Every healthcare leader is placing a bet on where the industry goes next. For some, that bet is on AI becoming an intelligence layer that helps clinicians make faster, better-informed decisions. For others, it’s a shift toward outpatient and value-based care, a more consumer-driven patient relationship, or a deeper commitment to health equity and the social determinants of health.
Becker’s asked CEOs, presidents and executive directors across hospitals, health systems and specialty organizations one question: What’s your biggest strategic bet on where healthcare is headed? Their answers, below, span technology, access, culture and the fundamental question of what patients will expect from care in the years ahead.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Robert Garrett. CEO Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health: The future of healthcare will be defined by our ability to pivot from a reactive “sick-care” system to a proactive, personalized, and preventative model of well-being. We will achieve this with AI-powered diagnostics, by building seamless digital networks that better connect patients with the healthcare ecosystem and investing more in population health. Technology and AI will enhance the abilities of our clinical teams to reduce burnout, help us upskill our workforce and retain dedicated caregivers.
David Hess, M.D. Regional President, Central Region WVU Medicine, President and CEO, WVU Medicine United Hospital Center (Morgantown, W.Va.): My biggest strategic bet is that trust and relationships will become a key differentiator in healthcare, even as AI reshapes the industry.
AI will transform how healthcare is delivered, but it will not replace the human connections that drive trust, engagement, and better outcomes. In fact, as technology becomes more embedded in care delivery, the organizations that stand out will be those that use it to strengthen — not diminish — the relationships between patients, clinicians, and healthcare teams.
Our focus is on leveraging innovation to deepen the connections that matter most: physician-patient, nurse-patient, and administrator-physician. I believe the health systems that successfully combine technological advancement with stronger human relationships will be best positioned to improve chronic disease management, earn lasting trust, and deliver better long-term outcomes.
Rachel Patzer, PhD. President and CEO of Regenstrief Institute, Professor of Surgery at Regenstrief Foundation (Indianapolis): From the Regenstrief Institute’s perspective, the future of healthcare depends on our ability to rapidly transform data into knowledge, and knowledge into better health for patients and populations. Real-world data, AI and interoperable data infrastructures will make it increasingly feasible to evaluate treatments and care models continuously, monitor health outcomes in near real-time, generate evidence from practice and rapidly implement findings. But the most successful healthcare organizations in the future are not going to be the ones with the most data, but those that can operationalize and implement decisions using the data.
Eric Doherty. CEO of My Pediatric Doctor (Atlanta): Our biggest strategic bet is that healthcare will transition from a system built around facilities and episodic encounters to one built around intelligent, continuous access. The organizations that win won’t simply offer virtual visits or AI — they’ll orchestrate an integrated care experience where patients can move seamlessly from symptom assessment to diagnosis, treatment, specialty referral, monitoring, pharmacy and ongoing care through a single digital front door. AI will increasingly serve as the intelligence layer that helps clinicians make faster, more informed decisions while allowing providers to practice at the top of their license.
At QC Healthcare, we’re building around that vision through platforms including My Pediatric Doctor, My Adult Doctor, My VA Doctor, My Oncology Doctor, and additional specialty services. Our goal isn’t to replace physicians — it’s to remove friction from care delivery so patients receive the right care, at the right time, from the right clinician regardless of geography or time of day. We believe the future belongs to healthcare organizations that combine human expertise with responsible AI, integrated diagnostics and coordinated specialty care to improve access, quality and outcomes while reducing unnecessary costs.
Stephen Page. Chairman and CEO of Heart Health Community (Dallas): Everyone believes that “better educated patients lead to better health outcomes.” To date, healthcare has done a poor job of delivering professionally curated education and resources that help patients manage critical health journeys more effectively.
Hospital systems, payers and pharmaceutical companies need to invest in patient education.
Angela Hapke. CEO of Kamloops (British Columbia) Surgical Centre: My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare will become increasingly consumer driven. Patients will seek out multiple opinions, use personal health data to inform decisions and choose providers based on quality, access, cost and experience. Organizations that expect loyalty by default will have a difficult time competing.
Omar Khokhar, MD. OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center (Bloomington, Ill.): Healthcare is headed toward an era of AI-integrated processes, whether its workflow, referrals, or patient care. The crucial aspect is how we deploy AI. “Blended intelligence” will be the key to the future — which clinician knows how best to integrate AI?
Po Chou, PhD. CEO of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences, EVMS Medical Group at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.): Like most organizations, our biggest strategic bet is artificial intelligence. Healthcare is not headed there, rather AI is already here. Our strategic bet is in the successful incorporation and integration of these AI tools into processes and clinical workflows that support our clinicians, rather than replacing them. A physician or a provider with an AI tool will be more successful, effective and efficient than one without the AI tool.
Ladi Kukoyi, MD. Executive Director and CEO of Birmingham (Ala.) VA Health Care System. Increased access to care in rural areas
Scott Polenz. CEO of OakLeaf Surgical Hospital (Altoona, Wis.): Healthcare is moving toward more local, physician-led, value-driven care. I believe employers and patients will increasingly seek high-quality episodes of care and bundled payment models that deliver exceptional outcomes with predictable pricing — without leaving their community. Organizations that can partner with physicians to provide transparent, affordable care close to home will earn the trust of employers, keep healthcare dollars local, and create a more sustainable model for everyone.
Jim Andrews. President and CEO of Deborah Heart and Lung Center (Browns Mills, N.J.): Deborah Heart and Lung Center is an independent specialty hospital which prides ourselves on providing the highest quality care in the region. We aren’t just betting that the market will shift toward seeking a more specialized and people-centric care experience, we are doubling down on it. Our strategy is built around ensuring that every patient who enters our hospital knows they are being cared for physically, emotionally and financially.
Laura Outlaw, BSN, RN. CEO of The Aviary Recovery Center (Eolia, Mo.): My biggest strategic bet is that the future of healthcare will be defined by integrated, outcome-driven behavioral health care. As the industry moves toward value-based reimbursement, organizations that can demonstrate measurable recovery outcomes, coordinate care across the continuum, and address both physical and behavioral health needs will create the greatest value for patients, payers and communities. At The Aviary, we believe the next generation of healthcare is not just treating illness — it’s delivering long-term wellness, recovery and improved quality of life.
John Reynolds. CEO of Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee (Franklin): My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare will continue shifting to outpatient settings because of convenience and costs.
Patients expect convenience and will increasingly choose care based on access. Employers are recognizing cost savings via value-based reimbursement models with ambulatory care providers. This shift will result in health systems evaluating their core strategies and developing ambulatory care platforms as the new front door to the health system.
Craig Aasved. CEO of Shodair Children’s Hospital (Helena, Mont.): The healthcare organizations that thrive over the next decade will be those that build exceptional cultures, develop resilient leaders and work collaboratively to improve the health of their communities — not simply those that adopt the newest technologies.
AI and digital tools will become essential, but only as force multipliers for clinicians and caregivers. Organizations that combine strong leadership, a healthy culture and thoughtful use of technology are likely to be best positioned to improve quality, address workforce shortages and remain financially viable.
Takisha Lovelace. CEO of The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis-St. Peters: As a healthcare leader, I believe we’re moving beyond a model focused primarily on treating illness and into one centered on improving overall health and well-being. While advancements in AI, predictive analytics, remote monitoring and precision medicine will and have reshaped care delivery, the organizations that create the greatest impact will be those that combine innovation with a deep commitment to health equity.
We know that clinical care is only one component of a person’s health outcomes. Factors such as housing stability, food security, transportation, education, economic opportunity and access to care often play a much larger role in determining whether individuals and communities thrive. My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare systems will increasingly become conveners and partners in addressing these social determinants of health — not because it’s outside our mission, but because it’s fundamental to achieving it.
For me, health equity is not a separate initiative; it’s a strategic imperative that must be embedded in every decision we make. Whether we’re designing new care models, expanding access points, leveraging technology, or investing in workforce development, we need to ensure that innovation closes gaps rather than widens them. The communities with the greatest barriers to care should be among the first to benefit from new approaches, not the last.
I also believe success will be measured differently in the future. It won’t be enough to count encounters, procedures or admissions. The healthcare organizations that lead will be those that can demonstrate meaningful improvements in community health outcomes, reductions in disparities, and stronger partnerships that address the root causes of poor health.
Ultimately, my strategic bet is that the future belongs to health systems that see themselves not only as providers of care, but as catalysts for healthier, more equitable communities. By combining technology, data, community partnerships and a relentless focus on equity, we have an opportunity to move from managing illness to truly advancing health for everyone we serve.
Kenneth Waller. Norwalk (Conn.) Community Health Center. The U.S. medical service delivery systems are undergoing a new era of transformation. With evolving and continuous governmental changes, combined with private equity disruption, structural shift to outpatient service delivery, emerging medical talent shortages, increasing consumer expectations and declining funding sources. The U.S. healthcare industry will need to adapt and innovate new care models that will support patient demands, payers and community needs. This suggested pivot will require a new method and an intentional and permanent realignment to effectively deploy human and artificial intelligence to facilitate the fulfillment of its overarching strategic objectives. Moving forward, service delivery organizations must begin to focus on internal growth opportunities to navigate impending industry uncertainty that is rising across the national medical service delivery landscape.
Birinder Giddey. Acting CEO of The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (East Melbourne, Australia): The biggest shift I expect is that physicians will increasingly move from being the primary decision-makers to becoming the architects of decision-making systems.
AI is advancing across diagnostics, documentation, clinical decision support and administrative workflows. The challenge is learning how clinicians and AI make decisions together. Most of us have spent our careers making decisions independently or with other clinicians. Very few have been trained to critically evaluate, challenge and collaborate with intelligent systems.
As the landscape evolves, I think physicians will be valued less for processing every individual decision themselves and more for exercising judgement about when to rely on AI and how to design safe clinical pathways where human expertise and AI complement one another. At a specialist public hospital, our challenge is developing a workforce capable of redesigning care around them while maintaining safety and accountability.
Jonathan Forte. CEO, Yellowstone City-County Health Officer, RiverStone Health: If I had to make one strategic bet on the future of healthcare delivery, it would be this: The future of healthcare belongs to organizations that can manage the health of populations, not just deliver visits or volume, and at RiverStone Health we are focused on becoming the leading integrated community health provider for south-central and eastern Montana.”
We’ve developed fully integrated care systems across public health, primary care, behavioral health, pharmacy, care coordination, residency education, home health, hospice and community services. We’re investing in population health infrastructure and value-based care models and developing best-in-class analytics and business intelligence (AI/BI) tools to manage staff workload and patient engagement. The future of care is keeping people healthy, reducing ED visits, managing chronic illness, addressing behavioral health needs, and coordinating care across all settings.
We’re focused on measuring outcomes, not volume! We believe the winners in healthcare will be organizations that can improve the health of a defined population across the continuum of care. Therefore, RiverStone Health will invest in becoming our region’s most trusted provider of whole-person, community-centered health, not simply a collection of healthcare services.
Ivan Mitchell. CEO, Great Plains Health: Hospitals will no longer be able to accept contractual agreements below the cost of care. Medicare Advantage especially will not be accepted at many hospitals and health systems.
Rachel E. Hersh, DrPH, BSN, RN, President and CEO, La Red Health Center: I believe that the future of healthcare belongs to organizations that make access easier, not more complicated. My lens right now is rural healthcare, where resources are limited and no single organization can be everything to everyone. Every strategic decision I make gets filtered through the same questions: Does it improve access? Is it sustainable? Does it respect the dignity of our patients and our workforce? AI, data, value-based care, and interoperability all matter, but only if they help us answer “yes” to those questions. I believe the organizations that succeed won’t simply adopt better technology. They’ll build better systems and stronger partnerships that make it easier for people to get the right care, at the right time, in a way that’s sustainable for the communities they serve.
Rajeev Singhai. Hospital CEO, Cancer Hospital: My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare is shifting from a hospital-centric model to a patient-centric, data-driven, and value-based care model. In the coming years, hospitals that succeed will not just provide excellent treatment — they will also focus on prevention, early diagnosis, digital health, remote patient monitoring and seamless patient experience. Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and integrated electronic health records will help clinicians make faster and more accurate decisions while improving operational efficiency. I also believe that collaboration across hospitals, diagnostics, home healthcare, and telemedicine will become increasingly important. Organizations that combine high-quality clinical outcomes with affordability, technology, and patient engagement will be the leaders of the future. As a healthcare leader, my focus would be on building a digitally enabled, patient-centered organization that delivers measurable clinical outcomes, operational excellence, and sustainable growth.
Chris Ware. CEO, Russellville Hospital: My biggest strategic bet is that rural hospitals must evolve from being places that simply treat illness to organizations that actively manage the health of their communities. The hospitals that survive won’t necessarily be the largest, they’ll be the ones that are the most connected. That means expanding beyond our four walls through strong primary care, telehealth, chronic disease management, behavioral health access, remote patient monitoring, and specialty partnerships. At the same time, we must become financially disciplined, leverage technology and AI where it improves care, and create a workplace where great clinicians want to stay. For Russellville Hospital, success isn’t about trying to become a large tertiary center. It’s about being the trusted local healthcare hub that delivers high-quality care close to home while partnering with larger systems for services we can’t provide ourselves. HealthCare reimbursement will continue shifting toward value, efficiency, and measurable outcomes. The organizations that use data to improve patient care, reduce unnecessary utilization, and create an exceptional patient experience will be the ones that thrive. My goal is to ensure that Russellville Hospital remains independent, financially sustainable, and indispensable to the communities we serve, not just for today’s patients, but for the next generation.
Jodi Daly, PhD. President, CEO, Comprehensive Healthcare: If I had to make one strategic bet, it would be this: Behavioral health will no longer be a standalone specialty—it will become the foundational layer across all of healthcare.
For decades, healthcare has been organized around diseases, diagnoses, and episodes of care, while behavioral health has existed as a separate service line. That model is changing.
The future isn’t simply integrating behavioral health into healthcare. The future is layering behavioral health into every facet of healthcare because behavior drives outcomes across nearly every condition. Whether it’s diabetes, heart disease, cancer, chronic pain, maternal health, substance use, or aging, success depends on engagement, motivation, adherence, resilience, and behavior change.
Behavioral health is no longer just about treating mental illness. It is becoming the discipline that enables better health outcomes across the entire continuum of care.
Organizations that recognize behavioral health as the connective tissue of healthcare—not just another specialty—will be best positioned to lead the next generation of care.
Matt Kollman. CEO, Skyline Health: Rural hospitals will need to become increasingly capable and improve our ability to care for our communities. The days of “stabilize and transfer” are not exactly over, but the practice no longer serves many communities well. Larger urban hospitals often have strained resources and transferring patients between facilities can push EMS resources to the breaking point. Some obsolete regulatory limitations will need to be addressed to facilitate this evolution.
Staci Holt. CEO, Graybill Medical Group: My biggest strategic bet is that organizations that successfully combine physician leadership, actionable data, and AI-enabled workflows will define the next generation of healthcare. Technology should reduce administrative burden, improve access, and strengthen clinical decision-making, not replace the human relationships that are at the heart of medicine. The future isn’t about AI replacing physicians; it’s about AI restoring the joy of practicing medicine. Primary care is the foundation of healthcare, and our responsibility is to use technology to protect our physicians from burnout so they can focus on the patients who need them most.
Lawrence Antonnuci. CEO, Lee Health (Fort Myers, Fla.): My biggest strategic bet is that the future belongs to health systems that can create truly connected, community-based care ecosystems. Healthcare is moving beyond the walls of the hospital. Patients expect care to be accessible, coordinated, personalized, and available where they live, work, and age. Technology and AI will be important accelerators, but they are not the strategy. The real differentiator will be an organization’s ability to integrate physicians, hospitals, ambulatory services, digital tools, and community resources into a seamless experience centered on the patient. At Lee Health, we’re investing in physician partnerships, access, care coordination, technology, and new models of community-based care because we believe the organizations that thrive will be those that improve outcomes, reduce complexity, and meet patients where they are—and where they’re going. Success will not be measured by the number of buildings we own, but by how effectively we help people stay healthy and navigate their healthcare journey. Healthcare is ultimately a local business built on trust. The systems that earn that trust by delivering access, convenience, quality, and compassion will be the systems that lead the next generation of healthcare.
Beau McNeff. CEO Weiser Memorial Hospital & Clinics: From what I see across the landscape, healthcare is moving more and more to the ambulatory realm. As technology has evolved the surgeries that used to require multiple day stays are done safely and effectively in an outpatient way now. Equally important with more ACOs and value based care incentives, the primary care world is increasingly focused on access and total person care. We’re betting on those by expanding our ambulatory offerings and highlighting those services in marketing.
Second to that, we are seeing an increase in need for swing bed and transitional care services as our population is aging. We’re upskilling staff and working to ensure we have the capacity to support that population as well.
Juan Echandia. Special Projects, Keralty: The path forward involves expanding outpatient services through ambulatory surgery centers and office-based procedures, increasing access to virtual services, strengthening management programs for patients with chronic diseases, and reducing hospital stays by bolstering home-based programs for early discharge.
Rolland Bojo, MSN, RN. President and CEO, UHS Delaware Valley Hospital: A much greater focus on rural access.
Maurice Ware. CEO, Kenneth Young Center: Our biggest strategic wager is that healthcare will continue to evolve toward integrated organizations that own the continuum of care versus individual programs. The winners will be those that offer seamless integration, access, quantifiable outcomes, and a higher quality of life at a lower total cost of care.
Joseph Hurley. CEO, AVORS Medical Group: My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare will be transformed by responsible AI adoption, not by replacing clinicians or staff, but by eliminating the inefficiencies that keep them from focusing on patients. I believe the greatest opportunities are in medical billing, medical coding, prior authorizations, patient check in, scheduling, and administrative workflows. AI can dramatically reduce repetitive tasks, improve coding accuracy, accelerate reimbursement, and create a faster, more seamless patient experience.
The organizations that embrace AI as a tool to empower their teams, rather than replace them, will be the ones that improve access, reduce costs, and deliver better outcomes. In the end, I don’t believe AI will replace healthcare professionals. I believe healthcare professionals who effectively leverage AI will redefine the future of healthcare. As healthcare leaders, our responsibility is to ensure that technology enhances the human experience rather than replaces it, creating a healthcare system that is more efficient, more sustainable, and ultimately more patient centered.
James Holland. President & CEO, Johns Hopkins Health Plans (Baltimore): Our biggest strategic bet is on shifting from transactional care management to building an integrated, hyper-local health ecosystem, meeting members directly in their homes and communities. Payers and providers have spent too long operating in parallel silos, reacting after an acute event occurs. The future belongs to integrated models that marry real-time clinical insights with home-based care delivery, leveraging predictive analytics to address social drivers of health before a crisis hits. When you simplify the system for the member and align clinical and financial incentives around human-centered, whole-person care, quality improves, total cost of care drops, and trust is restored.
Paul Camangian. President and CEO, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (Lafayette, La.): My biggest strategic bet is that the future belongs to hospitals that maximize, not just expand, their capabilities. Sustainable growth will come from stronger physician engagement, better use of existing assets and AI that enhances patient access and experience. Execution, not size, will be the true differentiator.
Tiffany Means, DNP, RN. CEO, Eureka Springs (Ark.) Hospital: My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare is shifting from a facility-centered industry to a patient-centered ecosystem.
For generations, success was measured by how effectively we filled beds, expanded campuses, and increased volume. The next decade will reward something entirely different: the ability to create seamless access, deliver care across multiple settings, and solve health challenges before they become healthcare encounters.
I believe the future belongs to organizations that can integrate emergency care, urgent care, virtual care, specialty access, remote monitoring and community partnerships into a single coordinated experience for the patient. The winners won’t necessarily be the largest health systems. They will be the organizations that remove friction, eliminate unnecessary complexity, and deliver the right care at the right time in the right place.
As a rural healthcare CEO, I also believe one of the industry’s greatest misconceptions is that innovation starts in urban markets. Rural healthcare has become one of the most important innovation laboratories in America. We have been forced to solve workforce shortages, access challenges, reimbursement pressures, and care delivery gaps with fewer resources and greater urgency. What emerges from rural healthcare today will influence how healthcare is delivered across the country tomorrow.
My bet is that the future of healthcare will be defined less by geography and more by connectivity, less by buildings and more by access, and less by volume and more by value. Organizations that embrace that shift now won’t just survive the transformation, they will lead it.
Rick Moreland. CEO, Sutter Health – Delta Medical Center (Antioch, Calif.): My biggest strategic bet is that healthcare’s future belongs to organizations that successfully integrate AI, workforce innovation, and consumer-centered care. AI will not replace clinicians, but it will fundamentally reshape how care is delivered by reducing administrative burden, improving decision support, and allowing caregivers to focus on patients. At the same time, care will continue moving closer to where patients live — in ambulatory, virtual, and home-based settings. Health systems that can combine technology, access, and a highly engaged workforce while maintaining exceptional quality and human connection will be the long-term winners.
Anh Ngo, MD. CEO and President, Pain Specialty Group (Newington, N.H.): Healthcare will continue moving away from hospitals and into more efficient, physician-led outpatient settings. Our biggest bet is combining ASCs, ancillary services and AI-driven operations to deliver better care at a lower cost while creating a more seamless patient experience.
Kiley Floyd. CEO, Nemaha Valley Community Hospital (Seneca, Kan.): Looking ahead, healthcare organizations will need to navigate a significant shift in patient expectations. While we must continue to meet the needs of an aging population, middle-aged and younger patients are increasingly unlikely to tolerate the current payer system, particularly when they pay premiums yet experience routine claim denials. As consumer-driven care continues to evolve, diversification will be essential. Organizations may need to support both patients who prefer a direct primary care model and those who continue to rely on traditional insurance-based care. This transition will be especially challenging for small rural providers with limited resources.
Cliff Robertson, MD. President and CEO, St. Francis Health System (Tulsa, Okla.): Our bet is that the future is all about affordability and access. We believe our health system must transform itself to be 100% focused on making health care affordable and accessible to all. We fully recognize that this requires a total rethinking of how we develop care models and where we make investments for the future. I don’t think hospitals will go away, but the bulk of the care we provide and revenue we generate will come from the care outside the hospital.
Robert Vissers, MD. President and CEO, Boulder (Colo.) Community Health: Healthcare’s future is taking place outside the walls of the hospital. Our biggest bet is moving more care closer to where our patients and caregivers live, improving access and convenience and reducing cost, while reserving the hospital for the complex care that truly needs to be there. The gamble is not embracing an ambulatory strategy, which is already happening; it is doing so in a high-quality, integrated and financially sustainable way.
Joseph Woodin, President and CEO, Copley Hospital (Morrisville, Vt.): Towards cheaper, faster, better – more so than ever before. The winners will be those that continuously grab opportunity and execute without reservation. The smaller systems SHOULD be able to outperform the larger systems, like Academic Medical Centers. Wearable will continue to be more important – incorporating AI most effectively. The name of the game will be “continuous monitoring” as opposed to simple snapshots in time!
Ara Baghdasarian, MD. CEO, Southern California Medical Center (Van Nuys, Calif.): AI will become essential operating infrastructure in healthcare, particularly for referrals, scheduling, and patient communication. The organizations that succeed will use it to remove administrative friction while preserving the human relationship at the center of care.
Esmaeil Porsa. President and CEO, Harris Health (Bellaire, Texas): Increasingly, and rightfully so, healthcare is moving from episodic care delivered by individual providers or institutions to coordinated, data-driven population health management. Health care institutions must bring focus and resources to health promotion and disease prevention practices rather than the tried and failed chronic disease management that while profitable, does very little in moving the needle toward healthier communities. No single health system can solve the major health challenges we currently face. Collaboration rather than competition and acquisition will become the norm. Our data integration and technology advances will pave the way for the more intense and deliberate collaboration that will become the cornerstone of our new mandate of improving community level outcomes rather than increasing health care encounters.
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