When asked by
MobiHealthNews
to highlight what most surprised them in 2025, healthcare executives pointed to a year marked by volatile policy shifts, rapid AI acceleration and unexpected industry turns.
From Medicaid cuts and a rise in uninsured patients to expanding GLP-1 demand and use cases, the leaders collectively painted a picture of a sector at a pivotal inflection point. Here’s what was said regarding the most noteworthy surprises of the year:
Anu Sharma, founder and CEO of
Millie
So much happened in 2025 – the passage of OBBBA [One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act] accompanied by deep Medicaid cuts, the rise of AI across every sector of the industry, the GLP-1 drug wars, the mainstreaming of menopause, the rise of consumerism seen clearly through the trend of longevity, DPC [direct primary care] models and ICHRA plans.
Plus, the shock moment when Unitedhealthcare CEO
Brian Thompson was shot
in broad daylight on a NYC sidewalk. My overall take is that we are still making sense of all of it, but the healthcare world is in agreement that "change is in the air" and we will see lasting effects for many years to come.
A few things that have surprised me include the increasing attention and reliance on ChatGPT and TikTok as health intervention and education tools, as they have little basis for evidence and can increase the spread of misinformation.
Additionally, I am surprised to see a lack of understanding from patients that their premiums may rise under individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRA) as the Affordable Care Act markets grapple with an increase in enrollment following Medicaid cuts and the ongoing rise in medical costs. I urge industry leaders and stakeholders to pay more attention to this impact and not just the individual choice benefits.
Shannon West, chief strategy officer for
Datavant
There have been a few big happenings this year. Most notably, CMS’
Health Tech Ecosystem
creates a new path for collaboration between government and industry to solve data sharing and empower patients. The increasing use of ambient and AI is changing care delivery and patient engagement while driving organizations to consider new ways to reduce costs and improve operations.
Punit Singh Soni
, CEO of
Suki
I was surprised by the insane valuations for companies in our space this year driven by investor euphoria and FOMO when the game is such a long-term play.
Neil Patel, head of ventures at
Redesign Health
The biggest surprise was Epic’s decision to partner with Microsoft, effectively competing with their anointed AI Scribe partner, Abridge. This announcement, coupled with an extensive AI product roadmap making the rounds, reignited a pre-pandemic conversation in the digital health industry about health systems taking an "Epic first" approach, but this time, for AI.
Stephen Smith, cofounder and CEO of
NOCD
I was most surprised by how quickly AI overviews transformed the search landscape. Over the last 12 months, people have radically changed how they use search engines like Google, and the platforms themselves have evolved just as fast. This shift is forcing everyone to rethink SEO, content strategy and even how they measure engagement. The speed of adoption has been remarkable, and it is reshaping the entire digital ecosystem faster than most of us expected.
Cindy Jordan, CEO of
Pyx Health
This year, we saw major policy decisions implemented that are already reducing access to care and negatively affecting the health of millions of Americans.
Most consequential was the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which has already reduced SNAP benefits and increased strain on the healthcare industry. These challenges will intensify in 2026 as additional provisions of the bill roll out.
Specifically, new eligibility requirements for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act plans are expected to increase the number of uninsured individuals. The result is a healthcare system being asked to do more with less, forcing payers and providers to meet rising demand with fewer resources.
Roland Rott, president and CEO of Imaging at
GE HealthCare
One of the most noteworthy events of 2025 was the rapid expansion of AI’s utility – beyond simply enhancing individual images – for use in integrating multimodal patient data from disparate systems. We witnessed the remarkable speed of AI adoption in imaging, with hospitals and imaging centers quickly integrating AI features that help improve reconstruction, automate segmentation and enhance diagnostic confidence.
These innovations enhance how clinicians approach disease diagnosis and progression, particularly in oncology, enabling more strategic and tailored treatment plans. This was significantly boosted by the major momentum observed in molecular imaging and theranostics, which are beginning to redefine how we diagnose and treat cancer.
Equally transformative were the changes in business models, with healthcare notably shifting from selling devices to providing complete outcome-driven solutions that combine hardware, software and analytics.
The speed at which regulatory bodies, like the FDA, have cleared or approved a record number of AI solutions also signaled a pivotal moment, also showing growing recognition of AI’s potential for clinical utility across broad applications.
Ashley Beecy, chief AI officer at
Sutter Health
The biggest takeaway from this year is how AI in healthcare has moved from buzz to results-focused, risk-tolerant growth. One example of that, in addition to being a noteworthy development in 2025, is how
research has illustrated how ambient artificial intelligence platforms show promising results
decreasing the burden of clinical documentation for healthcare providers.
We’ve seen the dramatic impacts, and we’re just scratching the surface of what is possible with these platforms. In fact, our teams anticipate continued growth in AI tools dedicated to supporting clinicians in 2026.
Kara Egan, founder and CEO of
Teal Health
GLP-1s continue to dominate conversations, and for many reasons outside of just losing weight. The conversation has revolved around cost and access and really shines a light on people’s appetite to take on more care themselves, in their own home.
We are seeing this with cervical cancer screenings, too. Women are self-scheduling virtual visits to discuss hormone therapy for menopause treatment. People are showing that when given access and if convenient, they take action.
Ellen Rudolph, cofounder and CEO of
WellTheory
One of the most consequential moments of the year came in August when the Gates Foundation announced a US $2.5 billion commitment through 2030 to accelerate research and innovation in women’s health globally. It was a sweeping investment that spanned maternal health, gynecological and menstrual health, contraception, sexual health and a wide range of conditions that have historically been profoundly under-researched.
The scale of the commitment – and the explicit acknowledgment that women’s health has been systematically underfunded for decades – sent a powerful signal to the entire healthcare ecosystem. It reframed women’s health as a global innovation priority, not a philanthropic niche, and catalyzed a broader reallocation of capital and scientific attention toward areas that directly impact the lives and economic participation of millions of women worldwide.
Matt Cybulsky
, managing director of healthcare at
Catalant
No week, quarter or year goes by with AI that is not full of hard left turns – 2025 was no stranger.
A few things come to mind:
DeepSeek's global debut and their R1 model's release earlier this year and the possibility of healthcare integration into lower cost applications, mostly in Asia, showed us that a powerful and high-performing AI was perhaps not relegated to the build and resource constraints of larger firms. From a value perspective, it signaled a global shock of what is possible, but our sense of competition and expectations in the U.S. is high, including the accuracy and rigor of such tools in application – no matter the cost.
Anthropic's valuation at $60 billion (although having far surpassed this at the end of 2025) was a surprise then, but no longer. As we experience what is possible with these tools, we see models becoming strategically embedded in the future for development of pharma, diagnostic support, safety and quality, and patient management. With their growing list of major partners (and those of OpenAI, Google and more) the healthcare impacts alone will leave $60 billion in the rearview mirror.