2026 healthcare trends

While you might not be on the frontlines of medical care, understanding what’s happening—and even what’s likely to happen—in the healthcare field puts you in a better spot to help your employees feel as supported, happy, and healthy as possible.

Fortunately, you don’t need to wade through medical journals and dense research. We’ve done the hard work for you and pulled together the biggest healthcare trends to keep an eye on this year.

7 healthcare trends to watch in 2026

These trends vary in focus—from technology to regulation to clinical care—but they have one big thing in common: Employers are being tasked with playing a more active role in shaping access, quality, and outcomes as healthcare continues to become more complex and expensive.

1. Value-based care will become more of the norm

Adoption of value-based care continues to grow, and we’ll see an ongoing shift from traditional fee-for-service healthcare to value-based care models this year. In a recent survey, 77% of health system and hospital C-suite leaders said they’re planning to ramp up participation in value-based care in 2026 and 2027.

That’s good news, as value-based care offers compelling benefits for both patients and employers, from lower costs to improved care coordination.

According to research from Vanderbilt University, companies that have adopted value-based care models report an average 25% reduction in their employees’ total cost of care. And, in a separate survey, patients said they prefer value-based care over a typical fee-for-service model by a factor of four to one.

So, with strong patient preference and the potential for major employer cost savings, the adoption of (and enthusiasm for) value-based care will likely only keep increasing.

2. AI will find its home in clinical workflows

AI adoption in healthcare continues to be a hot topic. But this year, we’ll move beyond seeing AI used mostly for administrative tasks, low-lift work, and time-savings.

This technology is starting to play an ever-growing role in supporting clinical decisions, diagnostics, early disease detection, drug discovery and development, predictive analytics, and personalized care pathways.

In 2025, 58% of providers were using AI for administrative tasks (like medical coding, billing, and scheduling), but an impressive 44% were also using AI for clinical decision support and imaging analysis. And, in a separate survey from the American Medical Association (AMA), 72% of physicians pointed to diagnostic ability as the area where they think AI could be the most helpful.

As AI gets smarter and people become even more comfortable using it, it will find even more of a home across clinical workflows. In one survey, a whopping 83% of healthcare and life sciences professionals agreed with the statement that “AI will revolutionize healthcare and life sciences in the next three to five years.”

3. High-cost, chronic conditions will take the spotlight

Healthcare is expensive—and the outlook on affordability isn’t positive. Employers anticipate healthcare costs will keep climbing, with many projecting a 10% increase in healthcare costs in 2026.

Understandably, that leaves employers searching for ways to control costs without sacrificing care. One way to do so? Focusing on high-cost, high-impact, and chronic conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal conditions—instead of spreading dollars across generic wellness programs.

Let’s put some data behind this. Cancer, musculoskeletal conditions, cardiovascular issues, and diabetes are the top cost drivers of concern among employers worldwide. So, the math is simple: If you can better manage (or even prevent) these issues, costs come down.

For that reason, we’ll see employers prioritize efforts like offering high-quality specialty care, investing in early screening, detection, and intervention, and using Centers of Excellence and care navigation models.

Even better? Efforts like these don’t just cut costs—they improve care. According to Business Group on Health’s 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey, 82% of employers said navigation to higher quality sites-of-care and providers is the top thing they can do to positively impact the quality of care and thus outcomes.

These strategies manage healthcare spending not by trying to reduce utilization, but by getting people the right care at the right time for the conditions that matter most. 

4. Cancer care will continue to evolve

Cancer care is a major health concern and priority, especially as the incidence continues to increase. 2024 was the first year the American Cancer Society projected more than two million cancer cases in a single year, and that number isn’t slowing down. They projected those same numbers in 2025.

As if cancer itself weren’t daunting enough, the cost of care is overwhelming and unsustainable for both employers and patients. 80% of employers rate cancer as the top driver of healthcare costs. And, while crowdfunding campaigns to cover cancer expenses have seen a dramatic increase, the money raised ($233.7 million annually for cancer-related campaigns) covers less than 5% of estimated annual patient out-of-pocket cancer-related costs for cancer care.

It’s not all bad news, though. Treatments and detection technologies are changing at a rapid clip, including things like:

• Personalized cancer vaccines tailored to a patient’s specific cancer and immune system
• AI-driven early detection tools that can do everything from review images (like MRIs) to identify patients who are at greater risk of certain cancers
• Radiopharmaceuticals to deliver radiation therapy through the bloodstream and limit the effects on the rest of the body
• CRISPR gene editing to better encourage patients’ immune systems to detect and attack cancer in the body
• Clinical care pathways to improve the consistency and quality of cancer care

Speaking generally, cancer care is moving away from broad, blanket treatment approaches to earlier detection and more personalized, targeted interventions. So, while care might be increasingly expensive, it’s also increasingly effective.

5. Drug prices will, unfortunately, keep increasing

Drugs are a major cost driver for employers, and the numbers just keep climbing. 2024 saw a $50 billion increase in pharmacy spending, and an alarming 24% of healthcare dollars went to pharmacy expenses.

Unfortunately, employers anticipate an 11% to 12% increase in their pharmacy costs in 2026. There are many factors at play behind this skyrocketing spending. But specialty drugs are a big one, accounting for at least half of pharmaceutical spending.

Case in point? GLP-1 medications. 55% of employers cover GLP-1s for diabetes, and 36% cover them for both diabetes and weight loss. They’re helpful and effective medications for many people, but they also come at a cost. 64% of large employers say GLP-1 drug coverage has moderately or significantly impacted their prescription drug spending.

Everything from limited competition to a complex supply chain keeps pharmacy costs high, so we probably won’t see drug prices come down anytime soon. But we also won’t see total resignation and acceptance of these sky-high price tags. There are ongoing efforts to reduce and manage the unsustainable cost of drugs, including the:

• Inflation Reduction Act
• Drug Supply Chain Security Act
• Health Care PRICE Transparency Act (proposed)
• PBM reform and regulation

Ideally, these initiatives will get increased attention and support so we can work toward a future where medication costs return to a more reasonable level.

6. Health equity will enter a more complex phase

Health equity—the ability for everyone to access high-quality care and achieve the best possible health outcomes—continues to be a major topic of conversation, and focus was strong in early 2025. Plus, momentum is supported by real results. In one survey, 65% of health equity leaders report efforts have a positive return, and 83% report improved health outcomes.

Yet, regulatory signals are becoming mixed and making health equity more complex. And, as a result, health equity is seeming more like a priority in principle rather than in practice.

For example, proposed regulations for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would remove or reframe certain reporting requirements in inpatient settings, including removing health equity measures like “Screening for Social Drivers of Health” and “Facility Commitment to Health Equity.” It would also remove a health equity adjustment applied to some provider quality score calculations.

Put simply, these changes would diminish—rather than incentivize—a commitment to health equity. So, the future of health equity will likely be driven less by broad regulatory efforts and blanket mandates, and more by targeted expectations, operational decisions, and employer efforts like thoughtful benefit design and specialty care access.

7. Research breakthroughs will accelerate (and adoption will try to catch up)

The medical field is advancing quickly. Scientific and clinical research is continuing at a rapid pace thanks to advancing technology (like AI), increased collaboration, and urgent global health needs (like the pandemic). This is fueling breakthroughs in areas like oncology, surgical techniques, and more.

But while innovation seems to be happening at a breakneck pace, adoption—and, more specifically, the ability to translate those advancements into everyday care—is sluggish.

Why such a slow pace? The healthcare industry is historically slow to adapt to change, and even the adoption of AI in healthcare lags behind other sectors. Research shows it can take an average of 17 years for breakthroughs to be applied in routine, general practice. Uptake is delayed by everything from regulatory hurdles and infrastructure gaps to cost and provider readiness or resistance.

Because breakthroughs continue to outpace implementation, variation in care continues to widen, leaving patients with inconsistent outcomes, uneven access, and drastically different experiences. Some patients benefit quickly from new approaches while others receive outdated care depending on their geography, provider network, or benefits plan.

The bright side is that the medical field is taking action by supporting a relatively new practice called implementation science. This focuses on promoting the use of breakthroughs and new approaches in everyday practice settings.

While advancements might continue to move faster than adoption in the coming years, we’ll hopefully see the latter catch up.

Looking ahead for 2026

One thing is clear: Healthcare isn’t getting simpler or cheaper—but employers aren’t powerless, either. Staying informed helps you move from playing defense to making smarter, more proactive decisions about how to support and care for employees.

This is where the right partners matter. Carrum Health helps employers navigate these trends and changes by connecting employees to high-quality, value-based specialty care within a rigorously network of providers.

Because, ultimately, showing genuine care for your workforce isn’t a passing trend–it’s table stakes. Learn how Carrum can help.