Technology is transforming healthcare strategy—here’s what we learned at HMPS 2025

The 30th Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS) brought healthcare leaders, strategists, sales and marketing specialists, and physician liaisons to Orlando to explore the future of the industry.

If you couldn’t attend, you missed a variety of illuminating sessions and discussions on the rise of AI, evolving consumer expectations, the digital transformation of healthcare, and more. The event was full of fresh insights and practical strategies for professionals navigating an industry defined by rapid change.

Our team was there participating in sessions, networking with industry experts, and sharing guidance on how to use data and analytics to drive faster, more impactful strategic decision-making. Here’s what they learned about the trajectory of healthcare marketing, communications, and physician engagement.

AI makes healthcare more responsive—but it shouldn’t replace strategy

VIVE, HIMSS, MAPS—It’s hard to think of a conference we’ve attended in the past couple of years that hasn’t dedicated significant session time to the topic of artificial intelligence (AI). But for good reason: When you go beyond the buzzwords, AI is a truly transformative technology for the industry.

In healthcare marketing, sales, and physician strategy, AI is presenting new opportunities to automate routine tasks, personalize outreach, and improve campaign performance. On the care team’s end, the technology is helping clinicians process patient data, make more informed decisions.

Together, AI-equipped commercial and operational teams can make healthcare organizations more responsive to patients. But AI itself is a tool, not a strategy. Multiple sessions and sidebar conversations focused on centering strategies around human insight, empathy, and creativity to build trust and relevance.

For more insight into how healthcare leaders in marketing, communications, and digital strategy use AI, check out our AI study.

Patient experience is your key competitive advantage

As direct-to-consumer and retail alternatives to traditional care pathways grow, patients increasingly expect a smooth, personalized, and responsive care journey.

In part, that means identifying, engaging, and partnering with clinicians who are dedicated to putting the patient experience first. Data-driven network alignment, onboarding strategies, and staff retention initiatives can keep your care teams running smoothly and better able to support patients.

However, it’s no longer enough to maintain that flow strictly in the brick-and-mortar space—today’s patients are digital consumers, too, and they’re looking for seamless transitions between online and offline care experiences.

Healthcare organizations that can deliver the same seamless experiences offered by consumers’ preferred retail and tech brands will set themselves apart from the competition. But achieving that level of sophistication in outreach takes expertise, strong technological infrastructure, and the right data and analytics to reach patients where they are.

Consumer behavior data, market trend insights, and predictive analytics all have a role to play in streamlining the patient experience from initial engagement to onboarding and beyond. If you’re looking for a data and analytics partner to support the patient journey at your organization, make sure to choose one that offers real transparency into its data sourcing and analytical frameworks. Your organization’s trustworthiness to patients is tied to your trust in the data you use to reach them.

It’s time to freshen up your digital front door

Despite years of investment, many health systems are still catching up when it comes to digital tools and platforms. Every modern healthcare organization needs a digital front door that is as welcoming to prospective patients as it is to those who have been in-network for years.

Offering virtual visits, clinician compare tools, and online scheduling all within the same ecosystem makes it easy for new and current patients alike to get appropriate care in your network—all while reducing the resource burden on your organization.

The most effective digital front doors are a collaboration between IT, marketing, revenue, patient experience, and clinical teams. Aligning these functions can be an uphill fight, but the results—happier patients, more effective care teams, greater ROI—are well worth the effort. You can make the collaborative process a little easier by establishing a common source of truth (i.e., a cross-organizational data and analytics framework), ensuring that every team is driving strategy with the same information.

The right data helps teams demonstrate value

Data-driven strategies don’t just deliver better outcomes—they also make it easier to prove those outcomes and prioritize next steps.

Savvy healthcare marketers continue to use data and analytics to refine brand messaging, target the most relevant consumers, and reach influential providers to support network growth. But multiple sessions featured leading healthcare organizations showcasing how they use data and analytics to prove ROI around specific marketing and growth initiatives.

Whether you’re interested in reaching new patients, engaging influential physicians, or demonstrating the impact of your strategic initiative, our data and analytics solutions can help. Start a free trial today and get the full picture of your market.