Event Recap: The State of American Healthcare | 12.11.2025

On Thursday, December 11, HC3 convened local and national stakeholders in Chicago for the Q4 Summit, The State of American Healthcare. Hosted in partnership with HC3’s parent organization, Third Horizon, and 4Sight Health, the event fostered forward-looking discussions on the innovations, financial pressures, policy currents, and market dynamics reshaping the health care industry. Participants explored the trends influencing the present moment and the forces likely to define what comes next, gaining practical insights to help navigate and influence an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

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Event Recap:

Fireside Chat: Reset or "Reinvention”? The State of the System Moderator: Lynn Hanessian, Co-Founder and Chief Engager, The Engager Company 

Featured Guest: Dave Johnson, CEO, Foresight Health  

David Johnson opened the summit by underscoring just how quickly the healthcare landscape is shifting. Reflecting on The Coming Healthcare Revolution, he noted that many of the book’s predictions are materializing faster than expected, driven by compounding forces rather than incremental change.

“If we were writing the book today, I think we’d say more change in the next five years than in the last hundred.” - Johnson

Johnson described five macro forces placing unprecedented pressure on the system: demographics, chronic disease, funding constraints, workforce fatigue, and rapidly advancing technology. He emphasized that AI and synthetic biology are not isolated trends but “feeding off one another,” accelerating disruption across care delivery and diagnosis.

He also challenged the sustainability of the current, hospital-centric model, arguing that health care’s inefficiency paradoxically creates opportunity.

“Incremental solutions cannot solve exponential problems. What we’re doing doesn’t work, and doing it the same way won’t get us somewhere new.” - Johnson

A central theme of the fireside was the urgent need to rebalance spending away from acute, episodic treatment and toward prevention, chronic disease management, and population health.

“We need to spend more on pro-health activities so we can spend less on acute care. That transfer hasn’t happened at scale yet, but it has to.”

Johnson acknowledged the tension this creates for institutions and clinicians alike. Still, he remained cautiously optimistic that market pressure, consumer frustration, and visible system strain would force change from the outside in.

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Panel Discussion: Where the System Is Breaking and Where It Can Be Rebuilt

Moderator: Lynn Hanessian, Co-Founder and Chief Engager, The Engager Company 

Panelists: Thomas Fisher, MD, MPH, Attending Physician, UChicago Medicine and Congressional Candidate for IL-7 

Shikha Jain, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine & Associate Director of Oncology Communication and Digital Innovation, University of Illinois Chicago Cancer Center, and Founder, Women in Medicine® 

David Johnson, Author of The Coming Healthcare Revolution & CEO, 4Sight Health 

Bobby Mukkamala, MD, President, AMA (American Medical Association)

Panelists Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, Dr. Shikha Jain, and Dr. Thomas Fisher grounded the conversation in their lived experiences, describing how inefficiency, prior authorization, and fragmentation directly translate into patient harm.

“I’ve had patients go from stage one to stage two cancer, waiting for approvals. That’s where the waste is,” Dr. Mukkamala shared. Dr. Jain echoed this, pointing to administrative barriers that delay or deny care. “I’ve had patients die waiting for things to get approved. This isn’t theoretical. We’re seeing it in real time.”

Misinformation as a Public Health Crisis

Several panelists warned that misinformation, particularly when amplified by authority, poses one of the most significant near-term threats to health outcomes. “Misinformation is killing patients,” Dr. Jain said. “It’s widening disparities and undoing decades of progress in prevention and public health.” They noted that declining trust in science and vaccines disproportionately harms communities with lower health literacy and limited access to care, further deepening inequities.

People Over Profit

Dr. Fisher framed the current moment as a test of fundamental values. “The tension is people versus profit, and we haven’t reckoned with it head-on.” He described scenarios in which insured patients are unable to receive timely and necessary care due to network rules or financial incentives. “When someone’s vision or life is at stake, care should be provided. Full stop.” Dr. Jain added that clinicians often become the face of decisions they do not control. “I’m the one sitting in the room telling patients no, even though the decision was made far above me.”

Fragmentation and What Can Change Quickly

While many challenges appear to be structural, panelists also highlighted fixes that can be implemented now. Dr. Mukkamala pointed to interoperability as a prominent example: “In 2025, we’re still faxing records. My phone talks to your phone. Our health records should too.” Others emphasized site-neutral care, keeping routine services in community settings rather than costly hospital environments, and paying providers to prevent illness rather than react to it.

A Shared Vision for What Comes Next

Despite sharp critiques, the panel closed on a note of shared responsibility and possibility. Panelists agreed that health care cannot simply revert to what existed before the pandemic or recent policy shifts. “We shouldn’t be trying to go back,” Dr. Fisher said. “We need to build something better than what we’ve had,” Johnson emphasized. The path forward is clear, although it may be challenging to execute. “We know what to do. The hard part is stopping what no longer serves us and aligning incentives with the outcomes we actually want.”

Looking Ahead

As HC3 closes out the year, the Q4 Summit made clear that the state of American health care is at an inflection point. Institutional strain, workforce burnout, misinformation, and widening inequities are colliding with unprecedented advances in technology and clinical care.

The work ahead will require moral clarity, policy courage, and collaboration across sectors, but the opportunity to reshape the system for better health, dignity, and equity has never been more urgent.