Health Tech JPM26, Day 1: Agentic AI meets hard operations, and collaboration takes center stage
J.P. Morgan's Healthcare Conference opened with clear signals for operators: AI is moving from pilots to production, culture is a strategic lever, and partnerships are the fastest path to scale. Here's what executives should take away from day one.
Waystar pushes toward an autonomous revenue cycle with agentic AI
Waystar outlined a plan to move revenue cycle operations toward autonomy, launching agentic AI capabilities that act within workflows, execute tasks, and learn from outcomes with minimal intervention. The company says its total addressable market could reach $55 billion as automation matures, up from $20-$25 billion projected by 2030.
The integration of Iodine Software (acquired in 2025) gives Waystar access to data covering one in three U.S. hospital discharges, layered onto more than 7.5 billion annual transactions. That proprietary clinical, financial, and administrative dataset feeds 150+ AI models aimed at reducing denials, improving documentation and coding accuracy, and speeding prior authorization.
Waystar reports a first-pass claim acceptance rate near 99% and credits its AltitudeAI with preventing $15.5 billion in denials while delivering 95% time savings and double-digit gains in denial overturn rates. CEO Matt Hawkins emphasized the goal: simplify payments so providers spend more time on care and less on paperwork.
Intermountain's call: Rise above politics, collaborate, and shape policy
Intermountain Health CEO Rob Allen addressed the polarization affecting teams and communities, urging health system leaders to anchor on mission and collaboration. He framed health systems as places that can "rise above the rhetoric" and align diverse viewpoints around effective care.
On execution, Intermountain highlighted the Mindshare Institute's new venture, AeroTerra Health, targeting nationwide medical transport with projected savings in the hundreds of millions annually. The system is also working with federal leaders to guide disruption on drug pricing and value-based care, engaging across seven workstreams with CMS, and contributing to updates on Medicare Advantage Star Ratings.
Providence doubles down on office presence to rebuild culture
Providence announced a strong return-to-office policy for its workforce, positioning in-person collaboration as a lever for culture, mentorship, and innovation. The move follows a multi-year, $2 billion financial turnaround that included portfolio reductions and workforce cuts.
Leadership pointed to more than $600 million in planned pay increases and broader talent investments enabled by 2025's hard choices. The message: aligning operating discipline with cultural cohesion is core to the next phase.
AdventHealth scales its platform and AI, while growing outpatient footprint
AdventHealth detailed a multi-year "platforming" effort built on Epic and a fresh Workday rollout, combined with 80 AI use cases across the enterprise. A headline initiative: smartroom technology from hellocare.ai across all 13,000 inpatient and ED rooms-a $60 million systemwide deployment intended to improve patient experience and expand tele-services.
Financially, the system reported 15.7% revenue growth through the first 11 months of 2025 (excluding federal emergency funds), $290 million in EBITDA growth, and operating income rising from nearly $2 billion to almost $2.5 billion. Volumes were up across admissions (+6%), surgeries (+8.8%), ED (+6.6%), and ambulatory (+7.9%). Days cash on hand increased to 253; total debt to capitalization fell to 17.1%. AdventHealth projects $7.3 billion in strategic capital capacity from 2026 to 2030, aimed at expanding primary care, ambulatory surgery, and select hospital builds, including in Texas.
Tempus expands precision oncology with NYU Langone and Northwestern
Tempus announced a multi-year collaboration with NYU Langone Health to advance molecular profiling and real-world, longitudinal cancer data. A new prospective observational study-Serial Molecular Profiling and Monitoring of Human Cancer-will sequence patients throughout treatment to support diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and AI-driven predictive models.
A separate partnership with Northwestern Medicine will broaden access to genomic testing across cancer types, including earlier-stage disease. Tempus will provide solid tissue DNA/RNA profiling, liquid biopsy, and minimal residual disease testing. Tempus also shared preliminary 2025 revenue of $1.27 billion, up roughly 83% year over year.
Executive takeaways
- Agentic AI is shifting from demos to measurable outcomes. If your rev cycle still relies on manual mid-cycle documentation and prior auth workflows, there's margin on the table.
- Proprietary data is the moat. Deals that merge clinical and financial datasets unlock automation that generic tools can't match.
- Culture is strategy. Providence's office stance shows leaders are willing to trade short-term friction for long-term capability building.
- Platform before pilots. AdventHealth's results reflect a system-of-systems mindset-standardize first, then scale AI.
- Precision oncology is moving earlier. Tempus' partnerships signal that genomics and longitudinal data will inform care beyond late-stage disease.
- Stay close to policy. Intermountain's engagement with federal agencies underscores how influence and early input shape viable payment models.
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