At the start of the year, I shared a set of themes (here & here) that I believed would quietly shape 2026. Not bold predictions, but patterns already visible, pressure building across the system, execution becoming more exposed, and the gap between intent and delivery getting harder to ignore. Three months in, those patterns aren’t just holding, they’re accelerating.
A lot of my time this month has been spent with boards and leadership teams stepping out of the day to day to look at their business ten years from now. Not in a theoretical sense, but in a way that forces a more honest view of where their current strengths and weaknesses actually lead. The conversation quickly shifts from ambition to consequence, particularly when you start to explore what inaction looks like over that time horizon.
Alongside that, I’ve been working closely with organisations looking to partner with private health insurers, as well as existing partners and insurtechs trying to better align with them. The demand has been strong enough that we’ve quietly started shaping this into something more structured through a PHI Partnership Accelerator, focused on helping these models land in a way that works commercially and operationally for both sides.
That broader shift is reinforced in this month’s featured McKinsey report. The same pressures are showing up globally, margins tightening, costs rising, populations ageing, and traditional care models struggling to keep up. At the same time, it points to where momentum is building, through technology and AI reshaping workflows, care moving beyond hospitals, and new models emerging around prevention and specialty care.
It’s also been a month of a few unexpected milestones. I’ve been invited to speak at the Digital Health Festival in May on the idea of a digital front door, what it really takes to reduce admin and empower care at scale. And I was fortunate to receive a TITAN Gold Award, which recognises innovation and impact globally. The recognition was grounded in a simple idea, that leaders shouldn’t need months, large teams, or expensive engagements to make well-informed decisions. The model behind Accelerated Innovation is built to be faster, more practical, and grounded in evidence, helping boards and executives move with more clarity in complex environments. The award is a nice moment, but more than anything it reflects the work being done across the leaders and organisations leaning into these challenges.
There’s a convergence happening. System pressure, shifting member expectations, and organisational capability are colliding in ways that make standing still increasingly difficult. For some, that’s creating momentum. For others, it’s exposing friction that has been sitting in the background for years.
This month’s edition pulls together a few of the clearest signals. From Scott Williams’ perspective on simplifying the model at Police Health, to what the latest results from Medibank, nib and Bupa are really telling us, to the growing role of prevention and AI across the system. Each one points to the same underlying reality, the model is evolving, and the pace is picking up.
The question is no longer what’s coming. It’s how organisations respond from here.
Become and Innovation Insider and stay updated with the latest in insurance and innovation 👇🏻