Experts and leaders at TDC Group, the nation’s most trusted provider of insurance and risk management solutions, have revealed their predictions for the U.S. healthcare system in “Healthcare on the Horizon: Predictions for U.S. Healthcare Through 2026.”
What Will Healthcare Look Like Through 2026?
Key predictions for U.S. healthcare over the next year include:
- AI Integration and Clinical Trust: AI will permeate all aspects of healthcare, but its impact on care will depend on the degree of clinician trust in the technology.
- Digital Transformation: A $1 trillion migration toward digital-first healthcare will generate both significant advancements and costly missteps.
- Liability and Legal Volatility: Social inflation, large verdicts, and AI-related evidence will make the courtroom a focal point for unpredictable liability, with legal precedents lagging behind technological advances.
- Widening Access Gaps: Liability-related costs, workforce shortages, and reimbursement pressures will force additional hospital closures, further widening disparities in care access.
- Medical Liability Reform: Tort reform will become a national priority as courts grapple with evolving theories of liability.
- Reproductive Healthcare Risks: Ongoing uncertainty and liability surrounding reproductive healthcare will continue to disrupt established standards and require innovative insurance solutions.
- Care at Home: More care will move to patients’ homes, with teams using defined roles to deliver high-quality care.
- Agentic AI and Responsibility: Advanced AI will redefine clinical decision making and accountability.
- Information Complexity: The proliferation of chatbots, influencers, and direct-to-consumer advertising will both complicate and simplify evidence-based practice; clinicians will remain central to maintaining trust and sound medical judgment.
- Enduring Physician Trust: Physicians will continue to be viewed as the trusted source of medical expertise, though the practice environment will change substantially.
“This research paper lays out some of the most pressing issues medical professionals must address in the next year,” said Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Doctors Company and TDC Group. “We are committed to helping guide medical leaders through healthcare’s evolution, assisting them in making critical decisions that shape the future of patient care.”
