Navigating the health technology landscape in 2026 and what to prioritize
From fragmented IT strategies and service agreements to ad hoc technology decisions that cause vendor sprawl, healthcare systems are entering 2026 burdened by day-to-day inefficiencies that can build into larger, systemic problems. In addition, rising healthcare costs and policy changes are creating uncertain and volatile economic conditions, making holistic system planning a challenging task.
Operational, IT and financial stakeholders have pulled organizations into different directions, leaving behind complicated webs of technological infrastructure that can create these unintended consequences that have a real impact on health outcomes—from unplanned downtime to underutilized equipment.
Simply put, there’s no easy solution for the year ahead, and it’s more complicated than buying a new piece of digital technology. To drive system transformation, you can take steps to align clinical operations, financial planning, and IT strategy into a unified vision that delivers measurable value over time. Then, it will be possible to simplify and refocus your digital architecture.
The need for interoperability
Before the pandemic, many healthcare systems were accepting budget proposals for things clinicians requested without a clear plan, and this piecemeal strategy ended up creating a complex situation where many different health information technology systems were trying to talk with each other. Unfortunately, the reality is that these systems do not always easily work together and can inadvertently create data silos. In that situation, it’s prudent to reevaluate.
A focused vision to modernize
In an age where many are looking to streamline operations for efficiency and cost savings, a pieced-together strategy is difficult to optimize. Heading into the new year, a focused, transformative approach from top to bottom can support a path for success. It can start with picking a direction for your healthcare system, choosing a standard, establishing guidelines, creating accountability for departments, and then moving forward with the decision.
But in our modern world, automating parts of your process is an excellent way to help ensure sustainability going forward. For instance, you can leverage AI-enabled tools for finance to help generate better and faster forecasts and budgets. In addition, you can update your enterprise resource planning to help make finances clearer and processes more flexible.
When it comes to your workforce, consider how you manage your labor costs. It’s possible to strike a balance between competitive pay with contract labor reduction to help manage staffing costs in changing economic conditions. It’s also possible to be flexible with your workforce too, both with training and support, and with integration opportunities for virtual and remote work where possible.
Don’t avoid system planning
While changing economic winds and thin margins can make system planning difficult enough, siloed information that quickly becomes outdated doesn’t help. Capital planning often becomes a process where incomplete information ends in reactive and emergency critical equipment purchases throughout the year. Finding a solution that helps empower a capital planning committee with dynamic data and information can be key to proper short- and long-term planning, and a spreadsheet isn’t enough.
Linking data from disparate sources within a single platform can help alleviate the fears of capital planning. Healthcare technology companies are realizing that healthcare systems are dealing with far too many disparate data streams, and tools are being created to bring them all together.
Solutions such as GE HealthCare’s STRATUM™, a data stratification tool, are designed to facilitate capital planning and aim to unify data across departments, helping to enable sharper risk assessment and improved capital planning. A dynamic tool that generates insight for data, such as STRATUM, has the potential to save hours of extra manual work.
Adapting to a changing market
A focused vision for the future of your organization helps enable you to become more nimble while still delivering high-quality care. Here are other areas of focus to prioritize going into 2026.
Strategic financial planning
Leaders can help their organization focus on managing costs and driving growth in a changing market where innovation drives change.
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New revenue sources: Instead of resting on what has worked in the past, it’s possible to aim for finding new services, creating joint ventures and expanding outpatient services to bring in additional revenue.
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Tie payment to results: Strive to adjust financial planning to take into consideration outcomes-based reimbursement and risk-based contracts.
Capital allocation
With market volatility comes economic uncertainty, and this can drive patients to seek different services based on cost. It’s possible to create services to adjust for this potential.
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Outpatient and ambulatory care: It can make sense to diversify investments into care settings such as outpatient clinics rather than expanding more with larger hospitals. In an unpredictable market, these are versatile and forward-thinking moves that can enable growth while still serving your patient population with the care they need.
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Support at-home care: Aging baby boomers are continuing to increase the demand for senior care. Funding and scaling programs can allow patients to receive sub-acute care in their homes, which can be a great solution for elderly patients and other vulnerable populations.
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Upgrading technologies: Now’s the time to start investing in modern, digital infrastructure such as cloud platforms, AI-enabled tools and new cybersecurity.
Partnerships
If you’re looking into any mergers and acquisitions in the near future, it’s important to carefully analyze and evaluate potential purchases with utmost diligence.
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Vertical Integration: Diversify services to help your organization manage a wide spectrum of patient care services, pursuing acquisitions that can improve care coordination and scale.
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Partners outside healthcare: Consider finding funding by navigating deals with private equity and technology companies, when possible.
Prepare for tomorrow by getting organizational support
The current financial pressures and technological changes may continue to intensify, which could be a smart step to employ a strategic approach to secure organization buy-in. Schedule collaborative workshops and whiteboard sessions with stakeholders to brainstorm and align on ideas. During this stage, you can also create a virtual replica of your operations to test ideas—digital twin planning—to put more detail and certainty into future plans. This process helps allow your teams to become part of the solution, actively identifying challenges and taking true ownership of the new direction.
Entering a new year is a perfect time to take stock of your processes and help streamline your healthcare system. While it can seem daunting to hit reset, it gives you the opportunity to modernize, focus your investments and prepare for the future. With a comprehensive partner like GE HealthCare, you can help set a solid foundation for success in the years to come.
