UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty has been playing defense over the backlash of consumer complaints against the health insurance industry and most recently, around The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Medicare Advantage plans.

At the HIMSS25 global conference in March, Muhammad Babar, management information systems officer for the Ministry of Health in Pakistan, will speak about strengthening health information systems in Pakistan amid a nationwide push for digitization.  

Google gained insights from a Harris poll showing where the burnout exists in the workflow and where AI can help, says Aashima Gupta, healthcare vertical lead at Google Cloud.  

UnitedHealth Group and home health provider Amedisys have mutually agreed to extend their merger deadline, according to a regularly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On December 26, each party agreed to waive its right to terminate the $3.3 merger agreement due to failure to get the deal done by the agreed upon deadline.

Chike Okeke of Concord Technologies says threats in the cloud, such as insecure APIs and excessive accessibility, underscore the importance of safeguarding protected health information.  

Healthcare technology company Commure has acquired digital care navigation platform Memora Health for an undisclosed amount, the company recently announced.

Even though there are still challenges facing the industry, healthcare executives are optimistic heading into 2025, with a new Deloitte survey showing 60% of C-suite leaders have a favorable view of the coming year, up from 52% a year ago.

Healthcare organizations are setting their priorities for 2025, with 52.8% of hospital and health system leaders identifying patient access, throughput and capacity as their top focus.

Artificial intelligence is poised to become a major force in healthcare. The technology is developing at breakneck speed, and both payers and providers are examining the potential use cases, with one survey from November showing 73% of organizations plan on growing their financial commitments to the technology.

Asynchronous communication helps build an open avenue of trust as the regulatory burden is getting heavier for long-term care. There’s less staff, and the funding remains the same, says Will Cantrell, director of product solutions at InteliChart.