The 43rd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference wrapped on Thursday after four days of company presentations, networking and meetings across San Francisco’s Financial District.
The conference drew roughly 8,000 attendees and featured presentations from more than 500 private and public companies discussing hot topics across the industry, including artificial intelligence, expansion strategies, dealmaking opportunities and financial performance.
This year’s event came with a noticeable increase in security measures. The industry, particularly insurers, are on edge after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December at the company’s investor day in New York. Several companies such as Centene Corp., Cigna and Walgreens pulled out of their scheduled presentations at the last minute.
Here’s a rundown of themes that emerged from some of the health care industry’s leading executives.
1. Outpatient care remains health systems’ key growth strategy
Outpatient care is still the hot ticket for most health systems.
AdventHealth President and CEO Terry Shaw said the Altamonte Springs, Florida-based system is reinforcing its outpatient strategy and plans to pump $500 million into primary care in the next five years. AdventHealth and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health both plan to use outpatient growth to help propel them to $30 billion revenue targets.
Sacramento, California-based Sutter Health’s growth plans also center on outpatient care, President and CEO Warner Thomas said. The health system looks to open about two dozen outpatient sites in the next three years, including an $800 million outpatient hub in Santa Clara, California.
Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health is another system pushing beyond hospital walls. CEO Wright Lassiter said CommonSpirit won’t be a financially sustainable operation if it only focuses on hospitals.
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Ardent Health added nine urgent care centers in 2024, and in January, it announced the acquisition of 18 centers in New Mexico and Oklahoma.
2. Large systems are seeing stronger financials
Many large health systems are seeing improved financial results, due in part to higher patient volumes and operating efficiencies.
Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White boosted its operating income by 25% year-over-year to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2024. Net patient service revenue grew nearly 10% in that timeframe, and premium revenue rose 21%, according to a recent financial report.
Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic reported a 7.1% operating margin in the first nine months of 2024, up from 3.7% in 2022 and 6% in 2023. Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City reported a 2.4% operating margin as of the 11-month period ended Nov. 30, compared with 1.5% in the year-ago period.
Providence, which reported more than $6.5 billion in combined net losses over 2022 and 2023, has achieved about $1 billion in operational improvements since launching its Recover and Renew plan three years ago, Chief Financial Officer Greg Hoffman said. The Renton, Washington-based health system reported a $310 million gain in the first nine months of 2024, according to its most recent financial report.
3. Health systems look for partners to run non-core businesses
Most health systems plan to refocus on their core operations and turn to partners to help them run home care, pharmacies, labs and other ancillary businesses.
OhioHealth and Providence were two of several providers at JPM that said they will increasingly partner with home health operators, diagnostic companies and other organizations as they look to cut costs and boost acute care operations.
Both health systems last year sold part of their ownership stakes in home health facilities and hospices to home health operator Compassus.
However, executives from CommonSpirit said the system has plans to build out home health care.
4. M&A, partnerships a focal point for digital health
A wave of mergers and acquisitions may be on the horizon for the digital health sector if JPM is any indication. Deals were announced strategically before and during the conference, with Transcarent, H1 and Health Catalyst all making moves. Other companies, such as Talkspace and GE Healthcare, said during their presentations that they’ll be looking for more acquisition opportunities in the near future.
Companies that didn’t have M&A deals to announce or tease were focused on partnerships. This was the case for chipmaker Nvidia, which announced partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Iqivia and Illumina during the conference.
Telehealth company Teladoc announced Monday it would join Amazon’s Health Benefits Connector, which was previously known as Amazon’s Health Condition Programs. The arrangement allows Amazon customers who are eligible for Teladoc Health’s diabetes, hypertension, pre-diabetes and weight management programs to enroll through the big tech company’s website.
5. Digital health companies acknowledge a need to perform
2025 is a make-or-break year for multiple digital health companies, as CEOs looked to convince investors their businesses were on the right track.
Teladoc Health CEO Chuck Divita, who took the helm in June, acknowledged the pressure to deliver consistent financial performance after a turbulent 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,” Divita said.
Other companies like Tempus AI and GoodRx aimed to instill confidence from investors after posting some tough results in 2024. Tempus AI, the precision medicine and diagnostics company, posted preliminary financial results that were short of analysts’ expectations and caused the company’s stock to tumble nearly 14% from $37.37 per share to $32.34 per share at market closing.
6. Health systems form clinical-focused AI partnerships
Nonprofit health systems are partnering with tech companies to test artificial intelligence’s potential to improve treatment and boost outcomes.
For several years, providers have been using machine learning and other forms of automation to reduce the administrative burden in health care tied to charting, scheduling and revenue cycle management. But health systems have been slower to adopt clinical AI, such as using technology to identify early stages of disease in X-rays and other imaging.
The nonprofit health systems presenting at JPM announced several major partnerships to delve deeper into AI’s clinical potential while sharing the risk of these expensive investments.
Mayo Clinic is teaming up with Microsoft and Cerebras, as well as Nvidia, to try to automate imaging assessments, identify diseases sooner and expedite treatment.
In addition, Sutter Health inked a seven-year partnership with GE Healthcare. Part of the collaboration includes a goal to use AI to accelerate diagnostics.
7. Small insurers feel good about Medicare Advantage
Small Medicare Advantage insurance companies are optimistic about their growth during the annual sign-up period for the 2025 plan year. Executives from Alignment Health and Clover Health both pointed to above-average membership growth — up 35% and 27% year-over-year, respectively — as signs they stole share from large national rivals.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expected Medicare Advantage enrollment to grow 7% to 35.2 million for 2025. CMS will release updated enrollment data next week that shows how companies performed.
The companies — the only insurers that presented — called out the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings program as differentiators, though for different reasons.
Clover Health executives said the company was focused on improving its rating to reach the coveted four-out-of-five star threshold. Companies that reach at least four stars receive a big bonus. Alignment Health executives said its high star ratings helped attract new members, although the insurer sued CMS this month alleging regulators improperly calculated its score and shortchanged the company.
8. Cybersecurity takes a back seat
Cybersecurity was not a prominent topic among nonprofit health systems at JPM, despite the increasing frequency of data breaches.
Ascension was one of the only health systems that delved deeply into cybersecurity infrastructure. The St. Louis-based organization said it is ramping up data protections as it continues to recover from last year’s breach. The health system spent about $140 million in response to the cyberattack, contributing to a $1.8 billion operating loss in 2024, executives said.
Provider-related cyberattacks have been steadily increasing in recent years. More than two-thirds of health care providers reported a ransomware attack in 2024 compared with 60% in 2023, according to a survey released in September from cybersecurity company Sophos.
Providers spent more time discussing growth strategies than expense pressures and digital infrastructure at the conference, which was geared toward organizations attracting investors.
9. Patient care requires a focus on consumer experience
More than ever, health systems are taking a consumer-driven approach to care — or at least talking about it.
The consumer-driven strategy isn’t necessarily new. Patients are demanding a better health care experience and competition from non-traditional providers has forced systems to rethink care delivery. But the strategy took center stage at this year’s conference, with multiple systems referring to patients as customers in their presentations.
Baylor Scott & White touted its digital platform MyBSWHealth, which has more than 3 million accounts and nearly 770,000 monthly users, as the foundation for its efforts to boost customer experience.
CommonSpirit noted a “differentiated customer experience” as one of the hallmarks of its strategy, while Ardent listed “a consumer-centric health care ecosystem” as one of its defining characteristics.
10. Medtech leaders drive robotic surgery innovation
The surgical robotics field is growing rapidly, driven by medtech companies like Intuitive Surgical and Johnson & Johnson.
The global market was worth nearly $79 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach almost $189 billion by 2032, according to an Allied Market Research report published in 2023.
Intuitive Surgical received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration last March for its latest da Vinci 5 robot and its 2024 financial results revealed it sold 174 in the fourth quarter.
The company has plans to eventually release augmented reality, data analytics, machine learning and telemedicine tools for this new robot, CEO Gary Guthart said in a presentation Wednesday. He also discussed the possibility of automation, which he said will likely evolve gradually.
Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato said in a presentation Monday the company is pushing two surgical robots — one used for knee replacement surgery and the other for general surgical procedures. The FDA approved the latter, which is called OTTAVA, for an investigational device exception in November.
This story originally appeared in Modern Healthcare.
