‘Imagine the Possibilities’: Five questions shaping healthcare’s future
Article | September 18, 2025
Reading time: 9 mins
In 1970, Apollo 13 hurtled through space with a damaged oxygen tank and three astronauts aboard. The outlook was bleak, the odds of a safe return impossibly slim.
But in the end, the trio was indeed rescued — not by luck or individual brilliance but by the possibilities born of collaboration.
Dozens of engineers, scientists and flight directors worked around the clock, pooling ideas and improvising solutions with whatever materials were at hand. A square filter had to fit in a round hole — and it did, because the team of specialists widened their circle of expertise and trusted each other’s ingenuity.
“It takes the whole ecosystem, every individual playing a critical role, to create successful and innovative outcomes to complex challenges,” said Vizient President and CEO Byron Jobe during his opening remarks at the 2025 Vizient Connections Summit, themed Imagine the Possibilities.
Healthcare today, Jobe said, is having its own Apollo 13 moment, as financial headwinds, workforce instability, shifting payment models and new technologies create pressures that no organization can solve alone. But, as with that mission, the path forward lies in collaboration, ingenuity and courage — the very qualities this Summit celebrated.
Across three days of dialogue, more than 140 sessions and countless hallway conversations, the same themes rose to the surface again and again. They weren’t just observations; they were questions — the kind that challenge us to think bigger, act bolder and, together, reimagine what healthcare can be.
Here are five questions that defined the week:
Shared vision fuels progress — how can you collaborate to build healthier communities?
From the opening general session to the awards stage, leaders reminded us that progress doesn’t come from solo efforts, but from teams aligning around a shared purpose. The conversations about quality, safety and access made it clear: Communities thrive when providers and suppliers unite to create care models that are safer, stronger and more sustainable.
For some, this meant doubling down on partnerships that address pressing challenges like access to primary care or chronic disease management. For others, it meant rethinking how supplier collaborations can extend beyond transactions to tackle systemic issues like workforce shortages or affordability. No matter the perspective, the call was the same — to anchor innovation in the communities you serve, and to see shared vision as the real driver of change.
For providers:
- Redefine success metrics around community well-being, not just hospital throughput or financial margins.
- Actively engage with suppliers, payers and local organizations to co-own responsibility for outcomes like reduced disparities or improved preventive care.
- Champion storytelling internally — connect staff to the community impact of their daily work to sustain momentum.
For suppliers:
- Position yourself as a partner in solving community challenges, not just provider challenges (e.g., addressing social drivers of health).
- Build programs that directly demonstrate value beyond cost — such as workforce development, access expansion or patient education.
- Shift your narrative from “selling products” to “enabling healthier systems,” aligning your goals with providers’ missions.
Silos hinder momentum — will you ‘widen the circle’ for better outcomes?
Data surfaced as both a promise and a problem throughout the Summit. The promise lies in analytics powerful enough to predict deterioration, streamline operations and inform system-level strategy. The problem? Too often, insights stay trapped in silos.
Sessions throughout Summit, including Monday’s Data and Digital Forum, made this clear: Organizations that “widen the circle” of access to data — connecting clinical, operational and supply chain insights — are the ones turning dashboards into action. Integration enables better benchmarking, faster decision-making and a stronger sense of accountability across teams. The message to providers and suppliers alike was unmistakable: Progress will depend on your willingness to share information broadly and act on it together, rather than guarding it within organizational walls.
For providers:
- Treat data integration as a cultural challenge as much as a technical one, ensuring every team sees shared insights as part of their daily work.
- Move beyond departmental dashboards to enterprise-wide “North Stars” that unify clinical, operational and supply chain goals.
- Actively share your successes with peers — widening the circle beyond your system to elevate industry-wide benchmarks.
For suppliers:
- Invest in interoperability — design tools and platforms that integrate easily into existing provider ecosystems rather than creating new silos.
- Offer insights that bridge financial and clinical realities, helping providers align budgets with outcomes.
- Proactively share aggregate, de-identified learnings from your client base to give providers a richer view of where the industry is heading.
AI isn’t on the horizon — it’s already here. How will you prioritize friction over flash?
Artificial intelligence was one of the most talked-about frontiers at Connections Summit, but the tone was pragmatic rather than speculative. Leaders urged the industry to move beyond small pilots and embrace AI as an enterprise strategy — while keeping governance, safety and trust at the center.
What’s emerging now is “agentic AI”: systems that don’t just analyze, but act — flagging risks, scheduling patients, streamlining approvals or even shaping supply chain decisions in real time. The opportunity is enormous, but so is the responsibility. Speakers emphasized that success won’t come from flashy pilots or disconnected experiments. Instead, health systems must focus on friction points that directly improve operations and align with enterprise priorities, treating AI not as a standalone tool but as the invisible infrastructure that keeps care delivery running smoothly.
Another clear message: Don’t fall for the hype. Healthcare leaders were urged to apply evidence-based skepticism, asking whether solutions tangibly benefit patients, demonstrate measurable ROI and solve problems that truly matter. Avoiding “AI snake oil” means grounding decisions in validated case studies, patient-centered outcomes and first-principles thinking about which tasks should be automated or even fundamentally redesigned.
Providers must embed AI into workflows in ways that improve, not disrupt, care. Suppliers must design tools that are explainable and trustworthy, with controls to mitigate bias and build confidence that AI can be both safe and scalable. The Summit made it clear: AI isn’t on the horizon, it’s already here. The question is whether organizations are prepared to wield it wisely.
For providers:
- Build AI literacy across your workforce so clinicians and administrators feel empowered, not threatened, by new tools.
- Establish an “AI trust framework” that evaluates solutions for bias, explainability and alignment with patient-centered care.
- Focus AI investments on areas where human capital is strained — such as administrative workflows, coding or predictive analytics for population health.
For suppliers:
- Lead with transparency — openly explain your models, data sources and safeguards to earn provider confidence.
- Focus on co-development with providers, tailoring AI to fit into their workflows rather than imposing one-size-fits-all solutions.
- Pair AI products with change-management services (training, adoption support) so implementation success is measurable and lasting.
Leadership defines culture — how will you reimagine what ‘great’ looks like?
From Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas reflecting on digital transformation to Northwell Health President and CEO Michael Dowling challenging the industry to keep humanity at the heart of healthcare, leadership was a constant thread across the Summit. The message was simple yet profound: Culture is destiny. Organizations that cultivate inclusive, empowering and mission-driven cultures will outperform those that cling to old hierarchies.
Leaders shared examples of reducing turnover through engagement, expanding ambulatory access by aligning around community needs and rethinking governance to make safety stick systemwide. The lessons extended to suppliers as well, who were reminded that leadership isn’t just about internal culture but also about how they show up in partnerships — with transparency, responsiveness and a commitment to co-creating solutions.
For providers:
- Redefine leadership success as cultivating resilience and inclusivity rather than simply hitting financial targets.
- Hardwire accountability for safety, equal opportunity for advancement and workforce well-being into leadership scorecards.
- Model curiosity by drawing inspiration from other industries, encouraging leaders at every level to “think beyond healthcare.”
For suppliers:
- Build a leadership culture that mirrors the values providers expect — transparency, responsiveness and shared accountability.
- Elevate clinical voices within your teams so providers see you as peers in transformation, not outsiders.
- Be willing to walk away from transactional wins that don’t align with long-term partnership or cultural fit.
Innovation must be human-centered — how can you design care that meets people where they are?
If there was a unifying story across all three days, it was this: Healthcare must innovate not for technology’s sake, but for people’s sake. Sessions on community paramedicine, heart failure readmission reduction and nurse navigation for vulnerable populations all pointed in the same direction — innovation that fails to reach patients where they live and work will fall short.
Suppliers were called to design tools flexible enough to fit into community care settings, from rural clinics to outpatient infusion centers. Providers were challenged to embrace new care models that bridge hospital and home, reduce fragmentation and advance access to care . In both cases, the challenge is the same: Innovation must be anchored in humanity, designed to simplify the patient experience and expand access to better outcomes.
For providers:
- Prioritize care models that simplify the patient journey — fewer handoffs, clearer communication and more predictable experiences.
- Test innovations in diverse community settings to ensure they serve not just the “average” patient, but those often left behind.
- Use human-centered design principles when rethinking workflows, making sure patients and caregivers are part of the redesign process.
For suppliers:
- Design tools and products with usability at the forefront, ensuring they fit seamlessly into the provider and patient experience.
- Invest in solutions that reduce disparities in access — such as technology adaptable for rural areas or underserved populations.
- Partner with providers to co-create pilots that prove human impact first, then scale commercially once success is demonstrated.
A future built together
As the Summit closed, Vizient Chief Customer Officer Rand Ballard reminded attendees that improvement doesn’t happen in isolation. “It happens,” Ballard said, “when providers, suppliers and Vizient work in sync, with shared goals and shared wins.”
The many questions that emerged are not rhetorical. They are calls to action. They ask each of us, regardless of role, to step out of our silos and build something new.
The Apollo 13 astronauts famously alerted Houston that there was a problem. Considering current complexities, healthcare could likewise point to the obstacles that exist. But the prevailing message at Summit hit a more uplifting beat: Together, there are no problems — only possibilities.
And the imagination to make them real.