Health Evolution is gearing up for 2026 Summit, which will take place April 21-23 in Laguna Niguel, California. As we prepare to welcome leaders from across the health care industry for our spring gathering, I sat down with Health Evolution Executive Vice President Rob Lazerow—who curates the content for Health Evolution’s convenings—to discuss why 2026 Health Evolution Summit is a must-attend event for CEOs and influential leaders and what special features participating executives can look forward to this year.
Read on to discover how 2026 Summit will empower executives to lead boldly as they navigate intensifying pressures.
What animates the 2026 Summit experience?
Our time in Laguna is designed to share new ideas, connect with old and new colleagues, and focus on the future of health care. The 2026 Summit experience is designed to illuminate insights and inspire opportunities through organic and candid conversations throughout our time together.
We’re at a pivotal moment in health care right now—one marked by immense pressures but also transformative technologies, tools, and opportunities. In this moment, we want to explore what would happen if health care leaders rejected incrementalism and instead choose to embrace bold, system-wide change. What would happen if we viewed today’s challenges not as the next storm to weather, but as a call to act, a call to harness our shared purpose and put those we collectively serve front and center?
Across our programming, we will explore how to drive and scale change to confront our toughest challenges, how to develop new care and payment models that reward proactive and preventive care, and how to step forward as leaders who can achieve bold, lasting transformation.
Of course, the content is just one part of the Summit experience. The incredible cross-industry CEOs and influential leaders who take the time to join together for three days of candid, honest dialogue are central what makes Summit such a powerful and valuable experience. And given the deep expertise and national perspective represented in our community, we are designing an experience that creates even more time and space for our members to engage in small-group, interactive conversations as they navigate these profound pressures and strive for bold change together.
What major themes can leaders expect to hear on the main stage?
The main stage Big Discussions at 2026 Summit feature leaders who are pioneering solutions at health care’s largest and most influential organizations, deploying real-world innovations, and setting national and state policy to advance health goals across the country.
In these critical conversations, leaders will examine the most pressing challenges in health care through strategic dialogue, shared learning, and actionable insights. Each day, the main stage Big Discussions will focus on a central theme, but participating executives can expect to explore several cross-cutting themes across our time together, especially AI, health policy, cross-industry collaboration, and courageous leadership.
We have an ambitious main stage program planned for this year, and we’re deeply grateful for the Discussion Leaders who will be sharing their insights and perspectives across the week. The CEOs and influential leaders who will be speaking in the main stage program include a mix of longstanding community members and new voices, including Dr. Patrick Conway, Dr. Janice Nevin, John Kao, Dr. Kyu Rhee, Laura Kaiser, Dr. Micky Tripathi, Dr. Larry Moss, Tina Freese Decker, and Kevin Mahoney. Additionally, we’re delighted for Alice Walton to make her Summit debut and share the powerful work she is advancing through both the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and Alice L. Walton Foundation.
Can you walk us through the main stage agenda? What are the highlights each day?
Tuesday, April 21:
We’ll kick off our time in Laguna on Tuesday with our Special Summit Intensive—Setting the 2026 Leadership Agenda—which is designed to unpack the most important forces and pressures facing our industry, help leaders prepare for our week together, and set the leadership agenda for the next 12 to 24 months.
Throughout the afternoon, participating executives will engage in a thoughtful mix of main stage Big Discussions, Brass Tacks Discussions, interactive breakouts for Health Evolution members, and dedicated networking opportunities. In this focused experience, leaders will debate the future of AI in health care and examine the rapidly shifting Medicaid landscape, with an eye toward the outlook for coverage, state-level innovation, and public-private partnership.
The Special Summit Intensive is perfect way to start the week by rolling up our sleeves and digging into the central challenges barreling toward us.
Wednesday, April 22:
Building on the major forces and pressures we’ll explore in the Summit Intensive, Wednesday’s main stage program will look at the critical actions leaders must prioritize to navigate the major changes underfoot and on the horizon. We’ll start the day with two interrelated conversations.
First, we’ll begin by examining how CEOs can harness shared purpose to act in a unified way to protect patient access amid looming coverage changes and funding cuts. The Discussion Leaders are poised to bring real-world examples of how they have anchored their organizations and cross-industry partnerships in shared purpose, civility, and trust.
Second, we’ll work to redefine the bounds of cross-industry collaboration to address health care’s toughest challenges. In particular, we’ll dissect novel and effective partnership models for solving problems at scale and detail how cross-industry leaders can find collective solutions to collective challenges.
Wednesday’s main stage program will also feature our Confab for Advancing Women in Leadership Big Discussion, which will examine the rise of multigenerational C-suites and the generational transition that is unfolding amid profound industry disruption, intensifying pressures, accelerating change, and renewed scrutiny of longstanding norms. In particular, we’ll explore how to harness the distinct strengths each generation brings, acknowledge and navigate the tensions between them, and unlock the opportunities those dynamics create to reimagine the future of health care leadership.
Thursday, April 23:
On Thursday, we’ll focus on strategies and imperatives to achieve big, bold change. First, we’ll examine priorities and opportunities as we usher in a new era of proactive care in which prediction, prevention, and early intervention are becoming central to improving outcomes and lowering costs. We’ll consider how this plays out across lifespan, ranging from pediatrics through senior populations.
Next, we’re excited to welcome two preeminent leaders to the main stage for our Capstone Conversation—a fireside chat with voices at the forefront of transformative change. They’ll explore how leaders can chart a path forward to truly move our health care system from incremental change and temporary fixes to real transformation. We’re excited to juxtapose their “outside in” and “inside out” approaches to driving systemic change in this can’t-miss conversation.
Finally, we’ll take a deep dive into the future of public health and explore how roles and responsibilities are shifting and creating new imperatives for private-sector leaders. This conversation will feature renowned public health leaders who have held major leadership roles across national, state, city, and private sector organizations. Furthermore, this Big Discussion will serve as the foundation for the special breakout conversations for Health Evolution members later in the day.
What can leaders expect beyond the main stage as they plan their experience?
We’re thrilled to have a compelling main stage program, but it’s also essential to create a range of opportunities for leaders to meet, collaborate, and build meaningful relationships in less structured formats throughout the week.
Across our time in Laguna, we’ll have ample time for networking during receptions, meals, and extended breaks, and we know how much Summit participants value building relationships and engaging with their peers and counterparts during these dedicated networking and social times.
Further, we have an exciting slate of highly interactive breakout discussions across Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. Each day will feature a mix of Brass Tacks Discussions and special breakouts reserved for Health Evolution members, and we encourage leaders to jump into the dialogue and share their expertise and perspectives with their peers in these various roll-up-your-sleeves sessions.
Summit participants can select from nearly 20 interactive Brass Tacks discussions across the week, which will delve into the forefront of what’s happening with respect to AI, Medicare Advantage, GLP-1s, strategy and workforce imperatives, and the state of leadership more broadly. We encourage all Summit participants to join the Brass Tacks Discussions and contribute to these timely, engaging sessions.
In addition to the Brass Tacks, each day of 2026 Summit will feature special, small-group, interactive programming designed exclusively for Health Evolution members.
Can you share more about the special member programming this year?
Absolutely, and for 2026 Summit we’ve expanded the amount of time on the agenda that is dedicated to highly interactive, small-group sessions for Health Evolution members to gather, discuss, and debate in our special off-the-record setting. Especially as we complete the transition to a membership model, it’s critical to create these powerful and private moments when we convene our community in-person in the spring and fall.
Each day, the member breakout sessions will build on the main stage Big Discussions to create space to continue the dialogue and push for action. On Tuesday, the member sessions will help leaders set their leadership agenda for the week and year to come by further exploring rapid changes in AI and Medicaid—and examining their intersection.
On Wednesday, the member session will take the form of our Confab Get Real Breakouts, which are always a highlight of our in-person gatherings. The conversation will start on the main stage and continue in the Get Real Breakouts after lunch, where members will have an opportunity to further discuss the rise of multigenerational leadership teams and what it means to have everyone from Gen Z to Baby Boomers in the C-suite right now.
On Thursday, members will grapple with the fundamental challenge of public health on the brink. We’ll jumpstart the dialogue on the main stage and then continue the dialogue after lunch, where members will discuss and debate fundamental questions about shifting roles and responsibilities as health policy and investment priorities change.
We look forward to convening the Health Evolution members for this diverse and powerful set of discussion topics and to create more space for members to share their insights and perspectives when we gather in Laguna.
What do you want leaders to gain from their time at 2026 Summit?
Our goal is for leaders to leave Summit better equipped to effect real strategic change in their organizations and beyond. 2026 Summit is a call to rethink, realign, and respond—with the conviction that CEOs have the agency and opportunity to build a better future.
The financial, operational, and policy headwinds health care CEOs face aren’t cyclical challenges to weather; they’re a clear message that the whole system must change. We want executives to leave 2026 Summit with new insights and ideas, deeper connections with their peers, and a clear call to action to reject incrementalism, embrace bold, system-wide innovation and collaboration, and lead courageously to harness today’s challenges and drive tomorrow’s transformation.
I can’t wait to see our incredible community of cross-industry leaders in Laguna and get to work!
