This week in Nashville, more than 300 healthcare leaders came together for Reuters Digital Health USA 2025, and the message was clear: digital transformation isn’t just about technology—it’s about people, process, and purpose.
I had the privilege of chairing the two-day event, welcoming attendees, and guiding conversations across the main stage. What we heard from speakers, panelists, and participants was both sobering and inspiring. We’re living in a time of great challenge in healthcare—but also great opportunity.
Here are some of the major themes that emerged across both days of the event.
From hype to impact: Real conversations about AI
Artificial intelligence dominated the agenda—but not as a buzzword. Instead, speakers dug into practical questions: How do we implement AI responsibly? How do we ensure it earns clinician trust? And how do we use it to meaningfully improve outcomes?
We kicked off Day 1 with a keynote fireside chat between Dr. Daniel Yang of Kaiser Permanente and Janet Guptill of the Scottsdale Institute. Their discussion on trust in AI set the tone for the day, laying the foundation for real-world perspectives from organizations like Northwell Health, Allina Health, Cleveland Clinic, and Providence.
At the beginning of Day 1, we ran a poll to gauge what attendees felt was their biggest digital transformation priority.
- Nearly a third of attendees (31%) said it was improving patient access and experience
- That was closely followed by reducing workforce burden (30%) and implementing AI responsibly (24%)
That alignment showed up in the content, as panelists shared how they’re using AI to reduce documentation time, speed up clinical workflows, and extend care to underserved communities.
Transformation takes a team
If AI was the most talked-about topic, interdepartmental collaboration was the most urgent.
In a Day 2 panel on breaking down silos, leaders from Ascension, City of Hope, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Stanford Healthcare addressed one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: the disconnect between departments.
That insight was echoed in our Day 2 poll. When asked about their biggest challenge in digital transformation, nearly half of respondents (47%) said breaking down departmental silos.
The takeaway? Solving healthcare’s biggest problems doesn’t just require better tech—it requires better teamwork.
People are the real platform
Throughout the event, we returned to a simple truth: digital transformation doesn’t happen on slide decks. It happens on the ground.
Andy Chu of Providence delivered a powerful keynote reminding us that transformation begins with people, not platforms. That’s a message we heard over and over again—from provider-sponsored health plans looking to scale growth with empathy, to AI developers working to reduce the 2-billion-hour care gap in primary care.
As I said in my closing remarks: “Transformation doesn’t happen because of one person, one product, or one policy. It happens because teams come together with a shared vision, grounded in trusted data and aligned toward meaningful outcomes.”
Clarity in a complex landscape
Across the sessions, one word kept coming up: clarity.
Clarity in data. Clarity in strategy. Clarity in communication. Whether the topic was change management, data governance, or scaling innovation, healthcare leaders made it clear that in order to act with speed and confidence, they need alignment—across teams, across tools, and across the organization.
That’s the work we do every day at Dimensional Insight: helping healthcare organizations create clarity from complexity. By connecting people to trusted, actionable data, we support faster decisions, better outcomes, and more collaborative care.
That people-centered approach is why we were just named the top analytics vendor in the latest KLAS report—recognition that reflects the trust our customers place in us as a partner in their transformation journeys.
What’s next?
As attendees head back to their organizations, the challenge is to turn insights into action:
- How can we foster better collaboration between departments?
- How can we implement AI in ways that actually reduce burdens, not create new ones?
- How do we ensure that every digital initiative centers the needs of both patients and providers?
There are no easy answers—but there is momentum. And if the two days we spent at the Digital Health event are any indication, there’s also a growing community of leaders committed to getting it right.
Thank you to Reuters Events, to all the incredible speakers and sponsors, and to everyone who participated with such thoughtfulness and energy. Let’s keep the conversation going—and let’s keep building a healthcare system that works smarter, works together, and works better for all.
Kathy started her career in television news writing and producing. She then worked at a public relations agency and as a freelance writer before joining Dimensional Insight in 2013.
Kathy has presented at several events in both healthcare and wine & spirits, including the Healthcare Innovation Summit, the Healthcare IT Marketing & PR Conference (HITMC), and the WSWA Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) Conference. Kathy is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and a member of Women of the Vine & Spirits.
She is also host of the Smarter Healthcare Podcast (www.smarthcpodcast.com) and is a member of the Forbes Communications Council.
Kathy holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Boston University.
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