JPM 2026: Five takeaways on AI, M&A and outpatient growth

Modern Healthcare – Friday, January 16, 2026
By Alex Kacik and Diane Eastabrook

Artificial intelligence’s potential to change the industry dominated the conversation at this week’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

That said, the private and public company executives who offered presentations to existing and potential investors also discussed new technologies, growth and downsizing strategies, financial outlooks and efforts aimed at mitigating federal funding changes.

Here are five key themes for providers that emerged from the event.

Health systems are tabling ambitious growth plans

With Medicaid cuts and payer-mix shifts looming, most health systems aren’t setting lofty revenue targets.

At last year’s event, several nonprofit health systems mapped out a series of acquisitions in an effort to reach $30 billion in annual revenue. While some inpatient and outpatient growth is in the works, hospital operators this year made frequent use of words such as “rigor” and “discipline.”

Many health systems plan to sell underperforming and ancillary facilities, cut costs and streamline operations in 2026 as they prepare for the Medicaid cuts and potential insurance coverage losses stemming from President Donald Trump’s tax law.

“We have a convergence of pressures coming down, especially on not-for-profit healthcare,” said Eugene Woods, CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health. “Medicaid cuts are coming pretty significantly in a couple years.”

AI is for more than the back office

Every presentation had at least one mention of AI-backed technology, which healthcare companies said will help them reduce costs and increase revenue.

Nearly all providers touted widespread adoption of ambient listening software that has reduced clinician charting time and improved coding accuracy. Conversations about AI this year shifted from back-office uses such as revenue cycle management to clinical applications including imaging analysis and genomic tests that guide treatment strategies.

“There is a moment now that we have to intentionally and thoughtfully implement these tools,” said Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO of York, Pennsylvania-based WellSpan Health.

Partnerships are a patient volume play

Health systems are forging more partnerships and joint ventures to expand patient access and clinical innovation, often in lieu of mergers and acquisitions. A few examples:

• Boston-based Mass General Brigham and Tampa General Hospital are teaming up on an ambulatory care joint venture that will offer primary care, specialty care, imaging and outpatient surgical procedures along Florida’s east coast.
• Hackensack Meridian is looking to add more nontraditional partnerships, akin to the ones it already has for primary care clinics with Amazon One Medical and for virtual care with K Health.
• Collaborations aimed at innovating care include Northwestern Medicine’s joint venture with healthcare technology company Tempus AI, which will expand genomic testing to Northwestern patients with early-stage cancers and help the academic medical center develop more effective treatments.
• A joint venture between Detroit-based Henry Ford Health and BAMF Health will provide molecular imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy and research capabilities at a theragnostic center in downtown Detroit.

Rising patient volume, investment gains are boosting profit

Health system executives said inpatient and outpatient volumes have grown over the past year along with their investment income, helping bolster balance sheets.

More patients are using healthcare services as they age and manage chronic diseases. Providers are hopeful they can direct patients with less severe conditions away from the emergency department and into outpatient facilities. That strategy can help lower costs and free up space at their tertiary hospitals, many of which are full or near capacity.

“What we are doing today has to improve with the headwinds that are coming,” said Michael Browning, chief financial officer of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health.

Outpatient care accelerates as a growth strategy

Moving healthcare outside of hospitals to lower-cost ambulatory centers is key. Ascension, Sutter Health, Tampa General Hospital and CommonSpirit all laid out plans to expand their outpatient care networks.

Growth in outpatient care also is rippling through the medical technology sector. Zimmer Biomet President and CEO Ivan Tornos told attendees the company is targeting ambulatory surgery centers for its orthopedic implants and robotics.

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