AI is altering the way consumers search for health information — and healthcare providers — while creating more concerns about the accuracy in the process.
In 2026, healthcare marketers will need to navigate these emerging technologies while dealing with financial and access-to-care challenges that aren’t going away anytime soon.
Becker’s reached out to chief marketing officers at some of the nation’s biggest health systems to find out their top priorities for the next 12 months. Here are their responses, lightly edited for clarity and brevity:
Kristy LoRusso. Chief Marketing Officer of Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): Kaiser Permanente’s marketing strategy for 2026 centers on one clear priority: helping consumers truly understand our integrated care and coverage model — and why it delivers a better healthcare experience.
For decades, Kaiser Permanente has led the industry in delivering coordinated, high-quality care supported by a seamless coverage experience. We are working to ensure more consumers recognize what makes our model different and how it leads to better outcomes, greater convenience, and a more connected, affordable approach to healthcare.
We are bringing our model into sharp focus, making its value easier to see and understand, and connecting it to the decisions people make about their health. Our efforts will advance our mission to make high-quality, affordable care available to more people and reaffirm our leadership in transforming how healthcare is delivered.
Adam Rice. Chief Marketing Officer of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): A key priority is the continued enhancement of our digital experience for patients and consumers, a cornerstone of our recent brand expansion in Tennessee and Georgia, illustrating our commitment to intuitive digital tools and seamless access.
As part of this work, we will lean into AI and other innovative technologies to empower our teams to automate and accelerate routine processes and dedicate their expertise to infusing humanity into every interaction. It is our priority to ensure our work remains profoundly human: building authentic relationships, delivering compassionate messaging, and supporting the future of healthcare.
Shweta Ponnappa. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Digital Experience Officer of Providence (Renton, Wash.): In 2026, my top priority is to make access meaningfully easier. That means AI-enabled voice and digital experiences that help patients quickly reach the right care setting with less friction and lower cost-to-serve.
Our CEO, Erik Wexler, has described Providence’s 2030 direction as becoming “the best place to give and receive care,” “shaping the delivery model of the future,” and “driving purposeful innovation that brings positive change.” Access is where all three meet: It improves the patient experience, appropriately shifts care to virtual and ambulatory settings, and reduces administrative burden.
And as more consumers use a growing set of AI tools to understand their health and prepare for visits — including important product releases like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health this week that can incorporate connected records and apps — patients will increasingly arrive more informed and “AI-assisted.” Our job is to make Providence patient-AI ready: clear next steps, easy scheduling, and closed-loop follow-through — always in service of the best possible care for each patient.
Mark Bohen. Chief Marketing Officer of Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.): Mass General Brigham’s top marketing priority is to invest in our people and focus on increasing productivity to achieve greater results in support of our mission to advance care and research and provide for the community.
We are implementing AI tools and other technologies to achieve those productivity gains. Key to that rollout is making sure our employees are comfortable and confident using these tools. We are committed to skill development, stretch assignments, supporting new roles, and training our marketing and communications employees in new ways of working.
Ramon Soto. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.): The nature of search has already changed fundamentally. You go to Google, you type in your query, it treats your query as a prompt, it defaults to an AI summary, and then all the paid or sponsored answers flow in underneath your summary. And that process of change is only going to accelerate.
Brands are out of position to compete in that world. In the AI summary, how do you make sure your brand shows up? How do you get attribution for the search when the brand shows up? How do you transact when the query result shows up?
It’s not too far off when agentic AI starts to scale, and particularly in healthcare, consumers will use agents to help them, whether it’s on the transactional side or the information side, to demystify what’s happening to them. How does your brand show up from an agent standpoint?
Megan Mahncke. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Intermountain Health (Salt Lake City): In 2026, a defining priority for our marketing organization is to seamlessly integrate AI into the way our teams work every day. By doing so, we can remove friction, broaden access for patients and consumers, and focus our energy on the moments that matter most — where thoughtful marketing and technology can drive meaningful impact.
Don Stanziano. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Banner Health (Phoenix): There are two priorities that rise to the top for me with equal importance. We will continue to build out and expand the telling of Banner’s differentiated brand story nationally and across our regions. Brand has never been more important in healthcare as we struggle for consumer mindshare and attention in a fragmented media landscape. Our performance marketing campaigns, recruitment and philanthropy are all helped when we are already preferred and top of mind.
Additionally, I am pushing my team to embrace our internal AI tool, BannerWise, to improve team efficiency and productivity. Yes, it can help with content creation, but we are looking beyond that. With all the cost pressures on health systems right now, marketing teams have to do all we can to do more with the resources we have (or fewer). AI can automate workflows, remove low-value tasks, and allow our teams to work at the top of their skill level.
Roselle Charlier. Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.): We’re putting emphasis on building continued trust and credibility through service-line specific video content, including doctor/expert-led explainer videos; patient and community endorsements; and actively managing Google reviews — key strategies in a time of rising health misinformation.
Short-form video content is a critical format overall, offering concise material such as myth debunking, behind-the-scenes tours and authentic patient stories to make information more approachable and engaging. Mental wellness is also front and center, with content that bridges physical and behavioral health to meet the increasing demand for whole-person care.
Additionally, we’re piloting AI-driven initiatives to enhance marketing efficiency, from social media and blogs to personalized storytelling, while ensuring essential human oversight. And we are focused on SEO and AEO [answer engine optimization] — enabling prospective patients and their loved ones to easily access timely, relevant information.
Nick Ragone. Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Jefferson Health (Philadelphia): Our top healthcare marketing priority is amplifying Jefferson Health’s impact in the communities we serve by extending our mission to improve lives well beyond hospital walls. We’re committed to elevating preventive care, expanding access to health education, and amplifying the everyday acts of compassion delivered by our 65,000-plus colleagues.
At the same time, we’re strengthening partnerships with like-minded organizations to meet people where they are and reinforce Jefferson’s role as more than a healthcare provider: We are a trusted, engaged anchor institution dedicated to advancing health and well-being across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Elizabeth Golden. Executive Vice President of Communications, Marketing, and Government and Community Affairs at NYU Langone Health (New York City): As a health system focused on enhancing patient experience and improving access, we must meet people where they are on their healthcare journey.
A targeted, omnichannel approach enables us to guide patients and caregivers to the right care at the right time. This can include information about how to access our care, what subspecialties they may need, as well as educating them on the value of receiving their care through an integrated academic health system like NYU Langone Health.
Our communications also need to be clear and relevant, empowering decision-makers to evaluate their options based on access, reputation and the experience they want as patients.
Sandra Mackey. Chief Marketing Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati): In 2026, my top healthcare marketing priority is AI — specifically, how we as marketers think about it not as a standalone tool but as an extension of our consumer-driven strategies. Execution and evolution must happen at the same time. We are leveraging AI to meet today’s healthcare consumers where they are today while making intentional investments in technology, people and building capabilities for tomorrow.
A major focus this year is strengthening our insights capabilities by moving from static consumer insights to real-time or near-real-time intelligence. Our goal is to use these insights to actively drive decision-making and respond to patient needs as they emerge, not months later. We’ve already begun using AI to personalize experiences, simplify scheduling and reduce friction across the care journey. In 2026, we will build on this momentum by using insights to guide strategy, anticipate needs and create experiences that feel intuitive and human.
Devika Mathrani. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian (New York City): Trust remains a critical currency in healthcare. In 2026, winning strategies will unite technology, AI, and authentic human connection to deliver relevant, accessible education about diagnosis, innovation and solutions, while using data and digital tools to design patient‑centered experiences, not just messages.
To truly serve our communities, we must combine transparent communication with unwavering clinical excellence and research that proves our commitment to advancing medicine and improving outcomes. In healthcare, brand is built, and growth happens, at the intersection of expertise, innovation, empathy and trust.
Andrew Snyder. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Orlando (Fla.) Health: These days, information about healthcare is at consumers’ fingertips. A few clicks of a mouse, and screen after screen of tips and advice pop up. Unfortunately for consumers, too much of it is misguided, inaccurate — and, sometimes, downright dangerous. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to decipher what’s real and helpful. That’s why in 2026, Orlando Health’s marketing and communications team is focused on offering clear, credible and timely messages for our diverse — and growing — audiences.
In a crowded healthcare landscape, Orlando Health has long been a trusted source of truth for all the communities we serve. That’s not going to change in the coming year. As our footprint expands — we are now serving patients coast to coast in Florida, in Alabama and in Puerto Rico — we are even more determined to continue delivering personalized, specific and relevant marketing experiences on a variety of platforms. Our goal is to reach consumers hungry for information they can trust.
Heather Geisler. Executive Vice President and Chief Brand and Experience Officer of Henry Ford Health (Detroit): In 2026, our top marketing priority is to continue to advance one trusted Henry Ford Health brand — across Michigan and beyond. We’re pairing human‑centered storytelling with data‑driven, omnichannel delivery to meet people in the right places at the right moments: from search and social to MyChart, SMS, connected TV, community media, and our sports and neighborhood partnerships.
By optimizing access to care and consistently showing up when decisions are made, we’re deepening trust, increasing first choice, and turning brand clarity into measurable growth and healthier communities.
Manny Rodriguez. Chief Marketing, Experience and Customer Officer of UCHealth (Aurora, Colo): Our top priority is definitely standing out against the competition. It’s an incredibly competitive landscape. We’ve always been able to differentiate ourselves and be different, but our competitors are starting to mirror what we do. So how do we continue to be fresh and different, delivering and hammering home a message that is unique? How do we stay several steps ahead of our competition, when they’re becoming a lot more sophisticated lately, spending a lot of money to catch us?
Everything we do is internal. So we have this history and this legacy of people in house who are very passionate about the organization, versus using an agency where you might have an account person, a creative person this year, and they switch over to a different account the following year. We have a lot of longevity and people with a lot of creative resources who are passionate about their brand and very loyal. The challenge, though, is, once you’ve been doing something so long, how do you keep them excited and stimulated?
Cara Zorzi Bergendahl. Chief Marketing and Consumer Insight Officer of Ochsner Health (New Orleans): At the heart of our work is a simple belief: Trust is earned through relationships, not reach. In 2025, as uncertainty and noise increased across healthcare, we focused on being present for our communities in meaningful ways — making it easier to access care, connecting through community engagement, listening closely to what patients needed, and showing up with honesty and consistency.
Looking ahead to 2026, our marketing strategy is about deepening those relationships. We’re investing in local communities, elevating the voices of our physicians, and using consumer insights and AI thoughtfully to create campaigns and experiences that feel personal and are trusted.
David Sylvan. Chief Strategy, Innovation and Marketing Officer of University Hospitals (Cleveland): Our top priority is redesigning the digital front door and optimizing our media strategy to respond to the AI-driven shift in the patient journey.
The way patients are consuming health information and looking for treatment options is shifting quickly, and we need to ensure our brand is visible in the new search tools and the experience on our website can meet the expectations of an AI-enabled consumer. Additionally, reaching patients with our advertising is becoming more difficult and expensive so we need a refined, targeted, analytic approach to reaching consumers at the right point in their healthcare journey.
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