More than two-thirds of leaders from health plans and health systems anticipate outperforming their competitors in 2026, according to a recent report from Deloitte.
Still, many don’t have a very confident outlook for the healthcare industry. About 43% of leaders feel “uncertain” or “neutral” about the industry’s near-term outlook, up from 28% last year. This is mainly due to policy and regulatory uncertainty, such as the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies and uncertainty regarding the Medicare telehealth flexibilities.
“A majority of U.S. health system and health plan leaders are expecting to outperform their competitors next year, but doing so by following their traditional playbook,” said Alicia Janisch, vice chair and U.S. health care sector leader at Deloitte, in an interview. “However, these traditional strategies may fall short amongst all the mounting financial and regulatory pressures that are happening in healthcare. Our outlook findings indicated rising anxiety about policy shifts, persistent affordability issues in a transformational moment right now for digital adoption and care models.”
Deloitte’s 2026 U.S. Healthcare Outlook Survey received responses from 120 U.S. C-suite executives from health plans and health systems. Additional findings from the report include:
1. Investment in digital delivery: Consumers are continuing to receive care digitally due to convenience. More than 90% of consumers who had a virtual health visit say they’d be willing to have another. In addition, 37% of consumers use monitoring devices for health conditions and 47% use devices for fitness and health tracking.
Because of this interest among consumers, about 60% of health plan and health system executives report that they plan to invest in virtual health services to support preventive care.
2. Scaling AI: More than 80% of leaders believe that gen AI and agentic AI can provide “moderate-to-significant value across a range of functions in 2026, from clinical and business operations to back-office functions.” However, 49% of organizations are still experimenting with AI and 18% of organizations have not adopted AI at all. Only a third of healthcare organizations are using AI at scale.
The areas where gen AI and agentic AI can add value for payers and health systems include enabling clinical care, reducing administrative burden and improving consumer and workforce experiences.
“Achieving scale with AI means implementing the technology enterprisewide and realizing measurable financial impact,” the report stated. “Health care organizations that deploy AI across multiple functions—rather than isolating it within specific departments—can broadly reduce administrative burdens, accelerate decision-making, and enhance outcomes and consumer experiences.”
3. Partnering with other industries: About 80% of executives say that collaborating with other industries — such as retail, tech and grocery — is a C-suite priority. For example, working with community-based organizations can help address social and economic needs, while partnering with retailers can address food-related needs.
“It is important to think about joining forces and what innovation can come [from] looking outside of healthcare,” Janisch said.
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