As the lights rose on the HLTH 2025 main stage and Rob Lowe and Mark Cuban opened a week of provocative, hopeful dialogue, one message rang clear above the buzz: healthcare’s next era isn’t just about innovation — it’s about integration.
From AI-driven care to oral health equity and GLP-1 adherence, this year’s conference made clear that the most significant breakthroughs won’t come from technology alone; they’ll come from connecting the dots between people, systems, and science. Here are eight takeaways:
1. From Hype to Human: Redefining Digital Health
Last year’s HLTH buzzed with talk of generative AI and record-breaking valuations. In 2025, the energy felt different—more grounded and personal. This year, the conversation shifted from what AI can do to what AI should do: support clinicians, simplify lives, and humanize healthcare delivery.
At “AI Orchestration: Humanizing Health,” IBM’s Melissa Geissler and Adobe’s Ted Roman framed this moment as a turning point: while 80% of consumers are willing to share their health data, most don’t believe they get value back.
Their call to action: use AI to orchestrate meaningful outcomes, not just to automate.
2. Beyond the Shot: The Behavior Gap in GLP-1s
From digital companions to nutrition tech, the consensus was clear: the future of chronic disease care lies in behavioral design and wraparound support, not just prescriptions.
The panel “GLP-1 Commitment Issues” tackled a paradox: these treatments are wildly popular, and they work, so why don’t people stay on them?
According to Noom’s Cody Fair, “Clinicians are limited to what they see within their four walls. AI can help extend that care beyond the clinic.”
Lirio’s Dr. Amy Bucher emphasized the emotional side of adherence: “Patients need to feel that taking a GLP-1 is changing their lives. What they need today might not be what they need tomorrow.”
And Withings Health Solutions’ Antoine Pivron reminded the audience that personalization isn’t a luxury; it’s imperative for sustainable outcomes.
3. Oral Health Joins the Whole-Body Conversation
One of the most discussed themes at HLTH 2025 was the connection between oral and systemic health.
In “Oral Health Is Health,” Clinica Family Health & Wellness’s An Nguyen joined leaders from the CareQuest Institute and Grin to spotlight how community health centers are “putting the mouth back in the body.” She shared, “Fifty percent of Americans never touch the dental care system – we have to ask why.”
Panelists called for more accessible teledentistry, better reimbursement models, and interoperability between dental and medical records.
4. Longevity, Lifestyle, and the Science of Staying Young
At “Death Becomes Optional,” a panel of scientists and entrepreneurs explored the booming field of longevity medicine.
Their takeaway is that living to 150 might one day be possible, but the real frontier is health span, not lifespan.
Care Core’s Dr. Hillary Lin summarized it simply: nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress management make up 99% of the longevity equation.
Meanwhile, Abigail Buckwalter of Nestlé cautioned that “culture moves faster than guidelines,” urging the industry to pair innovation with responsibility. As biohacking enters the mainstream, education, regulation, and equity must keep pace with it.
5. Healing the Healers: The Workforce and Access Crisis
Few sessions hit as close to home as “Sounding the Alarm on Our Healthcare Workforce and Access Crisis.”
Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, of the American Nurses Association, shared staggering statistics that laid bare the dual crises of burnout and violence facing nurses today. At the same time, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, of the American Medical Association, spoke candidly about physician fatigue.
“The joy is draining out of medicine,” he said, calling for new measures of wellbeing across institutions.
Mensik Kennedy reframed the problem: “Resilience isn’t an individual trait, it’s a systems issue.”
Still, the panel found reason for optimism in technology’s potential to assist, not replace, clinicians. The American Dental Association’s Dr. Brett Kessler described his vision of an “AI assistant” that provides real-time context, freeing clinicians to focus on care.
6. Fertility, Data, and the Power of Transparency
The main stage took a surprising, and refreshingly honest, turn with “Breaking the Sperm Count Silence,” a candid discussion on male infertility.
Panelists tackled stigma, misinformation, and lifestyle factors ranging from sleep to testosterone therapy. “Fertility is a health issue, not a masculinity issue,” said Carrot’s Dr. Asima Ahmad, echoing a theme of the week: empathy is medicine.
Dr Josh Halpern of Posterity Health added that testosterone therapy “is really male birth control,” underscoring the need for better counseling and education. Colton Underwood co-signed this statement, adding, “I’ve had doctors who never asked me fertility questions, but it was such a part of my journey. I would’ve loved to have access to my data because it delayed our family-building process.”
Later, in “Leading Through Change in Healthcare Policy and Delivery,” Sarah London of Centene connected that same thread of transparency to system reform: “Force every healthcare operator to be interoperable. Fragmentation is what’s broken.”
Her company’s upcoming ICHRA rollout, giving employees more control over their health coverage, offered a glimpse of that more connected future.
7. The Microbiome Moment
From the mouth to the microbiome, HLTH 2025 made it clear: the next health revolution is microscopic.
In “Love Bugs,” leaders such as Evvy’s Priyanka Jain, Brightseed’s Sofia Elizondo, Oral Biolife’s Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, and PDS Health’s Stephen E. Thorne IV explored how AI and probiotics are converging to personalize care at the microbial level.
Zuckerberg, a long-time advocate for oral-systemic health, reminded the audience that P. gingivalis, the bacterium responsible for gum disease, “has been tied to nearly every major chronic illness.” And Thorne agreed, stating, “The most common chronic disease in the world is periodontitis, and most issues begin in the mouth.”
Elizondo described a future where AI-enabled discovery cuts the time to market for health innovations in half, unlocking new ways to predict and prevent disease.
As Jain put it, “When patients can test their biome at home and share results with their clinicians, we move from reactive to proactive care.”
8. From Innovation to Implementation
By the conference’s final day, a unifying theme had emerged across panels, podcasts, and hallway conversations: connection is the new currency of healthcare.
Whether linking oral and systemic health, integrating AI into workflows, or rebuilding trust between patients and providers, HLTH 2025 celebrated collaboration over competition.
As Sarah London summed it up: “The future belongs to organizations that see interoperability not as a mandate, but as a mission.”
Healthcare’s next great leap will not come from a single innovation but from connecting them all.
Curious how all of this is impacting the healthcare news cycle? Tune into Orchestra’s latest webinar, “Hype or Headline? What’s Driving Digital Health News Today?” on Thursday, October 30 at 2 pm ET for an exclusive conversation with top healthcare reporters Anastassia Gliadkovskaya and Cassie McGrath, and Puck Chief Washington Correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell.
In this candid panel, they’ll pull back the curtain on how they work today, what captures their attention, and what makes a pitch stand out.
