscape under a new administration’s eyes, hospital systems, startups and policymakers must adapt to changing regulations, funding challenges, and digital transformation. Wolf highlights HIMSS’ role as a global leader in uniting a diverse ecosystem to advance health equity, interoperability, and patient-centered care.

A key theme of the discussion is how data and AI are transforming payer, provider and product innovation operations – how information can improve people’s lives. Wolf explains how AI-driven predictive models are integrated to optimize patient care and resource allocation. However, he also warns of ethical concerns—such as the potential for financial-driven decision-making that could prioritize revenue over patient needs. HIMSS plays a vital role in ensuring there is a balance between digital health innovation aligns with quality care and equitable access.

As digital tools, AI, and large language models (LLMs) become more integrated into healthcare, Wolf and Bashe discuss how these advancements can empower providers and patient-enhancing decision-making, improving operational efficiency and offering trusted, system-vetted health information.

As HIMSS prepares for its annual global conference, Wolf emphasizes its role in shaping industry priorities. HIMSS is not just an event; it’s a society that defines strategies, policies, and innovations that drive the future of health. With an expanding ecosystem of startups and industry veterans, HIMSS remains a pivotal force in bridging technology, policy and patient care.

The post The Future of Health Information and Innovation: A Conversation with HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf appeared first on Medika Life.

Perhaps the biggest wild card is Donald J. Trump’s return to the White House and the nomination of several candidates who have suggested that they will reinvent Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—key agencies that set the agenda for public health and innovation.

The second unknown is the thin line separating misinformation from disinformation.  Historically, we looked to public health scientists to guide us.  Now, we are uncertain who to trust regarding health information.  Advice:  Do not rely on “X” as a fact-checking source – it’s merely noise.  But can you trust significant news sources, C-Suite execs, or elected officials?  It’s hard to say.  There is a vast divide between an honest mistake and willful deception. When it comes to health, do your homework – always!

A third factor must be included in the many 2024 health rankings and “Top 10” analyses that will appear in the days ahead. Our planet’s and people’s health are deeply intertwined. Rising temperatures, air pollution, and extreme weather events are not just environmental concerns but public health emergencies. These factors disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, exacerbating chronic conditions like asthma, cardiovascular disease, and mental health disorders. Addressing these challenges requires health professionals to embrace a broader perspective, recognizing that the fight for cleaner air, sustainable food systems, and resilient communities is inseparable from the mission to improve individual health outcomes.

Here are 10 health-sector developments—not ranked—to watch in the coming year, determined by media coverage, reader interest, and personal interest. These “10” could be Top Hundreds or Thousands. Happily, there were many advancements in 2024 to applaud. Yet, the pain points, too, are many. There are many publication lists to check – reviewing many is worthwhile. What is most important is to reflect on the needs of people and planet and commit to make a difference. The planet doesn’t need people. People need the planet. Equally so, people need each other.

This list’s topics were selected using data from global news outlets, academic publications, press releases, analytics platforms like Google Trends, and social media engagement metrics. While the list reflects the broad measure of public interest, it provides an overview of some of the positive and most worrisome health shifts and signals of what lies ahead.

1. AI-Powered Diagnostics Revolutionize Early Detection

Augmented implementation (AKA artificial intelligence) will redefine diagnostics in the years ahead. AI is poised to redefine diagnostics, with breakthroughs in the early detection of diseases like pancreatic cancer offering unprecedented accuracy and saving lives. Recent breakthroughs set the stage for broader adoption of AI in detecting other cancers and chronic diseases in 2025 and beyond, enticing the biopharma sector to interest in clinical trials to develop treatments for these deadly cancers.  This is a prime example of where AI can become a tipping point for earlier interventions and better patient outcomes globally.

2. India Leadership in Affordable Vaccine Development

India is quietly solidifying a reputation as the “pharmacy of the world” through several initiatives, such as launching a low-cost universal flu vaccine. Developed through a groundbreaking public-private partnership, this vaccine leverages advanced mRNA technology to provide broad-spectrum protection against multiple flu strains. By prioritizing affordability and accessibility, the initiative aims to protect millions of people in low- and middle-income countries, showcasing a scalable model for addressing global health inequities.

India has all the pieces to become a more significant player in the life science innovation puzzle – talent, scientific rigor, and an open-minded government willing to align its drug regulatory system with the world’s gold standard – the Food and Drug Administration.

India’s new rare disease center in New Delhi addresses critical global health gaps, setting a precedent for similar initiatives worldwide. Keep an eye on future developments from India to the world and investments from US-based life science companies in India’s strong talent base.

3. Breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment

A novel gene-editing therapy targeting the APOE4 gene variant in the United States shows promise in addressing Alzheimer’s progression, and three new drugs were approved in the United Kingdom that may slow down memory decline in early Alzheimer’s disease. This continuing commitment by life science companies to invest in Alzheimer’s treatments after waves of disappointments could mark a turning point in one of the most vexing and worrisome neurodegenerative diseases.

Additionally, long-standing preventive disease pioneer Dean Ornish, MD, Founder and President of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, has shown a possible pathway to reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms without medication. Ornish’s research on lifestyle interventions—emphasizing diet, exercise, and stress management—gained significant attention in 2024 and highlights the role of holistic approaches in improving cognitive health. His pathway does not dismiss using prescription medicine. Leading medical minds and consumers’ minds should take lifestyle medicine seriously.  It’s not the first time that Dr. Ornish has been proven right.

4. United Kingdom Moves Toward Digital Health Leadership

The United Kingdom launched a nationwide digital health initiative integrating wearable technology with its revered National Health Service (NHS). By enabling people to track chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension in real-time, the initiative enhances patient engagement and accelerates preventive care delivery. Early results indicate improved patient outcomes and reduced hospital admissions. Looking ahead, 2025 could see the expansion of this initiative to include predictive analytics, further enhancing preventative care and patient empowerment.

UK Finance Minister/Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in 2024 that the government is increasing the national health budget by US$29.33bn, a significant increase in NHS resourcing. Increased investment in infrastructure, technology and patient care position the United Kingdom as a launching point for new biomedical research and innovation waves.

5. Cancer Vaccines Gain Momentum

Personalized cancer vaccines emerged as a game-changing innovation in oncology. These vaccines train the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells based on the unique genetic mutations in an individual’s tumor, offering a highly tailored approach to treatment. A U.S.-based biotech company reported successful Phase 3 trial results for a melanoma vaccine, demonstrating significant reductions in recurrence rates.  

One promising example is the Moderna and Merck mRNA-based vaccine program for adjuvant treatment of high-risk melanoma. In Phase IIb results, the therapy showed a 44 percent lower risk of cancer recurrence or death compared to Merck blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda alone. Ongoing trials are exploring its efficacy in combating other cancers, such as lung and breast cancer. These are rigorous clinical programs with all the scientific peer-review requirements of a new medication.

6. America Begins to Take Serious Note of Obesity

The United States has finally begun to address obesity as a serious health concern. New policies and initiatives have been implemented to combat this epidemic, including improved access to nutrition education, increased funding for obesity research, and the development of innovative treatment options. Food and Drug Administration approval of new weight-loss GLP-1 drugs has sparked hope for more effective interventions. Additionally, public health campaigns have raised awareness about the long-term health risks associated with obesity, leading to a shift in societal attitudes and increased support for those struggling with weight management.

While weight-loss drugs offer promise, addressing obesity as a multifaceted health issue—spanning diabetes, heart disease, and more—remains critical. However, medications alone are not the miracle solution to the world’s weight problem. Will 2025 become the year of recognizing obesity as an umbrella disease?

7. Israeli Innovation –  Resilience Under Pressure

Sudden attacks from all directions would consume any nation’s emotional and physical energies. If so, the past 16 months should absolutely distract Israel – a country the size of New Jersey – and its nine million Jewish, Muslim, and Druze citizens – from anything other than self-defense.  Despite incredible challenges, Israel continues to innovate, with its 1,600 life science companies driving advancements in digital health, diagnostics, and bio-convergence. Israeli startups raised $2.43 billion in the third quarter of 2024 across 99 rounds, representing a 32 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023 (pre-October 2023)

The number of groundbreaking Israeli-developed medical devices, biologics, and information technologies incorporated into US-headquartered life science companies’ pipelines and product portfolios secures this nation’s position as a global innovator hub. Its role model hospital, Sheba Medical Center, ranks among the world’s top health systems and seamlessly integrates the country’s cutting-edge technologies in intensive care, telemedicine, early diagnostics, smart surgical equipment, and digital imaging throughout its system.

Israel is taking another leap in health innovation through its investment in bio-convergence. It is poised to play a significant role in the next technological wave of the 21st century. 

8. US Advances in Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine focuses on repairing or replacing damaged tissues and organs, tapping into the body’s natural healing processes. Innovations like stem cell regeneration, cell therapy, diabetes and regenerative knee treatments offer alternatives to invasive surgeries and improve outcomes for chronic conditions.

Regulatory frameworks are crucial to this progress, providing clear guidelines and streamlined approval processes to ensure safety while fostering innovation. As regenerative medicine reshapes health delivery, it stands out as a transformative force in addressing some of the most pressing medical challenges. It is science fiction in many ways—maintain an open mind.

9. Global Antimicrobial Resistance Collaboration

The WHO’s global antimicrobial resistance network is a critical step in combating superbugs. It enables real-time data sharing to identify resistance patterns and drive new antibiotic development. It is a big deal. In a world where pathogens know no borders, collective action through such a network is essential to safeguarding the efficacy of treatments and protecting lives worldwide. The urgency has willing partners ready to engage.

This collaborative surveillance network is a big step forward in the response to a silent pandemic threatening global health. Coordinated action across nations equips health systems with real-time tools to identify and respond to resistance patterns. The rise of drug-resistant infections undermines decades of medical progress, turning treatable conditions into life-threatening challenges. A unified surveillance network enhances early detection and targeted interventions and drives the development of new antibiotics and stewardship programs.  Watch what happens in the coming year – our well-being is at stake.

10. A New White House Administration – Anxiety Versus Reality

As the second Trump administration prepares to take up residence in the White House, health ecosystem stakeholders are abuzz about potential policy shifts. Drawing from past actions and election campaign rhetoric, it’s anticipated that this administration – based on executive nominees such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., might implement changes through executive authority, bypassing congressional approval.  Food regulation policy is almost a given.  What about access to (some) vaccines? How about the review and regulations of medicines?  Verbal controversy leaves many wondering what will happen next.

The incoming administration’s health policy agenda remains uncertain, with potential changes to the ACA, Medicaid, and reproductive health policies sparking debate. Additionally, there may be moves to restrict access to abortion and contraception, reshape Medicaid through waivers and work requirements, and revise policies affecting LGBTQ+ health and immigration-related health needs.  The possibilities that can generate anxiety are numerous.  Wait and watch!

The Year Ahead and Beyond

These 10 health developments reflect the intersection of innovation, policy, and global collaboration. As we navigate 2025, the focus on improving lives and addressing disparities remains our collective responsibility – to rally to ideas and innovations that can improve people’s and our planet’s well-being.

From AI-supported diagnosis to vaccine breakthroughs in India and digital health leadership in the UK, the global health community demonstrates endless ingenuity. The developments of 2024 offer a roadmap for the future, proving that innovation is a team sport and together can overcome even the most formidable health challenges.

But innovation is like a Jenga structure—pull out the wrong piece at the wrong time, and health innovation can crumble or come to a screeching halt. It rests on three pillars: 1. People, 2. Policy, and 3. Investment. If policies do not support continued biomedical advances, equity and big business will likely search for other sectors that offer promise with a clear vision of a return on investment.

Let’s watch and advocate for a world where health in developed and emerging nations remains a top priority.

The post 2024 Health Trends: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities appeared first on Medika Life.

For too long, “AI” has been the abbreviation for “artificial intelligence.”  Reject that label!  It’s not only limiting – it’s incorrect.  The information gathered and parsed comes from real-world sources – patients, payers, product innovators, policymakers, and providers.  It is composite data, once called “big data,” sliced and diced through machine learning and then applied to good, sometimes life-sustaining use.  It’s time we acknowledge how “AI” has become a practical source for talent and organizational enhancement.

Health Enters the Age of “Augmented Implementation”

Here’s a dive into 10 transformative examples of how “AI” enables people to tap into their significant potential to heal and accelerate care delivery.  Change is always hard, even when the advantages appear evident, as it requires revamping processes and policies.  However, as innovation theorist, AI philosopher and Nosta Lab Founder John Nosta reflects: “Culture crushes innovation.” 

Nosta shares with Medika Life readers: “AI, particularly through large language models (LLMs), is revolutionizing healthcare by fostering ‘learner-centricity.’ This approach places physicians, patients, and healthcare systems at the center of a dynamic, personalized learning process. LLMs provide tailored, context-specific knowledge, enabling real-time insights and deeper understanding. Whether it’s a clinician refining diagnostic skills or a patient comprehending treatment options, LLMs create a collaborative learning ecosystem. This synergy enhances the healthcare experience, empowering all participants through shared knowledge and continuous growth.”

The culture of medicine is storied and slow-moving. Still, these 10 approaches to weaving AI into the health system are piquing people’s priorities and enthusiasm for greater use. The wave of universal acceptance is underway.

1. Revolutionizing Patient-Clinician Interaction

Ambient Listening Technologies (ALTs) are modernizing how clinicians transcribe medical documents – by capturing, recording, managing, and analyzing audio data from the patient exam room. AI transcription tools like the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) from Microsoft streamline recording tasks that once consumed chunks of a clinician’s day. AI-driven transcription systems record and summarize patient-clinician conversations, enabling providers to focus on patients rather than documentation. The plus for doctors is reduced admin time; for patients, it provides the benefit of ensuring their provider has real-time notes for follow-up care delivery.

2. AI-Enhanced Diagnostics are Challenging the Future of Illness

Technologies like DeepMind AlphaFold provide unprecedented insights into protein structure prediction, accelerating drug discovery and enhancing diagnostic tools for diseases like Alzheimer’s and certain cancers. Anyone tracking the field of AI-empowered diagnostics would do well to keep a close eye on innovation in this space.  The 2024 Chemistry Nobel Prize was awarded to John Jumper, PhD, and Demis Hassabis, PhD, at Google DeepMind in London for developing this game-changing AI tool for predicting protein structures.  The Galien Foundation Prix Galien is often called the Nobel Prize of the Life Science industry.  Viz.ai, a pioneer in AI-powered disease detection and intelligent care coordination, received the 2024 Prix Galien USA Award for its Viz HCM™ (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) module.  Keep an eye on these companies and their advances.

Rob Havasy, HIMSS Senior Director of Informatics Strategy, representing one of the most influence professional communities – the leaders from health institutions and governments worldwide – offered this exclusive comment to Medika Life:

“AI has been part of many radiology workflows for years, but data from our HIMSS Market Insights surveys show one of the fastest growing applications right now is ambient AI and other AI tools to relieve some of clinicians’ documentation burden. These tools either help clinicians capture information from a visit or streamline patient-provider communications by creating discharge instructions or helping to manage overflowing inboxes.”

3. Accelerating Drug Discovery and Clinical Trials

AI is catalyzing innovation in drug development, a process that traditionally spans over a decade. Platforms like Hong Kong-headquartered Insilico Medicine and companies like Exscientia are applying machine learning to design drug molecules faster than ever. Meanwhile, decentralized trials are becoming more accessible through collaborative pathways set by organizations such as the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA), a central gathering point for regulators and industry leaders to shift the conversation from theoretical to operational regarding implementation.

Dr. Amir Kalali and Craig Lipset, pioneers in clinical trial innovation, champion this collaborative model that draws in biopharma-sector leaders, CROs, and FDA and EMA regulators. The DTRA Co-Chairs have long advocated that decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) supported by AI tools broaden access and reduce biases. These collaborations demonstrate how AI unlocks new efficiencies and enables more inclusive participation, particularly among underrepresented populations.

4. Predictive Analytics for Patient Safety

Predictive analytics powered by AI is transforming patient safety in hospitals. For example, Qventus predicts and mitigates perioperative complications. At the same time, companies like Stasis Labs, Current Health, and Vytrac provide real-time in-patient and at-home monitoring, sending vital sign data to nurses and doctors so they know their patient status and triage care.  Amy Abernathy, MD, PhD, has served in several high-profile roles that cut across the health ecosystem, from Principal Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is now Co-Founder of Highlander Health, a bold new organization advancing clinical research and patient care through learning labs, investments, and philanthropy, comments: “AI is transforming how we approach patient safety by intervening in a proactive measure rather than a reactive one.”

5. Addressing Mental Health Needs with AI

Mental health care is becoming more accessible with AI-driven platforms such as Woebot Health and Wysa. These companies are using AI to provide scalable, CBT-based support for conditions like anxiety and depression, often meeting the needs of underserved populations without ready access to mental health services. Another approach led by GrayMatters Health enables mental health professionals to address PTSD through neuromodulation – an FDA-approved for-use approach designed through years of data aggregation.  Noted digital health pioneer, inventor, and  Founder and Curator for NextMed Health, Daniel Kraft, MD, notes: “AI-powered mental health tools are filling the gaps in traditional care delivery, providing immediate, accessible, and empathetic support when people need it most.”

6. Driving Precision Medicine

Precision medicine, enabled by AI, is bringing targeted therapies into sharper focus. Collaborating with Roche, Foundation Medicine uses genomic profiling to guide cancer treatments. Similarly, Tempus leverages AI to connect molecular and clinical data, accelerating therapeutic breakthroughs. The combination of high tech with high science has enabled scientists with support from private equity and academic institutions worldwide to create companies at the vanguard of the discipline in the UK Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia, and the Cambridge/Boston innovation hub. LABIOTECH author Willow Shah-Neville wrote a concise report of 12 biotech unicorns rated in order of their valuations according to CB Insights. It is worth examining how these fast-moving innovators apply information technology to augment their scientific implementation.

7. Streamlining Hospital Operations

AI tools enhance hospital operations, optimize workflows, and improve patient outcomes. For instance, GE Healthcare Command Centers use predictive analytics to manage patient flow. Other companies, such as LeanTaaS, with its iQueue platform, improve operating room and infusion suite scheduling. Hyro is a much-watched hospital workflow optimizer with services that cut across administrative and clinical departments and add AI to Epic workflows, improving access to care. Edward Marx, a global healthcare consultant and former Cleveland Clinic CIO, emphasizes: “Operational AI is reshaping how hospitals function, eliminating inefficiencies and ensuring resources are used where they’re needed most.”

“Top Trends in Healthcare and Life Sciences” Microsoft video episode titled “The power of information to improve healthcare,” Gil Bashe, Chair of Global Health and Purpose at FINN Partners and Medika Life Editor-in-Chief, joins Tom Lawry, formerly National Director for Artificial Intelligence Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft and now Founder of the AI consultancy Second Century, talk about the opportunities and obstacles in health, AI, and the power of information.

8. Promoting Health Equity Through AI

Medtronic AI-enabled remote monitoring devices are helping bridge the care gap in underserved areas. Similarly, PathAI, in collaboration with Quest Diagnostics, is leveraging “machine learning to improve diagnostics in resource-limited settings, ensuring equitable access to healthcare.  Michelle Longmire, MD, a Stanford-trained dermatologist and founder and CEO of Medable, which offers the research-based biopharma industry an array of research tools with a unified platform, adds: “AI’s potential lies in its scalability, which can extend high-quality care to populations previously overlooked by traditional systems.”

9. Harnessing AI for Population Health

AI is transforming public health by integrating social determinants of health into predictive models. Companies like Epic Health Research Network and Innovaccer are helping health systems anticipate and address population health challenges more effectively. Michael Rosenblatt, MD, with his storied career as a scientist and teacher, having served as Chief Medical Officer at Merck and Flagship Pioneering and now as Co-Chair of the Galien Foundation, notes: “AI-driven insights empower health systems to deploy resources strategically, reducing disparities and improving outcomes across entire communities.”

10. Empowering Patients with Wearables and Digital Health Platforms

Wearables like the Apple Watch have popularized health tracking. Still, more specialized solutions, such as AliveCor and Biobeat are examples of advanced monitors delivering medical-grade heart data enabling patients to access, manage, and share their data and connect with their physicians. Additionally, platforms like the Belong.Life Dave AI focuses on cancer care by guiding patients with tailored recommendations, educational content, and peer support.  David E. Albert, MD, Oklahoma native, physician, inventor, and serial entrepreneur, is the founder of AliveCor and a long-time AI champion, says, “AI will play a role in reducing data into manageable and actionable information for clinical decision-making.”

Looking Forward: A Future Shaped by Collaboration

AI progress in health settings during the past five years illustrates what’s possible when technology meets the demands of patient care, equity, and innovation.  

Is “AI” still threatening and misunderstood?  Absolutely! The term “artificial intelligence” is a threatening misrepresentation of the idea that people will become secondary to machines processing vast amounts of data (largely) accurately and in a blink. However, technology is continuously called upon to automate repetitive tasks.  It does not alone transform people’s health or the fractured health ecosystem – instead, it’s the human desire to question, collaborate, and generate shared – augmented – wisdom that is core to implementation.  

“Driving measurable value at scale with AI is less about the right technology and more about the right leadership. Is there a sufficient level of AI understanding at all levels of the organization?  Is your culture change-ready or change-resistant,” reflects Tom Lawry, principal of Second Century.  Is AI part of your HR plan? In the end, AI success cannot be delegated. Leadership is the catalyst for unlocking its true potential. This requires vision, strategic alignment, and a commitment to empowering teams to innovate and execute with purpose.”

As more people dip their toes into the tech waters, comfort levels are increasing rapidly. Remember the 15-year time gap between Apple’s failed Newton and the early iPhones? Once the idea of a smartphone caught on, it became a personal must. According to a Pew Research Center Survey conducted May 19 to Sept. 5, 2023, 90% of US adults say they have a smartphone. Soon, AI will be ubiquitous in most health settings.

Say so long to artificial intelligence. Welcome to the age of Augmented Implementation!

The next five years promise even more significant advances, , a thirst to use information to accelerate decision-making, fueled by curiosity and collaborations across sectors and the drive to improve lives globally.

The post AI is Transforming Health Delivery: A Five-Year Reflection appeared first on Medika Life.

In the first three days of this Los Angeles gathering, I’ve had the chance to pop in on countless sessions, swing by exhibits that occupy large and small footprints and chat with C-Suite voices from some of the nation’s most prominent health players and most promising start-ups.  But as Sheba Medical Center’s Chief Innovation Officer, Eyal Zimlichman, MD, MSc, thoughtfully reminded a filled-to-capacity room during one session: “Sometimes the challenge is not the technology or innovative approach.  It can be in the implementation.”

Several companies caught my attention during three days at ViVE.  Unexpectedly, the most impressive are enterprises that aren’t swinging for the bleachers of change but those who make incremental improvements in the health ecosystem, leading to better patient care and putting a lid on spiraling costs. More and more, there is a need for meaningful changes now.  What happens tomorrow is theoretical. Keeping the health system chugging ahead translates into keeping doors open to patients who might not have access to care.

What should readers do with this information?  Follow these companies.  Listen to what their senior executives say about how their approaches impact the health industry. Use their information to benchmark the “right now” that lays the groundwork for successful technologies that too often capture the buzz and have yet to show. As the adage goes, the “proof is in the pudding.”  These are companies that have a presence within the sector and demonstrate momentum.

Companies at the Forefront of Health Information and Innovation

Several companies invited Medika to swing by their exhibits or attend panel sessions.  These companies are working hard to help health systems improve workflow – recognizing that repetitive tasks can and should be automated. Highways have moved from coin-taking toll attendants to EzPass transponders. The benefits are clear – reduced traffic and smog. Give thought to eliminating hospital bureaucracy that burdens providers and consumers. 

The companies on the ViVE exhibit floor acknowledge that physician time – a precious resource – can be better used in patient care.  Others realize that the changes in technology and information systems are happening so fast that hospital systems must embed outsourced staff to keep current with transitions.  Innovation is only meaningful if used – otherwise, it’s merely conversational and conceptual.

ViVE is doing something needed and practical. It’s bringing together prominent players in health, companies that can make information valuable, and start-ups looking not to disrupt but positively evolve time-test but worn approaches. Here are some companies that caught my eye:

• The consumer appliance giant Best Buy presence at a health industry conference may seem out of place. They don’t have in-store clinics – they have gadgets and wearables. They have a Geek Squad ready to set up your home entertainment studio.  But they’re the perfect partner for hospital systems looking to discharge patients to heal at home and remain connected to their providers.  They are experts in helping seniors overcome the challenges of setting up and using remote monitoring technologies that incorporate blood pressure monitoring or ECGs.  They are pros in addressing tech questions virtually.  If aging and home care are to become a standard of care, Best Buy is ahead of the curve in helping health systems make it a possible leap.

• Technology should reduce workflow – not add to the headaches chief technology and information officers manage. Health systems must streamline repetitive operations and care processes. CereCore is a leading provider of IT services that help hospitals and health systems chart a course through the operational IT labyrinth. The company works with hospital systems to prioritize patient care and information streamline processes. Its “get it done approach” includes IT staffing, application support, technical professional and managed services, IT advisory services, and EHR consulting.  With more than 700 employees across the US, its workforce includes clinical and technical experts supporting 450 hospitals and implementing IT solutions across 4,000 care settings.

• Corti is a startup specializing in AI-enabled decision support tools for clinic and first responder environments. Corti develops solutions to improve efficiency and experience by analyzing emergency conversations using ambient clinical voice and real-time clinical discussions. Like large language models (LLMs), Corti trains on thousands of actual patient calls and clinical consultations, listens alongside professionals, and converts this learning into insights and suggestions using proprietary speech recognition and natural-language processing. Published data show that AI outperforms human call-takers in sensitivity and predictive accuracy. This advancement augments call-takers ability to triage and ensures faster and more precise emergency response.

• DigiCARE is an early company addressing a long-targeted goal of improving brain disease care.  Based on Indiana University research, a machine-learning algorithm powers its promising AI platform with an 80% performance accuracy and a one-year prediction horizon to detect all forms of unrecognized dementia. The platform mines already-collected data from electronic patient health records and sorts through structured and unstructured data, including patient demographics, diagnosis, medication history, and vast medical notes. The company is already working with health systems to deliver routine brain care for a growing aging population. Early detection of diseases such as Alzheimer’s treatments will accelerate new approaches to drug discovery and development.

• e4health fills expertise gaps in IT, HIM, coding, and CDI. When provider organizations face management issues and bandwidth concerns, the company provides expert resources to complete projects and achieve departmental goals on time and within budget. From legacy data conversion for new EHR implementations to staffing vacancies, e4Health delivers the highest levels of healthcare expertise alongside a relentless commitment to integrity and data accuracy. Their teams ensure consistent quality, accuracy, and productivity for the customers served.

• Like the “smart home,” eVideon is championing hospital smart room technology and digital workflow. The company’s flagship product, Vibe Health, automates clinical workflow, facilitates enhanced communication, and transforms care environments into personalized and interactive spaces. The solutions include an in-room Smart TV, digital whiteboard, digital door sign, and bedside tablet, redefining traditional care settings. These technologies integrate with the hospital’s Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system and other technologies, making real-time information accessible to patients, families, and the care team. Medika Life readers can access their Smart Room Technology Playbook— to understand how technology saves nurses time and improves the care experience.
• HCTec provides IT services to over 1,500 academic medical centers, health systems, community hospitals, critical access hospitals, and other healthcare provider organizations nationwide. HCTec teams offer health information technology expertise across clinical and business applications, data, security, and other technical services. With some 500 team members and decades of combined health experience, HCTec is highly KLAS-rated, providing healthcare IT staffing, managed services solutions, and EHR services.

America has a significant obesity challenge – a public health epidemic that is a tipping point to heart disease, diabetes and stroke. New medications called GLP-1 are a new class of medications and a partial solution – they address weight-key symptoms of the problem. They do not address the underlying diseases or modify the patient’s mindset long-term. Some other pathway is needed! Enter Intellihealth, a startup software solution that effectively scales obesity management and tackles weight management, risk management, comorbidities, diabetes, cancer, and heart and respiratory disease impact. The American Medical Association classifies obesity as a disease, but the US health system is no match for its prevalence.

• The “value-based care” buzzword continues to enter the health economics conversation.  Interwell Health, a kidney care management company, has impressive roots – formed from the merger of the value-based care division of Fresenius Medical Care North America with Cricket Health – and may be among the better examples demonstrating how information can guide physicians and staff to prioritize care decisions for people with chronic kidney disease care to end-stage kidney disease.  So far, the company has proven its ability to improve outcomes and deliver better quality of life for people while reducing the cost of care for payer partners and providing the resources physicians need to navigate a value-based world – all at scale.

• We need more information. TED Founder Richard “Saul” Wurman describes data dilemma perfectly in his bestselling book titled “Information Anxiety.”  The US healthcare system places tremendous weight on the shoulders of health providers to obtain, manage, and share clinical data. If health professionals need a remedy for their anxiety, MRO understands data exchange challenges between providers and payers.  MRO has been a key clinical data exchange player for some 20 years, modernizing health information analog and manual processes. The company is lightening the load for customers, and the proof is that it connects more than 200 EHRs, 200,000 providers, 35,000 practices, and 900 hospitals, drawing data from more than 1.3 billion clinical records.

NourishedRx is a purpose-centered digital health and nutrition company that has become a public health voice working to improve outcomes, lower medical costs and advance health-equity goals. Diet-related chronic conditions account for almost 20% of all US health care costs—particularly for people facing food insecurity and diet-related health conditions that can be tracked through blood pressure and HbA1c, NICU admissions and LBW births, pre-term births, depression, and more. Mission-centered NourishedRx is not a food bank! Its highly personalized model structures service through the lens of “food as medicine.” Its operating system is also a call to action—health and health equity—one meal, one individual, and one community at a time. Its customers are surprising—savvy payers who recognize that without access to healthy nutrition, vulnerable people at risk for non-communicable diseases are almost certain to tip into the abyss of illness.

Lauren Driscoll is the founder and CEO of NourishedRx and a Medicare Advantage expert. She founded NourishedRx in 2019 to support health plans’ efforts to address their members’ most actionable and critical non-clinical needs — nutrition and social isolation. Information can be linked to life-saving interventions. NourishedRx demonstrates that possibility.

There’s no clear consensus on whether ADHD is over- or under-diagnosed. However, it is universally understood that timely and accurate assessment can prevent emotional and academic struggles among children and teens.  Getting it right is hindered by a lack of standardized diagnostic tests. Qbtech is transforming objective ADHD care through a technology-first approach that augments professional care. Like many ViVE attendees in the busy hallways and crowded exhibit halls, Qbtech takes a practical solutions approach to health-sector challenges.  Its Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing computer-based tasks monitoring system brings new perspectives to evaluation and treatment, and decision-makers welcome the 15-20 approach to initial assessment.  The system has been adopted across 43 US states and by organizations such as the NHS in the United Kingdom. Outcomes data appears in over 35 independent studies.

• Sendero is a management consulting firm that guides strategic planning, digital transformation, and organizational effectiveness. Sendero healthcare practice was developed to help clients navigate the industry’s complex and frequently changing operations, experience, and technology enablement challenges. The consulting group brings objective thought combined with years of experience to clients from project ideation through implementation so that health systems can maintain their focus on essential high standards and adapt to deliver solid patient experience, support employees, and engage in evolving waves of innovation. Objectivity and knowledge are precious resources.

• Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, the Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center, was on hand during VIVE.  Sheba is Israel’s largest medical center and a top-ranked Newsweek hospital. Dr. Zimlichman is the founder and director of the Sheba ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) Innovation Hub. This global innovation ecosystem aims to redesign the health system through digital health innovation. Here, Sheba was wearing a different health system hat. ARC is creating innovation communities worldwide and in locations where, beyond transformation, innovation can address social determinants of health, such as economics, education, and life experience. 

Sheba is also a “paperless-wide” health system: no faxes or massive file systems.  The health system can impact more than physical health. They can inspire young people to pursue careers in technology and reduce the carbon impact of hospitals to improve the environment.

• Tegria is a global healthcare consulting and services company partnering with provider and payer organizations to unleash their potential to contribute to a healthier future collaboratively. Like others, it delivers end-to-end solutions to help clients avoid economic strife that is too common among health systems and secure growth. But here, they are not wishes or empty words.  Tegria has over 1,500 professionals with technology expertise working alongside 500 clients in North America and Europe.

“When we invest in technology, we invest in partnerships and define our priorities,” said Ray Gensigner, MD, Tegria chief medical officer, responding to Medika Life. “Technologies must demonstrate a clear potential to benefit patients and healthcare providers simultaneously. To be on my investment radar, technologies should have credible validation and promise to make a tangible difference,” he added.

• The financial reports of the hospital system reflect the growing number of struggling care systems. Information is the lifeblood of patient care – but it’s also the navigational tool for hospital executives to build sustainable systems. ViVe was the setting for breaking news.  TruBridge is a new player on the scene with a heritage that spans four decades.  Numerous companies joining legacy company CPSI as acquisitions have united under this new brand identity.

While the name is new, the company continues to offer highly regarded revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions that enhance productivity and integrate financial operations across acute to post-acute and ambulatory settings. But rallying all its companies under one corporate identity clarifies for customers how TruBridge services, products and talent weave together and project the scale and strength of a mega sector player.

• On the go? 98point6 Technologies. has refocused its talent and time, making its AI-powered technology and software available to providers to expand access to care and improve patient engagement since the sale of its Care Delivery Division a year ago to Transcarent. In many ways, this renewed business focus secures 98point6 place as one of the nation’s leading virtual care platforms for patients and their physicians to connect when on the move. Its flagship 98point6 Technology Platform provides cloud-based software combining augmented intelligence with automated practice standards and EHR integration.  

At a time when primary care services are needed more than ever to stem the tide of non-communicable illnesses, 98point6 Technologies are a needed bridge between brick-and-mortar physicians’ services and consumers who now think hybrid and expect the world to respond to their flexible needs.

• Viz.ai harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient outcomes. Its FDA-cleared algorithms analyze medical imaging data, including CT scans, EKGs, and echocardiograms, and have the potential to provide real-time insights that accelerate diagnosis and treatment. The Viz Platform autodetects possible disease presence across therapeutic areas, including neurovascular, cardiovascular, trauma care, and radiology. Diagnosis sits at the heart of treatment – do that faster and more accurately, and physicians can do their best work with greater confidence and less stress.  This is not a “success is just around the corner technology.”  Already, Viz.ai has been adopted by more than 1,500 US hospitals – perhaps on its way to becoming a sector standard.

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The concept of the future is always inviting and exciting. Futurists are rarely wrong.  It isn’t easy to judge what remains intangible. The difference between invention and innovation is scaled customer application.  AI, ChatGPT, and GenAI applied play to the strengths of the curious and bold. Using these technologies democratizes information for humanity’s benefit. The tools can improve care, increase workflow efficiency, and lower spiraling health costs.  This is all happening right now. 

The companies included in this ViVE summary are helping the health system and their customers deliver transformational health technology today. That may seem less “edgy” than tomorrow’s shiny object, but all ideas are judged by their impact and sales. Follow these companies who are paving the way for improved care delivery.

The post Is Innovation an Overused Idea? ViVE is Home to Real-World Health-System Evolution! appeared first on Medika Life.

The transformation of the digital health ecosystem is marked by consolidation, increased investor scrutiny, a shift in investment strategy, and the dramatic convergence of big tech and big health. Galen Growth has now released its 2023 Year-End Digital Health Global Key Trends Report. Medika Life was provided with an in-depth preview of this world-class authoritative data set and shares the report with readers at no cost.

Recognized globally by life science, health systems, and investors for its in-depth analysis, Galen Growth draws on its proprietary HealthTech Alpha platform, the world’s leading data, intelligence, and insights mining tool to compile its reports. Galen Growth tracks more than 680M data points and 14,500+ digital ventures.  

This comprehensive coverage is curated by Galen Growth’s specialized research team led by Sara Schmachtenberg, who leads a global group of analysts and industry experts in Asia, Europe and the United States. We appreciate Julien de Salaberry, CEO of Galen Growth, for making this report available to Medika Life and Lawrence Wurtz, the Galen Growth US lead, for his guidance. Special thanks to Ritesh Patel, who reminds us, “If it moves, digitize it!”

If you think digital health begins and ends with your smartphone, full stop! Digital health is vast and includes AI, ChatGPT, GenAI, health IT and more.  It harnesses the power of software as a prescription medical treatment for people with unmet medical needs. It is on the cutting-edge of health information technologies, driving smart wearables used to monitor patient vitals and report data back to provides. It ensure precision dosing of medicines.  It’s transforming women’s health and senior care. As its efficacy and safety parameters have morphed, the category demands the same degree of clinical commitment, regulatory oversight, and commercial savvy as any clinical product influencing life and health outcomes. The Galen Growth Trends Report studies 68 categories across 18 clusters. There is no comparative data that provides an overview of this magnitude.

While some “trend” reports cite dramatic numbers – largely pinpointing the dramatic drop in overall sector funding – the Galen Growth 2023 Trend Report offers a comprehensive analysis that guides analysts from industry and investment firms on where the money and where the successive waves of innovation are expected. Digital health as a category is maturing.  Gone are the investment dollars driven by unbridled exuberance and people licking their chops to enter “health’s tech boom.”  Get your hands on the 2023 Year-End Digital Health Global Key Trends Report to learn more. In the meantime, here is an analysis of the data and what it might mean for the category.

An Evolution in Digital Health Investment

2023 saw a tectonic shift in the digital health landscape as investors abandoned former highfliers and sought a more realistic perspective after the boundless enthusiasm influenced by COVID-19 in 2021. Even after more than a decade of maturity, the digital health sector has over 10,000 private companies showcasing varying degrees of innovation and potential. This evolution has led to increased commitments from pharmaceutical companies directing greater investment toward digital health innovation within their research efforts. Simultaneously, health systems are intensifying their focus on harnessing digital health innovation to enhance healthcare delivery and address capacity and productivity challenges.

Wallets seemed tighter in 2023.  The global averages revealed that only 31% of early-stage ventures, 34% of growth-stage ventures, and 53% of late-stage ventures raised funds in the last 18 months. But that’s also because many had already raised successful seed funds in the prior years. The remainder of the ecosystem was left to cut costs or rethink its business model.

A Complex Environment for Digital Health Ventures

Despite a thriving investment ecosystem, digital health faces headwinds. Recent data paints a mixed picture: fewer than 35% of digital health ventures secured funding in the past 18 months. This indicates an overall decline in investor support but a reorientation toward sub-sectors offering less risk and more customer upside. The pace of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) notably slowed, and initial public offerings (IPOs) and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) were few. Particularly in Europe, the absence of recorded IPOs underscores that investors retreated, waiting to see what the markets find valuable before reengaging. Less than a handful of years ago, there was significant money available to help scale up companies such as Pear Therapeutics (United States), Olive.ai (United States), and Babylon (United Kingdom). In the wake of their collapse, some investors remain in shock, and others are reflecting on the due diligence questions they should have pursued earlier.

The Rise of GenAI – Practical Need for Health Information Interpretation

GenAI (Generative AI) has emerged as one of the most exciting applications in the health sphere. Its prominence in biopharma and partnerships among health systems and innovators underscore its status as a central focus in 2023 and beyond.  The sector is shifting to address health system pain points – from taking the wash of “big data” found in electronic medical records and “scraping it” for clinical data that can be used to improve patient care – from confirmed diagnoses to better understanding chronic conditions to tracking for service provided requiring reimbursement codes and importantly providing healthcare staff summaries of patient status. 

On a topline, looking only at investor engagement and regulatory filing trends in the digital health domain would say the sector is in retreat. The Galen Growth data show its reorientation and why. The rise of GenAI is the “symptom.”  The disease might be responsible for the most significant part of the cost of care – health provider systems – recognize disruptive digital health technologies as the way to become more effective in operations and, most importantly, patient outcomes.

Increasing Partnerships and Technological Integration

The emergence of AI, ChatGPT, and GenAI has sparked partnerships with health systems that have been pivotal for digital health ventures despite the challenges posed by investor belt-tightening. In 2023, announcements of new partnerships surged 1.2 times from the previous year, with a 3% year-on-year increase in the total number of partnerships globally. Technological integration remains a cornerstone, with 39% of private digital health ventures leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Generative AI technologies to address this sector’s desire for greater efficiencies.

Big tech companies have long been sitting on the sidelines trying to understand better – to comprehend – how the multi-layered – fragmented – health system operates.  Behemoths like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have all made big plays to partner, acquire and integrate health-specific AI platforms into their portfolios.  Health information – much of it handwritten and transcribed – defines “big data” – simply the ecosystem is awash in data.  GenAI might begin to make sense of the information chaos.

The application of AI is vastly different in health than tech and the giants will find the waters murky. In health-delivery settings, AI deals with sensitive patient data subject to strict privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA in the United States). Compliance with government health regulations is paramount, and data security raises legal concerns. There are ethical hurdles extending to issues like informed consent, patient autonomy, and the potential for AI to affect clinical decisions and treatment plans. Regardless, big tech has the cash to deploy and figure that out and they are eager to deploy in the health sector.

Biopharma All Aboard 

The research solutions cluster claimed 20% of the total funding in 2023.  Biopharma companies seek to “fail early” – to guard parents as we advance medicines in the research clinic and reduce the costs of creating new medicines.  They are embracing the idea and putting it into action, recognizing that information sorted at Lightspeed can better target drug discovery efforts and validate drug development teams’ trial design recommendations. 

Decentralized clinical trials have existed for some time. However, the COVID-19 era that became jet fuel for digital-health investment also paved the way for contract research organizations, life science companies, retail pharmacy chains, academic medical centers, and regulatory agencies to roll up their collaborative sleeves to create pathways and policies for the institutional use of this approach.

Companies that harness varied technologies and AI have sprung up to serve academic medicine and industry.  Long-awaited NGO groups such as the Decentralized Trials Research Alliance came into being, signaling increased opportunities for the sector. Research meetings such as SCOPE are seeing more and more digital health tech leaders step to the main stage.  The Galien Foundation, which once awarded its Nobel Prize like Prix Galien only to biopharma and medical device companies, has now included digital health and incubators, accelerators, and private equity entities among its categories.  Digital health is hard-wired into the ecosystem of science and medicine.

Like hospitals seeking to operate at heightened efficiency, the drug development sector recognizes that it needs to reach a much larger pool of patients – with a long-needed emphasis on diversity and broader geography – conveniently participating in clinical trials and ways to collect and sort added data.  Digital health is finding its seat around this table.  But at the same time, the seats are limited, and companies are choosing partners with caution and clinical data post the investment hysteria of 2022.

Galen Growth 2023 A Microscope and a Telescope

Digital health ventures addressing patients’ therapeutic care needs have a higher bar to leap to address environmental funding challenges.  It is now recognized that a Food and Drug Administration 510K approval is insufficient to secure market success.  Demonstrative proof points – the most critical biopharma sector, like clinical evidence, is essential. The need to show patient-care value – either as a solo therapy or in concert with medications – is needed. The Galen Growth Trends Report underscores that the ecosystem requires clinical and peer-reviewed “proof points” – not enthusiasm.

Investors are navigating stormy seas for improved returns in an extended higher cost of capital environment, grappling with a constrained investment value chain, reduced exits, scarce IPO opportunities, and current valuations.  Plus, let’s not forget, that private equity’s primary responsibility is to their limited partners – often institutions that place endowment funds with the firm expecting solid return on investments. Innovators and entrepreneurs have responded by pushing harder to provide the complex, fragmented health ecosystem with a range of digital health technologies that improve operations and patient outcomes – money and lives saved. 

The belt-tightening of investors has pushed out some who mistook category excitement for a quick pathway to returns. The past 18 months have reshaped the sector and catalyzed the transition from short-term, exit-oriented strategies toward sustainable venture-building approaches.

As the sector adapts and recalibrates, the Galen Growth 2023 Trends Report is a diagnostic of the past 18 months and a vital telescope to a potentially transformative future.

The post Digital Health Trends Revealed – Exuberance Gives Way to Savvy Investors appeared first on Medika Life.

Today, 136 civilians who have been kidnapped are still being held in Gaza by Hamas. Women, children, men and elderly people and the Israeli Defense forces are fighting in Gaza against Hamas terror infrastructures.

The war has taken a major emotional toll in Israel since countless Israelis experienced the atrocities directly or have been exposed to the tragedies by friends, family and the overwhelming news flow. The survivors, their families and rescuers who evacuated the bodies from the Kibbutzim burnt homes and witnessed the horrors and the families of those who has been called to serve and are now fighting in Gaza, and the general population that absorbed mentally the images and sounds of the war via social media and nearly 24/7 news coverage.

The symptoms are diverse and include PTSD, occurring when their life has been on stake, or after suffering severe injuries, stress, depression, anxiety and fear following the deadliest terror attack Israel has ever known since it was established 75 years ago. As a result, the number of Israelis needing medications to address those symptoms has grown dramatically. In addition, nearly 1,600 Israel soldiers who took part at battlefield in Gaza came back bruised not only physically but also mentally and there is a sincere concern that they will encounter severe difficulties coming back to their normal life, both to their work and families.

All those overwhelming events lead to the burnout of the medical staff members at the Israeli Hospitals and clinics that are taking an active part in the treatment of thousands of Israelis, both civilians and soldiers and need to deal with the major flow of patients in an increasing pace never seen before in Israel. To fill this vacuum Israeli innovation enters offering a variety of health technologies such as wearables, that monitor pulse and blood pressure, and applications that manages supply of medications as well as other digital health remote care platforms aiming to reduce the burden on the medical institutions and address the high demand for those services among Israelis.

When looking at the Israeli hospitals as well as private clinics, one immediately notices the diversity of its workforce that reflects the diversity of Israeli society: Jews, Arabs, Muslims and Christians working together as doctors, nurses and surgeons, despite the cultural differences and rising tension across Israel, engaged in the sacred mission of saving lives and providing the best treatment possible.

All are taking care of the Israeli hostages as well, that has been released after spent more than 50 days in Hamas’s captivity and immediately has been brought to a medical checkup upon their arrival to Israel and reunited with their families. A team of psychologists were waiting in advance at the hospitals, escorting the hostages and their families to ease as much as possible their ability to cope with the trauma and memories from captivity, providing consultancy regarding the best ways to handle with this new reality and improve the communication to better understand the patients, their distress and emotional needs as part of a long and complex process of rehabilitation.

For the people in the region, technology and mental health are at extreme proving grounds. How they will transform the future of care will result from these turbulent, terrible times will impact global health and clinical excellence.

The post Israel after October 7th is an Injured Nation Physically and Mentally appeared first on Medika Life.

But what of the company that prioritizes using this powerful technology to become more efficient and faster – using powerful tools like ChatGPT and GenAI to primarily bolster the bottom line without adding value? Without policy bumper guards, AI might become a 21st-century dehumanizing sharp pencil in dispassionate bureaucrats’ hands.

“Digital technologies are changing the healthcare sector at an unprecedented pace,” notes Stan Kachnowski, PhD, HITLAB chair and host of the program’s ongoing Innovators Summit 2023 that brings together digital health leaders. “It is a priority area for the health ecosystem at large.”

At the 2023 Fall HITLAB New York City Conference, Downstate Health Science University CEO Dr. David Berger, offered counsel where medical institutions can shift functions that can be replaced by AI-driven tools. Berger shared a simple, thoughtful chart developed by Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, a general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (known as a16z).

The Timeless Tussle Between Bureaucracy and Humanity

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke recently in London about the sharp double-edged sword of AI in health delivery and why the government will need to create business guidelines:

“AI has the potential to do profound good to develop powerful new medicines to treat and even cure the diseases that have for generations plagued humanity, to dramatically improve agricultural production to help address global food insecurity and to save countless lives in the fight against the climate crisis. But just as AI has the potential to do profound good, it also has the potential to cause profound harm.”   

Why is the Veep worried?  Are her comments overreacting or reacting to people’s irrational fears? Is the administration in Washington sending a message to big businesses that the executive branch sees potential risk to people’s health via AI? This hand-wringing is more than just bluster.  Just look at AI’s entry into the access to care payer process: perhaps an algorithm gone amuck?

UnitedHealthcare and Cigna Healthcare are already facing consumer backlash after claims that these payer behemoths use automated data to deny beneficiaries needed medical care. These allegations have already ignited a broader conversation on how insurers perhaps overly rely on artificial intelligence algorithms when processing claims or prior authorization requests.  

Wounded reputations, customer outcries, and diminished care reinforce why companies must not install AI in the decision-making corporate motherboard at the expense of the human touch. Indeed, having already touched the hot stove, CIGNA stepped forward to acknowledge that human connection is key to maximizing the potential of AI to advance the healing process.

Humanity in the Loop

“Above all else, a human must be in the loop,” suggests Andy Fanning, vice president of intelligent automation, AI enablement, and business transformation at The Cigna Group, in a statement. “Our AI solutions must be used to augment, never replace, the human experience — allowing experts to spend more time in the areas where they can apply their expertise.”

Ever evolving, the health sector is poised to take a giant leap forward by inviting augmented intelligence and large language models like ChatGPT into the fold as technology partners in care decisions, clinical trial design, drug discovery, health information, patient diagnosis, manufacturing medical supply, and, yes, the dicey decision-making process of payer insurance claims. The operative word must remain ‘augment’ – with these new technologies never fully replacing the human element in service of technological potential.

All concerned observers hope smart technologies will advance diagnoses, treatment plans, and preventive care, improve medical records accuracy and refine cost management.  Machine learning algorithms – like newbies on the job scene – require mentors. Technology cannot work in a vacuum.  People must have their hands on its wheel in creating algorithms. 

As the adage goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.” AI applications are only as practical as the cognitive sophistication of their mentor. But who are the people doing the mentoring? Pencil pushers? Bean counters? Compassionate healers? AI and ChatGPT have a prominent place in healthcare, but their absolute power over the delicate balance of humanity in care and corporate objectives is still uncharted territory.  Do we succumb to our fears? Do we embrace inevitable advances, no matter the cost?  That remains a “people” call.

The US and EU are navigating the fine line between intelligent innovation and protecting patient interests as they grapple with regulating GenAI. The outcome of these discussions is pivotal in shaping the future of health, ensuring its safe and responsible integration into medical practice and safeguarding patient well-being and data privacy.

Change is a Perpetual Threat

Always looking around the corner at the future of innovation’s impact on humanity, John Nosta, a global health and technology go-to, writes in Psychology Today:

“The intersection of AI and human cognition is as much about philosophy and ethics as it is about technology. If history is any guide, every significant technological advancement brings with it societal trepidation. The printing press, electricity, and the internet all were met with a mix of awe and apprehension. The introduction of AI into our cognitive domain is no different.”

For centuries, change has threatened the status quo – how we live and earn our livelihoods.  Blacksmiths faced the horseless carriage with understandable fear. Today, toll booth clerks and fast-food workers see automated toll and ordering systems as a threat. Innovation will often create employment disruption. It will also help us to redeploy talent in new ways.

Almost 50 years ago, physicians fought the passage of legislation establishing Medicare and Medicaid with full-page New York Times ads. For most, it signaled the rise of “socialized medicine” and the end of their decision-making power. Today, it’s embraced by Americans – regardless of political affiliation – as a social benefit and a fundamental right.  AI is the health professionals’ new nemesis. It might question their clinical calls or offer added perspective. As baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

We must not draw lines of entrenchment in the necessarily symbiotic relationship between empathy and augmented intelligence. The yearning for healing and the desire to heal has always called upon human touch, compassion, and knowledge. AI offers the greatest potential to serve as an extension of our intellectual, experiential, and emotional capabilities of any technological innovation we’ve seen to date.

ChatGPT and GenAI provide tremendous value, but they should be tools to enhance and complement human capabilities rather than replace them.

Empathy is at the Heart and Soul of Health

To understand the profound significance of human empathy in health, we must first acknowledge its irreplaceable role. Empathy is the cornerstone of effective patient care. It’s the ability to understand and recognize the feelings of the “other,” offering solace, compassion, and a comforting presence when people and their families face medical challenges.

When someone receives a life-altering diagnosis or undergoes a challenging medical procedure, the human touch provides reassurance and support. Empathetic clinicians, with their ability to connect on an emotional level, instill trust, alleviate fear, and foster a healing connection. No machine, no matter how intelligent, can replicate the power of human empathy.

AI and ChatGPT as Extensions of Human Capabilities

But AI and ChatGPT, in particular, may take a front seat in healthcare. They serve as invaluable extensions of our cognitive abilities. These technologies excel in tasks that require vast data analysis, pattern recognition, and information retrieval. By handling the data-intensive aspects of health synthesis, health professionals can focus on what they do best—providing amazing medical (and compassionate) care.

AI is not a competitor but a collaborator. It can sift through mountains of medical data, identify trends, and suggest potential treatment options, enabling healthcare providers to make more informed decisions. AI can rapidly process radiological images, analyze genetic data, consider the possibilities of undiagnosed rare diseases, and even predict disease outbreaks, all of which contribute to more accurate diagnoses and better patient outcomes.

One of the world’s most forward-looking thinkers on AI in medicine is Tom Lawry, former national director of AI at Microsoft, author of the business bestseller Hacking Healthcare, and now an advisor to health leaders suggests:

“Generative AI is the latest flavor of many flavors of what’s known as artificial intelligence. So, I like keeping things simple. So to your point, let’s assume AI is really related to IT systems, the sense, comprehend, act and learn. Probably, more importantly, it’s intelligence demonstrated by software with the ability to depict or mimic human brain functions. And I want to emphasize mimic human brain functions, not replace.”

Acknowledging this delicate dance is critical to harnessing the full potential of ChatGPT and GenAI in health. AI can enhance health efficiency and accuracy. Yet, it should always work in conjunction with human empathy. The two can harmoniously coexist, with AI as a valuable tool in the healthcare provider’s toolkit.

We must ensure that technology remains a faithful servant of empathy, not a quick and efficient replacement. AI can handle repetitive tasks and hone data-driven insight – it can scrape data from unwieldy electronic medical records.  But human touch provides emotional support, compassion, and a connection that cannot be replicated. ChatGPT can make the consumer seeker comfortable mining information around sensitive and potentially embarrassing questions. But getting medical help requires a relationship between healer and seeker.

Cognitively Sharp Physicians and the Future of Patient Care

Cognitively sharp individuals embracing AI and ChatGPT as extensions of their abilities can leverage technologies most effectively. More and more medical schools will need to shift their curricula to focus on the psychological power of empathy in healing and patient adherence. More and more physicians – with their iconic white coats and rank-signaling stethoscopes – will need to hone people skills to secure their positions as medical superstars.

AI will assist in diagnosing complex diseases, suggesting personalized treatment plans, and even providing real-time information during surgical procedures. When healthcare professionals integrate AI into their workflow, they become empowered with a wealth of data-driven insights, enabling them to make more precise decisions and deliver better patient care.

The Needed Partnership

The connection between human empathy and AI is not a zero-sum game. The essence of humanity in health delivery will continue to lead the way, with AI acting as a supportive ally. The health industry will thrive in this ever-evolving landscape by calling for a harmonious balance between providers’ emotional intelligence and AI’s fact-finding possibilities. United, human and machine will drive innovation, improve patient outcomes, and ensure humanity remains at the heart of health. In the delicate dance between human empathy and AI, the patient must always be the center of our focus and the defining voice that guides response.

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