2026 Healthcare Trends and Predictions

Send us a text2025 has been another whirlwind year for healthcare. Between the new Administration upending the apple care, the explosion of AI, and the continued march of GLP-1s, the landscape has shifted under our feet.Will things settle down in 2026 or become even more volatile? Hosts David E. Williams and John Driscoll join CareTalk to share their predictions for 2026, discussing how AI will evolve, why affordability will dominate the conversation, what may change in drug pricing and value-based care, and how policy decisions could ripple across the healthcare system.w🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textFederally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) care for more than 30 million Americans, yet many people have never heard of them or understand how they stay afloat. A major piece of their financial survival is the 340B drug pricing program, which has quietly become one of the most important funding mechanisms in the safety net and it is under growing pressure.Scott Seidelmann, CEO of Nuvem, joins CareTalk hosts David E. Williams and John Driscoll to discuss how FQHCs serve underserved communities, why 340B has become essential to their operations, and what policy changes could make or break their ability to deliver care.🎙️⚕️ABOUT SCOTT SEIDELMANNAs Chief Executive Officer, Scott is responsible for overseeing all facets of the organization. Scott has more than 25 years of experience in provider‑oriented healthcare and pharmacy technology and services and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the 340B industry, with an emphasis on client success and growth. Most recently, Scott was the EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at Omnicell, a publicly traded pharmacy technology and services company serving primarily health systems. 🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textLung cancer is often discovered too late, when treatments are expensive and survival rates are low. But what if routine chest x-rays could flag cancer early…long before symptoms appear? AI is transforming everyday imaging into a powerful early detection tool, reshaping screening economics and saving lives around the world. Prashant Warier, CEO and Founder of Qure.ai, joins CareTalk to discuss how AI enables earlier diagnosis, why chest x-rays are an untapped opportunity for detection, and what it takes to integrate AI into national health systems at scale.🎙️⚕️ABOUT PRASHANT WARIERPrashant is an expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Deep learning. He has architected and commercialized several data science solutions in his 19 year career. He is also a prolific researcher, author, and speaker on topics related to data science and machine learning. He is passionate about using deep learning to make healthcare affordable and accessible. 🎙️⚕️ABOUT QURE.AIQure.ai is a health tech company that uses deep learning and artificial intelligence to make healthcare more equitable for patients worldwide. Learn more about how Qure is supporting clinicians and advancing work across the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, here.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the showSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textHealth insurance in the United States is incredibly complex, filled with deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, narrow networks and more. Why is our system such a maze? Is it the unintended product of decades of patchwork policies, or is the complexity intentional?In this episode of CareTalk, hosts David E. Williams and John Driscoll break down the real reasons health insurance is so hard to navigate, exploring the structural fragmentation of the system, the role of intermediaries like PBMs and brokers, the impact of convoluted billing practices, and what meaningful simplification would actually look like.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textPhone lines are jammed. Staff are overwhelmed. Patients wait, hang up, or fall through the cracks entirely. Meanwhile, the pressure to improve access keeps climbing.In this Executive Feature, Chetan Reddy, Founder and CEO of Confido Health,  joins host, David E. Williams to discuss why patient access is breaking down, how AI voice agents can resolve routine calls instantly, and what it takes for practices to improve patient experience without adding staff.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CONFIDO HEALTHConfido Health helps healthcare providers reduce administrative work and focus more on clinical work, enabling them to improve patient outcomes. Learn more about how Confido is eliminating administrative time spent on tedious tasks by clinical staff with AI, here.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textFood as medicine is moving from buzzword to real healthcare strategy.In this CareTalk episode, Spencer Pratt, President of NourishedRx, explains why nutrition is finally getting the policy, payer, and consumer support needed to impact chronic disease at scale.🎙️⚕️ABOUT SPENCER PRATTSpencer is Chief Growth Officer at NourishedRx. He is a leader in developing innovative frameworks and solutions for addressing social drivers of health, health equity, and population health.Prior to joining NourishedRx, Spencer held leadership roles at Unite Us and Carrot Health and established a consumer insights solution at Optum. He takes an innovative and customer-centric approach to ensure value creation and exceptional experience for healthcare organizations and members.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textIf you don’t know where the patient’s data is at every moment, you really can’t protect it yet. That’s the reality many healthcare organizations are facing. Regulations can help but legacy siloed systems keep patients exposed.In this episode of the HealthBiz Podcast, David Williams is joined by Aimee Cardwell, CISO-in-residence at Transcend. Aimee breaks down why compliance doesn’t equal security, how legacy architectures and vendor ecosystems create hidden vulnerabilities, and what modern, identity-centric, AI-enabled security should look like.🎙️⚕️ABOUT AIMEE CARDWELLAimee is a dynamic leader with over 25 years of experience spanning technology, cybersecurity, and product strategy across healthcare, financial services, and e-commerce giants including UnitedHealth Group, American Express, eBay, and Expedia. As EVP & CISO at UnitedHealth, she orchestrated a reinvention of the organization’s cybersecurity program, systemically reducing cyber risk while enabling rapid business expansion.Her visionary leadership has earned numerous accolades, including being named one of TAG Cyber’s “50 to Watch in 2023” and receiving the 2023 World 50 Impact Award for Courage.🎙️⚕️ABOUT HEALTH BIZ PODCASTHealthBiz is a CareTalk podcast that delivers in-depth interviews on healthcare business, technology, and policy with entrepreneurs and CEOs. Host David E. Williams — president of the healthcare strategy consulting boutique Health Business Group — is also a board member, investor in private healthcare companies, and author of the Health Business Blog. Known for his strategic insights and sharp humor, David offers a refreshing break from the usual healthcare industry BS.GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textAI assistants like transcription co-pilots and chat-bots are yesterday’s news. Now, we’re entering the new era of agentic AI. The new tools are powerful but a little unsettling. AI giving advice is one thing, but are we ready for AI to take action on our behalf?In this episode of CareTalk, hosts John Driscoll and David Williams explore the dawn of agentic AI, systems that act autonomously to perform complex tasks, including in healthcare.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy.GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk Newsletter Support the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textHealthcare is drowning in messy, inconsistent data, and IMO Health is helping clean it up so organizations can turn information into real clinical insight.In this CareTalk Executive Feature episode, host David E. Williams speaks with John Laursen, Senior Vice President of Commercialization at IMO Health, about how to separate hype from real value in AI healthcare.🎙️⚕️ABOUT JOHN LAURSENJohn Laursen is an accomplished Senior Vice President Of Commercialization at IMO Health, bringing extensive experience in the healthcare industry. With a robust background in management consulting, he has honed his expertise in change management, performance improvement, and strategic planning. John has held various leadership roles, including Vice President of Business Development and Chief Growth Officer, showcasing his ability to drive business success in complex environments. His educational foundation from Gustavus Adolphus College complements his professional journey, marked by a commitment to enhancing healthcare delivery. Outside of his professional life, John is likely to be an advocate for innovative healthcare solutions, reflecting a passion for improving patient outcomes. His career trajectory reflects a blend of strategic insight and operational excellence, making him a valuable asset in any healthcare-focused organization.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy.#healthcare #healthcarepodcast #healthcarebusiness #healthcarepolicy #healthinsurance #healthcaretechnology #healthcarefinance #caretalk #healthcareindustry #healthcarepolicy #IMO #AIhealthcareGET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

Send us a textWhat if rural hospitals could thrive instead of just survive?In this episode of CareTalk Executive Features, WVU Medicine President & CEO Albert L. Wright, Jr. joins host David Williams to share how the health system is redefining rural healthcare, expanding access, advancing innovation, and aligning care delivery through initiatives like Peak Health.🎙️⚕️ABOUT ALBERT L. WRIGHT JR.Albert is the president and CEO of the West Virginia University (WVU) Health System, the state's largest private employer. Before joining the Health System in 2014, he held several senior-level leadership positions at some of the nation's most prestigious healthcare systems and academic medical centers, including Ohio Health and UPMC. As president and CEO, Albert has transformed the WVU Health System into a fully integrated network of 25 hospitals and clinics spanning a four-state region that includes West Virginia, Western Maryland, Eastern Ohio, and Southwest Pennsylvania. He has significantly expanded the Health System's specialty and sub-specialty care and directed greater than $3.0 billion in capital investments to build new hospitals and clinics or refurbish existing ones while modernizing the Health System's infrastructure and electronic medical record.Today, the WVU Health System is West Virginia's largest network of hospitals, clinics, and specialty institutes, with over 3,000 licensed beds, 3,000 providers, 35,000 employees, and $7 billion in revenue. An 881-bed, Magnet-recognized academic medical center anchors the network of hospitals and clinics. In 2023, the Health System launched Peak Health, its health insurance company, with Albert as its board chair. Albert obtained his Master of Health Administration degree at The Ohio State University, a Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Florida, and a Doctor of Public Health at the University of North Carolina. He is involved in several charitable and civic organizations and serves on numerous boards.🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALKCareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. GET IN TOUCHFollow CareTalk on LinkedInBecome a CareTalk sponsorGuest appearance requestsVisit us on the webSubscribe to the CareTalk NewsletterSupport the show⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.