According to Modern Healthcare, most health systems are still focusing on outpatient care for their growth strategies. For example, AdventHealth president and CEO Terry Shaw said the health system is planning to invest $500 million into primary care over the next five years, and profits from these services would be used to fund a long-term plan focused heavily on outpatient care.

"We are doubling down, and then tripling down, on our outpatient systems of care," Shaw said.

Similarly, Sutter Health's growth plans are focused on outpatient care, with president and CEO Warner Thomas saying that the system is looking to open around two dozen outpatient sites in the next three years. This includes an $800 million outpatient hub in Santa Clara, California.

"We will always be in the hospital business, but we also know that if we're only in the hospital business, we won't be financially sustainable," said CommonSpirit Health CEO Wright Lassiter. Currently, CommonSpirit is planning to invest in more ambulatory services and home healthcare after seeing low profits from its acute-care business.

For more information on site-of-care shifts, check out these resources:

• Site-of-care shifts: Healthcare's $50B opportunity
• Inside the latest trends and data on site-of-care shifts
• 5 trends (re)shaping site-of-care shifts
• Podcast: Why it's time to go on offense with site-of-care shifts

Many large health systems have seen financial improvement recently, in part due to higher patient volumes and operating efficiencies.

For example, Baylor Scott & White reported a 25% year-over-year increase in operating income, reaching $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2024. Net patient service revenue also increased by almost 10%, and premium revenue grew 21% during the same time.

Mayo Clinic also reported a 7.1% operating margin in the first nine months of 2024, an increase from 6% in 2023 and 3.7% in 2022. Similarly, Intermountain Health reported a 2.4% operating margin through the 11-month period that ended Nov. 30, an increase from 1.5% during the year-ago period.

Providence, which launched its Recover and Renew plan three years ago, also reported $1 billion in operational improvements after seeing over $6.5 billion in combined net losses over 2022 and 2023. During the first nine months of 2024, Providence reported a $310 million gain.

For more insights into health systems' financial performances, check out these resources:

• The data healthcare leaders need to know for 2025
• The top 10 trends impacting health systems in 2025

Most health systems are planning to focus on their core operations while turning to partners to help run their non-core businesses, including home care, pharmacies, and labs.

During the conference, OhioHealth and Providence were among the providers that said they plan to grow their partnerships with home health operators, diagnostic companies, and other organizations as a way to cut costs and boost their acute care operations.

Last year, both health systems sold part of their ownerships stakes in home health facilities and hospices to Compassus, a home health operator.

"Another way in which we try to make sure we are a high-performing organization is to admit when other people can do things better," said John McWhorter, OhioHealth's COO.

For more information on health system partnerships, check out these resources:

• Building better community hospital partnerships
• How different stakeholders define value in healthcare

According to Modern Healthcare, "a wave of mergers and acquisitions [M&A] may be on the horizon for the digital health sector."

Several companies, including Transcarent, H1, and Health Catalyst, strategically announced deals both before and during the conferences. Other companies, such as Talkspace and GE Healthcare, said they plan to look for more acquisition opportunities in the near future.

Some companies were focused on partnerships rather than M&A. For example, Nvidia announced partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Iqivia, and Illumina during the conference. Teladoc also announced plans to join Amazon's Health Benefits Connector.

For more information about the digital health market, check out these resources:

• Your guide to the digital health landscape today
• The top 4 health system priorities digital health vendors should know
• Healthcare needs a digital transformation. Is it ready?

For many digital health companies, 2025 will be a "make-or-break" year as leaders work to convince investors that their businesses are on the right track, especially after financial performances in 2024.

"Clearly, we are a 'show me' story at this point, and I think it's going to come down to execution — our ability to articulate what we're doing in terms of our priorities and then showing success against that," said Teladoc CEO Chuck Divita.

For more information about the digital health market, check out these resources:

• Your guide to the digital health landscape today
• The top 4 health system priorities digital health vendors should know
• Healthcare needs a digital transformation. Is it ready?

Although health systems have been using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to reduce administration burden, they have been slower to adopt clinical AI. Now, more health systems are partnering with tech companies to test out AI tools designed to improve treatments and boost patient outcomes.

At the conference, Mayo Clinic announced partnerships with Microsoft, Cerebras, and Nvidia to test AI tools for automating imaging assessments, identifying diseases more quickly, and expediting treatment. Sutter Health also signed a seven-year partnership with GE Healthcare, which includes a goal of using AI to accelerate diagnostics.

For more insights on AI in healthcare, check out these resources:

• 3 principles for the equitable use of AI in healthcare
• What 50 healthcare leaders had to say about AI
• AI pulse survey: Are healthcare leaders ready for AI?

Small Medicare Advantage (MA) insurance companies are optimistic about their growth during the sign-up period for the 2025 plan year. Executives at Alignment Health and Clover Health both noted that they had above-average membership growth at 35% and 27% year over year, respectively.

According to CMS, MA enrollment is expected to grow 7% to 35.2 million for 2025. The agency is expected to release updated enrollment data this week.

For more information on the MA market, check out these resources:

• Achieving sustainable growth in Medicare Advantage
• Medicare Advantage Star Ratings 101
• Podcast: The changing tide of Medicare Advantage

According to cybersecurity company Sophos, more than two-thirds of healthcare providers reported a ransomware attack in 2024, up from 60% in 2023. However, despite the increase in data breaches, cybersecurity was not a prominent topic during the conference.

Ascension was one of the only health systems to have an in-depth discussion on cybersecurity infrastructure. Following a data breach last year, the health system said it is increasing its data protections as it continues to recover. So far, Ascension has spent around $140 million to address the cyberattack, which executives said contributed to a $1.8 billion operating loss in 2024.

For more insights on cybersecurity in healthcare, check out these resources:

• Cheat sheet: Cybersecurity in healthcare
• Navigating the new healthcare cybersecurity environment
• How to be a cybersecurity sentinel

Many health systems have or plan to have a focus on consumer experience with patient care. Although a consumer-driven strategy is not new, it took center stage this year, with multiple health systems referring to patients as "customers" during their presentations.

For example, Baylor Scott & White said its digital platform MyBSWHealth is the foundation of its efforts to boost the customer experience. Currently, the platform has more than 3 million accounts and almost 770,000 monthly users.

Separately, CommonSpirit said a "differentiated customer experience" is a hallmark of its strategy, while Ardent Health said that a "consumer-centric healthcare ecosystem" is one of its defining characteristics.

For more insights into consumerism in healthcare, check out these resources:

• 6 insights on consumer preferences in healthcare
• Top drivers of change impacting consumer preferences and behaviors
• 3 ways consumer preferences are driving healthcare facility design
• What healthcare stakeholders can gain from consumer behavior change

According to Modern Healthcare, medtech companies like Intuitive Surgical and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) are helping drive advancement in surgical robotics.

Last March, Intuitive Surgical received 510(k) clearance from FDA for its latest da Vinci 5 robot, and the company sold 174 of these robots in the fourth quarter. According to Intuitive CEO Gary Guthart, the company plans to eventually release augmented reality, data analytics, machine learning, and telemedicine tools for the robot.

Separately, J&J CEO Joaquin Duato said that the company is currently pushing two surgical robots: one for knee replacement surgery and one for general surgical procedures. In November, FDA approved the general surgery robot, which is called OTTAVA, for an investigational device exception.

For more information on the future of surgery, check out these resources:

• The future of surgery is more than just robots
• Decision guide: Robotic surgery programs
• How technology will solve 4 future surgery problems