Davos health dialogues 2026

Tackling healthcare at its inflection point

The Davos health dialogues made clear that healthcare is at an inflection point: AI and other technologies are already changing care delivery, but lasting improvement depends on leadership, governance, and systematic redesign. Technology can expand access, improve productivity, and enable earlier intervention — yet those gains require trust, workforce engagement, and aligned incentives across public and private sectors to translate innovation into sustainable benefits.

Setting the context: Costs, productivity, and employer pressure

Pat Tomlinson, President & CEO of Mercer, opened the session by grounding the discussion in the challenges leaders face every day: rising healthcare costs, growing pressures on employers and payers, and the need to improve affordability, productivity, and access through innovation.

The scale of the challenge — and why inaction is not an option

Oliver Eitelwein, Partner at Oliver Wyman, highlighted forthcoming research showing the scale of costs facing global health systems, noting that without sustained investment and reform, rising demand and workforce constraints will continue to strain current infrastructure.

Speakers

Left to right: Cord Stahler; Hervé Balzano; Amira Romani; Dr Maria Ansari; Marnix van Ginneken; Oliver Eitelwein

Fireside chat

Left to right: Gilles Roucolle and Christophe Weber

Industry perspective: Productivity, not replacement

In a fireside conversation with Gilles Roucolle (Managing Partner & Global Head of Industries, Oliver Wyman), Christophe Weber (CEO, Takeda) described the moment as a critical inflection point. He emphasized that healthcare costs will continue to rise and that containing growth requires productivity gains. Takeda is applying AI across R&D, clinical trials, manufacturing, and regulatory processes to accelerate timelines and improve efficiency, framing technology as workforce preservation rather than replacement.

Each of you brings real-world experience of how technologies are being deployed, and — most importantly — a clear perspective on what it takes to scale these solutions responsibly. Let’s focus on where innovation can deliver real impact: cost and productivity; access and leapfrogging; and scaling solutions in a way that people and systems can sustain.

Hervé Balzano, President, Health, Mercer and Mercer Marsh Benefits

Scaling responsibly: Highlights from the Davos dialogues

Panel discussion

Panel moderator: Hervé Balzano, President, Health, Mercer and Mercer Marsh Benefits; panellists: Dr. Maria Ansari, CEO and Executive Director, The Permanente Medical Group; Cord Stahler, Managing Director, Health, Springer Nature; Amira Romani, Global Head of Digital Health, Siemens; Marnix van Ginneken, Chief ESG and Legal Officer, Royal Philips

Panellists shared concrete examples of AI improving clinician productivity and patient experience, expanding diagnostics in low-resource settings, and reducing backlogs by optimizing scarce clinical capacity. Speakers consistently emphasized that technology alone is not sufficient; trust, governance, workforce engagement, and cross-sector alignment are necessary to turn innovation into durable gains.

Hervé Balsano

AI is already a reality in healthcare, but results are diverging based on how leaders apply it. Lasting gains come not from the technology itself, but from clear governance, disciplined execution, and the willingness to redesign systems.

“AI is already part of healthcare. What excites us is its potential impact to reduce disease, lower costs, and build sustainable systems.”

“We are starting to see a divergence, driven less by technology availability and more by leadership decisions, execution, and willingness to redesign systems.” — Hervé Balzano, President, Health, Mercer and Mercer Marsh Benefits

Marnix van Ginneken

Speakers highlighted earlier intervention as a clear pathway to better outcomes and lower long-term costs. Applied thoughtfully, AI and diagnostics help care reach people sooner, turning prevention into a practical lever for quality, productivity, and sustainable system performance.

“We want to use AI to actually solve a problem that we have, not to bring point solutions to a broken system.” — Dr. Maria Ansari, CEO and Executive Director, The Permanente Medical Group

“There are opportunities to reduce costs when you move care upstream. If you prevent a heart attack, fall, or stroke, that’s better for patients. And quality almost always reduces costs.” — Dr. Maria Ansari

“AI-assisted diagnostics allow care to reach people earlier, especially in places where access to specialists is limited. Earlier intervention saves lives and prevents far more costly deterioration later on.” — Marnix van Ginneken, Chief ESG and Legal Officer, Royal Philips

Amira Romani

Leaders stressed that organizational choices, leadership commitment, and workflow redesign are crucial to scale impact.

“When you set a clear ambition around impact, it forces innovation to focus on access and productivity. That’s how we translate purpose into operational decisions.” — Marnix van Ginneken, Chief ESG and Legal Officer, Royal Philips

“When you redesign workflows around real constraints — scan time, staffing, patient tolerance — AI can dramatically reduce bottlenecks and increase the number of patients a system can serve.” — Amira Romani, Global Head of Digital Health, Siemens

Harnessing AI and robotics for scalable, trusted healthcare innovation

Closing synthesis:

Accredited session: Financing resilience

Speakers explored structural challenges that arise when health systems, supply chains, and responsibilities are misaligned — particularly in contexts with worker protection gaps — and how innovative financing and insurance models can restore accountability and build lasting resilience.

Dr. Lorna Friedman

Dr. Lorna Friedman highlighted that global supply chains often operate where worker protections are weakest, leaving risk widely shared but responsibility unclear when crises hit. Innovative insurance and financing models can close these gaps — aligning accountability with protection to strengthen health delivery and build more resilient systems.

“What happens in a crisis is that it’s everyone’s problem, but really no one’s responsibility.”

“We already see how innovative methods of insurance and financing that match new models of health delivery broaden access and resilience.” — Dr. Lorna Friedman, Global Health Transformation, Mercer Marsh Benefits

Atle Høie

Speakers emphasized the human consequences of health shocks and urged that resilience starts with people — when workers are engaged, heard, and protected, systems perform better. Practical steps, such as joint health and safety committees, build trust and turn workforce engagement into a driver of sustained improvement.

“Savings are depleted during pregnancies, during children’s illnesses, and during a spouse’s illness — that’s the crisis moment.” — Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO, Women’s World Banking

“One of the obvious wins is to set up joint health and safety committees so you can talk to the workers directly.” — Atle Høie General Secretary, IndustriALL Global Union

Key takeaways

Technology enables change, but people and systems deliver it

Durable impact comes from pairing innovation with strong governance, engaged workforces, and redesigned ways of working.
Leadership sets the ceiling for impact

Clear top-level commitment determines whether innovations translates into real gains for patients and health systems.
Protect the workforce to accelerate progress

Technologies that preserve capacity — combined with active worker engagement — drive adoption and better outcomes.
Resilience depends on alignment

Health systems and supply chains are strongest when finance and accountability are clearly aligned across partners
Local leadership is a force multiplier

Investing in local capacity and decision-making delivers greater returns for long-term system resilience.

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