As we wrap up another year and get ready for 2026 to begin, it is once again time for everyone’s favorite annual tradition of Health IT Predictions! We reached out to our incredible Healthcare IT Today Community to get their insights on what will happen in the coming year, and boy, did they deliver. We, in fact, got so many responses to our prompt this year that we have had to narrow them down to just the best and most interesting. Check out the community’s predictions down below and be sure to follow along as we share more 2026 Health IT Predictions!
Check out our community’s Patient Expectations and Patient Experience predictions:
Frank Harvey, Chief Executive Officer at Surescripts
Prior authorizations are notoriously challenging, especially when they impact a patient’s ability to access needed treatments. I predict that in 2026, we will see prior authorization become less of a pain point as more prescribers adopt automated prior authorization technologies, leading to faster approvals, 22 seconds or less, and patients having one less barrier to accessing their prescription therapy without delay.
Dr. Olufunke Pickering, Senior Medical Director at Inovalon
With shifting regulatory pressures, health plans will need to innovate in 2026 as they work to improve patient outcomes. To drive quality standards and measures, it’s critical to remove barriers that hinder progress and to identify where resources are needed to overcome them. AI (with human oversight) will help level healthcare delivery by pinpointing strategic interventions, especially when paired with data pulled from multiple sources for maximum impact and cost management. This combination clarifies gaps and provides a more complete view of each patient. Improved quality and ethical care for all is attainable.
Michael Wang, Founder and Chief Clinical Officer at Inspiren
Senior living is about to undergo the same transparency shift already transforming restaurants and hospitals, one where families will no longer accept anecdotal assurances of quality, but instead ask to see the proof that a community is safe. Real-time safety insights and data-validated care will quickly become mandatory, not nice-to-have, as operators are pushed to demonstrate outcomes, prevent avoidable incidents, and explain how care decisions are made.
AI will be central to this change, not as a buzzword, but as a tool that delivers actionable insights to improve staffing efficiency, reduce risk, and reassure families with continuous visibility into well-being. And as this demand grows, one critical standard will emerge: AI guidelines in senior living must be driven by safety-first practitioners who understand clinical nuance, not by generalists building tech in a vacuum.
Seth Cohen, President at Cedar
Patient loyalty will become more dependent on the accessibility and affordability of care, meaning: how quickly can a patient get the answers they need? We are in a digital world where online shopping and on-demand services are the expectation. People see value in services that are instantaneous and easily accessible, yet we are not seeing this in healthcare. Patients can wait up to three months to get an appointment with a doctor, see the doctor for 10 minutes, and then receive a $2000 bill. There’s a gap between what patients see as valuable and what healthcare is offering.
In 2026, healthcare systems need to address this value equation and evaluate how they can make care truly accessible. AI is an opportunity to create proactive digital touchpoints with patients, so they continue to be engaged even between their doctors’ visits. This can include providing access to resources like Medicaid enrollment, financial aid, proactive insurance renewals, and denied claim resolution. With additional AI layering, providers’ digital solutions can predict what patients need and at what time, even before patients know it.
Sanjeev Dhawan, VP of Healthcare at R Systems
Patient Experience Will Be Defined by Hyper-Personalization and Intelligent Interfaces: In 2026, the next phase of innovation will focus on hyper-personalization, moving from tailored suggestions to whole-body digital twins with dynamic models reflecting an individual’s physiology, lifestyle, and clinical history. Virtual assistants and conversational interfaces will guide patients through care journeys with real-time, AI-driven insights.
Integrated telehealth, IoMT devices, and cloud-based analytics will work together to create cohesive, continuous, and highly personalized care environments. Digital product strategies will also emphasize user-centric design, modular architectures, and AI-led optimization, blending mobile, web, IoMT, and telehealth into one seamless experience.
Bob Farrell, CEO at mPulse
In 2026, I believe patient trust will become the defining metric of health plan success. We’re entering an era where health plans can’t rely on transactional engagement – they need to demonstrate predictability, consistency, and empathy across every interaction. Trust builds when members see their plan follow through on promises, communicate clearly through their preferred channel, and make it easy to get the care they need without confusion or delay.
While AI will play a major role, it should be governed and invisible, with the ultimate goal to remove friction, not add to it. When a member feels that their plan knows them, respects their preferences, and anticipates their needs, that’s when trust starts to grow. That’s why 2026 will be the year leading plans turn digital engagement from a compliance exercise into a trust-building strategy.
Susan Grant, Chief Clinical Officer at symplr
In 2026, a shift in patient experience will come from giving nurses and care teams the time and space to be fully present to form meaningful connections with their patients. As automation and ambient tools remove hours of administrative work, patients will feel the difference in the clinician’s presence and ability to understand and respond to their needs through powerful moments: connection, time, eye contact, listening, explanation, and sharing of understandable and meaningful information.
Technology will work in the background to anticipate needs and coordinate care more smoothly, while the human connection becomes more visible. I believe the next evolution of patient experience won’t be defined by new channels or surveys, but by restoring the patient-clinician relationship at the center of care.
Amelia Hay, VP of Startup Programming & Investments at The AgeTech Collaborative from AARP
After decades of underfunding and a lack of research, a surge of innovation will target the critical health needs of women in midlife. In 2026, investment in women’s health will expand rapidly as technology focuses on filling longstanding gaps in areas such as menopause, autoimmune conditions, metabolic and cognitive health, and more.
As a result, women will become one of the most powerful consumer segments in health, pushing companies to prioritize prevention and early detection to create a holistic approach to aging. At the same time, women-led startups will set the pace that health systems and consumer brands must follow, shaping new standards in clinical care models, digital diagnostics, community platforms, and at-home therapeutics.
Kobus Jooste, CEO at ActiumHealth
In 2026, the standard for patient engagement will flip from reactive to proactive, driven by AI that anticipates patient needs before they pick up the phone. We will see health systems utilize ‘always-on’ AI agents to analyze clinical data and proactively reach out to patients for necessary screenings and appointments, effectively turning the contact center into a primary driver of clinical outcomes and revenue. This transition will effectively eliminate the ‘wait time’ metric, replacing it with ‘engagement rate’ as the new standard of access.
Richard Kwong, Director at Connecting for Better Health
In 2026, technology solutions and innovations in healthcare will continue growing at a never-before-seen rate due to the proliferation of and access to AI tools. Significantly, we’re going to increasingly see AI agents replace or supplement humans in interactions like scheduling, outreach, and engagement. As a result, it’s more important than ever to prioritize human-centered design and create solutions around the patient experience.
Pat McGloin, Managing Director of Health and Life Sciences at MERGE
Heading into 2026, I expect consumer health and wellness experiences to become much more personalized and insight-driven. Personalization is king, and AI is becoming a powerful tool for processing overwhelming information into something actionable. It can help create a personalized map to serve as a guide for each person navigating their health journey.
I also see a shift away from digital tools that feel like utilities and toward those that feel more integrated into one’s lifestyle and identity. People want technology that understands them, not just technology that collects data. Humanizing these experiences through clear communication and transparency will be critical because people want to know how these systems work and why they should trust them.
Lynne Nowak, M.D., Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Surescripts
Data insights and the use of AI have incredible potential to continue improving how patient care is delivered. I predict that in 2026, organizations, clinicians, and care managers will work to ensure that these tools are used in the most responsible way, training not just in the mechanics but also the ethical use of new AI technology, to support care decisions and improve patient care.
Florian Otto, Co-Founder and CEO at Cedar
More patients will turn to AI for healthcare financial guidance. Patients are defining value based on accessibility, and financial guidance is not an exception. With AI and resources like ChatGPT, patients receive answers to their questions in just a few seconds. Enter AI agents, which have already arrived in hospital call centers and are reshaping the ways patients receive financial guidance. AI agents are positioned to integrate into the existing billing experience so patients can get timely and effective answers from technology that was purpose-built for healthcare, unlike resources like ChatGPT.
Meghan Snyder, Chief Customer Officer at ReferWell
Today’s healthcare consumer expects a frictionless care navigation experience across digital and traditional channels, tailored to meet their unique health and wellness needs and engagement preferences. Unfortunately, conventional barriers ranging from siloed data streams to insurance complexities and communication breakdowns continue to stand in the way.
In the next 12 months, health plans and providers will increasingly eye investments in solutions that facilitate more meaningful care connections, removing the roadblocks that prevent people from accessing providers, simplifying the care journey, and improving the experience for all.
Jeff Bennett, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Modivcare
As the proportion of older adults in the US rapidly increases and we continue to grapple with the impact of chronic conditions on both cost and quality of life, optimizing health solutions that bring real connection is essential. With a focus on leveraging data-driven insights to meaningfully address cost drivers tied to living with complex care needs, solutions that can find the sweet spot between digital enablement and human connection will win.
Central to improving care for members while reducing long-term healthcare costs is a thoughtful approach to data interoperability – prioritizing a solution that eliminates silos that limit care teams’ access to important data without overburdening providers with a constant stream of noise. Once the industry finds this sweet spot, members and care teams can flag concerns, track long-term trends, and deliver more personalized care, improving the overall patient and provider experience at the right cost.
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out of their day to submit a prediction to us, and thank you to all of you for taking the time to read this article! We could not do this without all of your support. What do you think will happen for Patient Expectations and Patient Experience in 2026? Let us know on social media. We’d love to hear from all of you!
Be sure to check out all of Healthcare IT Today’s Patient Expectations and Patient Experience content and our other 2026 Health IT Predictions.
No comments:
Post a Comment