At the intersection of health, tech and innovation: Why I’m looking forward to ViVE 2025

As a physician and journalist who researches health innovation, I have been attending, speaking, and moderating panels at HLTH for several years. It’s one of my favorite conferences.

 

This will be my first time attending ViVE. Here are the themes I look forward to exploring and discussing:

 

What to expect from the new administration. There is a lot of speculation about how the Trump administration may change federal health policy. Potential shifts include more private-sector involvement in Medicare, changes to health equity initiatives, and pausing drug price negotiations. Another space where a lot of movement is expected is in regulatory frameworks around artificial intelligence. How might the administration implement guardrails to shape responsible development of AI and other emerging technology in healthcare?

 

ViVE is featuring several sessions with experts who have deep experience navigating changes across administrations. This is a quickly evolving area and I am curious to see how these experts are reading the tea leaves. What will be their advice to attendees representing different parts of the healthcare ecosystem as everyone prepares for these policy shifts?

 

How AI is providing value to health systems and providers. Many sessions will present real-world examples of AI’s adoption in healthcare, from diagnosis and medical imaging to increasing productivity and alleviating burnout.

 

Personally, I am interested in understanding more about how ambient AI is being incorporated into clinical documentation. Can it live up to expectations and streamline workflows while improving clinician-patient communications? Also, how can AI-driven tools be used to scale technological solutions and help improve care for vulnerable communities that lack medical access? Several panels emphasize exactly these topics.

 

What healthcare organizations should know about cyber resilience. In recent years, there have been quite a few examples of technological failures and cybersecurity breaches. A number of ViVE sessions will feature experts speaking about why and how leaders need to change to a preventive—and proactive—mindset. I want to attend talks on specific security operations as well as more general discussions on incident response and preparedness to ensure uninterrupted and high-quality patient care.

 

Innovations in back-end operations. I was glad to see multiple sessions on operational topics, like reforming the electronic health record and transforming prior authorization. These are examples of areas where there is often frustration and friction, with administrative challenges manifesting as major barriers to the care experience. Though these topics may not be as “sexy” as a shiny new digital application, it’s important to build a strong foundation that can revamp workflow efficiency and, ultimately, improve care.

Why it matters to have clinicians integrally involved in health innovation. The need for a collaborative partnership between innovators and practicing clinicians is something I and other healthcare professionals know intuitively but is good to have acknowledged by the tech community. I appreciate that many sessions feature entrepreneurs as well as clinicians, and that there is even a panel featuring physicians who are all startup founders and business leaders.

 

And it’s not just the clinicians’ perspective that needs to be sought: It’s also patients. The first keynote includes Albert Brown, a liver transplant patient also known as artist Al B. Sure!, who will share his journey in patient advocacy and innovation.

The case for new care delivery models. This being a conference of innovators for innovators, nearly every presenter will discuss something new! There will be talk about new value-based care models, new health systems consortiums, new ways of measuring quality of digital health solutions, new and unlikely partnerships, and much more.

I am interested to learn more about the business case for these innovations. For instance, what payment strategies work to reward value-based care? How can patient- and family-centered programs like care-at-home and virtual care better quantify their value proposition?

These and many more questions will be explored in detail soon. I’ll be there to learn and to discuss. Hope you will too! There is still time to register. You can use the discount code ViVE250LW to receive $250 off your registration. See you next month at ViVE in Nashville!