Four Forces That Will Redefine Healthcare in 2026

As we head into 2026, the conversations I’m having with health system leaders and clinicians across the country share a common theme. 

We’re reaching a breaking point—and a turning point.

Rising consumer expectations, accelerating regulatory mandates, rapidly advancing AI, and intensifying financial strain aren’t evolving separately. They’re converging into a single inflection point that will force new decisions, new models, and new ways of delivering care.

Based on what I’m seeing in the market, hearing from clinical leaders, and observing across our own work, I believe four forces will define 2026—not simply as trends, but as structural changes that will reshape healthcare.

1. The Consumerization of Care Will Accelerate

We’ve talked about “consumerization” in healthcare for years. In 2026, it will evolve beyond “nice to have” status and become a baseline expectation for consumers.

Patients live in a world where Amazon predicts what they need, Oura tracks every movement they make, and ChatGPT answers their medical questions before they ever call a provider. They expect the same fluidity in healthcare that they get everywhere else, and they will stop tolerating the gaps.

Next year, patients will increasingly expect:

• Integrated physical and digital experiences

• Digital care that evolves beyond the telehealth-centric urgent care visit

• Continuous care guidance—and care provision—between visits to the office

• Actionable education that reduces information asymmetry of information between them and their doctors
  

The rise of AI tools has already changed patient behavior. The question they’re now asking is simple: “If I can get personalized, intelligent guidance from an app, why can’t my provider offer the same?”

This force alone will reshape how health systems think about experience, access, continuity, and engagement.

2. Outcomes Reporting Will Move From “Important” to “Non-Negotiable”

Regulatory pressure is already transforming care more aggressively than most organizations realize, and that momentum will accelerate in 2026 and into the years ahead.

CMS now mandates patient-reported outcomes (PROs) for total joint replacement and, through the Ambulatory Specialty Model, will increase those requirements. Add the new CMS Access program, which financially rewards high-quality performance, and the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) bundled payments program—and outcomes tracking becomes not only required but strategically advantageous.

The updated remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) codes accelerate this shift even further. For the first time, providers can be easily reimbursed for what patients do between appointments, creating a clear incentive to keep patients engaged digitally, continuously, and in ways that require minimal effort from clinicians.

EHRs are not designed for this. They were built as documentation tools, not patient care engines. In 2026, providers will seek holistic care platforms that wrap around their EHRs (and integrate with them) that allow providers to:

• Collect outcomes in ways that patients enjoy and find additive

• Keep patients engaged with care when they’re outside of the clinic walls

• Integrate insights into clinical decision-making

• Reduce staff burden rather than add to it

3. AI Will Move to the Front Lines of Care

If 2023 through 2025 were years of experimentation in the back office, 2026 will be the year AI expands to start touching patient care.

Patients have grown to embrace AI tools more rapidly than health systems have. They’re turning to chatbots for symptom interpretation, action plans, and second opinions. Combined with growing comfort using AI in back-office functions, this behavior shift will accelerate AI adoption in clinical workflows.

AI Begins Handling the Tasks That Drain Clinical Capacity

In 2026, AI will increasingly:

• Drive care progression, adjusting exercise programs and pathways

• Deliver patient-facing coaching, providing real-time guidance between visits

• Support decision-making, especially for lower-acuity cases

• Automate documentation, eliminating redundant clinician typing
  

AI is not replacing clinicians; it is allowing clinicians to spend more time practicing at the top of their license. 

At Medbridge, we’re already embedding agentic AI into care progression, coaching, and clinician assistance—and the pace of advancement is accelerating.

Computer Vision and Passive Monitoring Become Standard Practice

Computer vision (motion capture), gait analysis through smartphones, and passive data collection from consumer devices will transition from early adoption to standard of care.

Patients will not wait for us to validate these tools through traditional adoption cycles—to them, this technology is already normal, and they’re adopting en masse with broad acceptance of consumer-grade devices (like the Oura ring and the Apple Watch).

Organizations will need to determine:

• Which consumer-grade data streams are reliable

• How remote assessments fit into care pathways

• How passive monitoring can augment clinical decision-making

This is where AI, outcomes, and consumerization converge most powerfully.

4. The Financial Squeeze Will Force Rapid Transformation—Especially in Outpatient Rehab and Value-Based Care

This force is the most urgent—and the one that will drive actual transformation.

Reimbursement continues to decline. Service intensity in Medicare Advantage and capitated arrangements continues to rise. And more leaders are recognizing the truth they’ve been avoiding:

“Our P&L is upside down. If we don’t change how we deliver care, we’re not financially survivable.”
— Health system executive, 2025

We’re already seeing plan administrators exit MA markets and health systems publicly voice existential concerns. In 2026, the gap between service cost and service reimbursement will widen further, and as consolidation is prioritized, leaders in healthcare systems will be looking for easier options for integration—without the need for concessions when it comes to products and their capabilities.

The Bottom Line: 2026 Is About Redesigning Care, Not Adding More Tools

When you pull back the lens, the story isn’t about technology. It’s about care transformation.

Consumer expectations, regulatory demands, financial pressures, and AI maturity are all pointing healthcare in the same direction—toward fully integrated hybrid care models that blend digital and physical in service of better outcomes and sustainable operations.

Leaders who embrace this shift will:

• Extend clinician capacity

• Lower cost without compromising quality

• Deliver more personalized care

• Meet patients where they are

• Build systems that can withstand turbulence and change
  

Leaders who wait will fall behind—fast.

A Final Thought for Leaders

If you’re a system executive, a clinical director, or a practicing therapist, this is the year to move from aspiration to intentional action.

The forces shaping 2026 are not slowing down. Patients won’t wait. Regulators won’t wait. Financial realities won’t wait.

But those who take decisive steps now will be well-positioned not just to survive the coming disruption, but to lead in it.