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With two decades of experience in healthcare, I’ve attended my fair share of industry conferences. But this week marked my first time at ViVE, a premier gathering of digital health leaders spanning health systems, hospitals, payers, and—like me—behavioral healthcare. Over a few days, we explored emerging innovations, groundbreaking technologies, and the collective challenge of transforming healthcare into a more connected, efficient, and patient-centric system.
What stood out most wasn’t just the cutting-edge tech on display but the conversations shaping the future of care delivery. Reuniting with longtime colleagues and meeting new industry peers reinforced the urgency of our shared mission: to drive meaningful innovation that fosters a more integrated approach to patient care. Here are my biggest takeaways from the event:
1. AI Discussions Are Advancing from Innovation to Patient Impact
It would not be a healthcare conference in 2025, particularly one with a digital focus, without several discussions centering AI. ViVE featured speakers addressing all scopes of implementation from using AI to solve the loneliness epidemic to employing it as a digital intern.
Working in the behavioral health field where we prioritize human-to-human interactions, I have seen firsthand how AI can optimize rather than replace treatment plans, and provide seamless integration between a patient’s physical and mental health. Human oversight remains crucial for creating a measurable impact on patient care.
2. The Changing Role of Clinicians in a Digitally Driven System
The impact of AI and other digital advancements raised questions on the changing role of clinicians. With technology increasingly handling administrative tasks, outcomes reporting and even facilitating in-between session patient interaction, the shift raises an important question on how this will impact how the role of doctors, nurses, therapists and other care providers will operate.
In a digital utopia, clinicians should feel empowered by technology, freeing up their time to focus on what they do best; help people. This could look like either seeing more patients (increasing access to care) or provide deeper patient support (higher touch or deeper integration across health needs).
3. Interoperability and the Data Sharing Problem
Despite all our technological advancements, patient data remains frustratingly siloed. Toggling between systems make it difficult for providers to get a complete picture of a patient’s health, leading to delays in care or worse, overlooking an important piece of the health puzzle.
The ability to seamlessly share information across healthcare settings—while maintaining security and privacy—isn’t just a technical challenge; it’s crucial for effectively treating whole person health. Without interoperability, we’re just digitizing inefficiencies rather than solving them.
4. Digital Trust: The New Competitive Advantage in Healthcare
With all of these advancements and potential impacts, gaining trust is becoming a core differentiator in healthcare. Patients with a heightened awareness of – and who may have even fallen victim to a data breach – are actively seeking out care providers that prioritize their privacy, and security.
Trust is earned through transparency, accountability, and a dedicated approach to proactive security measures. All of us across the healthcare spectrum are dealing with some of the most vulnerable patient information; if they don’t trust how their information is handled, they won’t engage with digital health solutions—no matter how innovative they are.
My time at ViVE reinforced my feeling that we are at one of the most exciting inflection points of our industry. I left the conference feeling energized and excited for the future of healthcare and the innovations that will make a positive impact on patient care and outcomes.
