Why the future of healthcare won’t be built inside hospital walls, with Simon Taylor-Cross

Healthcare is changing fast, and according to Simon Taylor-Cross, much of that change is being driven by consumers rather than institutions.

In this episode of Innovation Insider, Simon joins me to unpack where innovation is accelerating, what is slowing it down, and why the biggest winners in the next decade may not be today’s incumbents.

With experience spanning primary care, large healthcare organisations, startups, consulting, mental health, defence health and hospital-in-the-home, Simon brings a rare system-wide perspective. He has seen healthcare from the inside, and now works across the edges where new models are emerging.

Consumers are now setting the pace

For years, healthcare innovation often moved slower than other sectors. That dynamic is changing.

Simon believes patients are pushing the system harder than ever, particularly since COVID. People now expect convenience, speed, visibility and digital experiences that match the rest of their lives.

As he put it:

“A lot of the innovation that’s coming out now is about removing friction in the system.”

That friction might be wait times, poor communication, disconnected records, confusing pathways or unnecessary admin. Consumers are less willing to tolerate it, and increasingly capable of finding alternatives.

Hospital walls are becoming less relevant

One of the most compelling parts of our discussion was the shift away from traditional hospital-based care.

Simon highlighted the bold commitment from St Vincent’s Health Australia that by 2030, 50% of services delivered may occur outside traditional bricks and mortar settings.

That sounds radical. Simon sees it as practical.

People generally do not want to be in hospital unless necessary. If care can be safely delivered at home, supported through remote monitoring, wearables, virtual care and better pathways, many patients will prefer it.

This has major implications for providers, payers and policymakers. It also raises an uncomfortable question for anyone still planning healthcare around large physical infrastructure.

The opportunity for insurers

For private health insurers, this trend matters.

Hospital-at-home and lower acuity care outside facilities may not always reduce upfront episode costs immediately. Logistics, monitoring and clinical support still need funding. But the long-term economics can improve if readmissions fall, recovery improves and members receive care in lower-cost settings.

That means insurers willing to think beyond today’s claim line items may find significant future value.

This aligns strongly with themes in our PHI Innovation Report, where new care models and system redesign are becoming strategic necessities rather than optional experiments.

Innovation is still being slowed by the system

Despite momentum, Simon was clear on what gets in the way.

Funding uncertainty. Long procurement cycles. Difficulty proving ROI early. Layered governance. Fragmented decision-making. Solutions being designed without enough clinical leadership.

These are common barriers across healthcare and highly familiar to anyone working in large regulated environments.

Innovation is rarely blocked by lack of ideas. More often, it stalls because the system cannot absorb change fast enough.

A real example, smarter elective surgery pathways

Simon also shared the work of Atidia and its Patient Optimizer platform.

The solution helps hospitals triage and prepare elective surgery patients more effectively by using algorithms, questionnaires and risk stratification to identify who is ready for surgery, who needs intervention, and who needs more complex review.

The impact includes reduced admin burden, smoother pre-admission flows, better facility matching and a stronger patient experience.

This is a useful reminder that innovation is not always headline-grabbing AI. Often it is smarter workflow design that saves clinicians time and improves care.

New players will reshape healthcare

When asked about the next 5 to 10 years, Simon expects new winners to emerge.

Some may be fast-growing health tech businesses. Others may come from outside healthcare entirely, including major technology players already investing globally.

As consumers gain more control of their own health data and expect connected experiences, the organisations best positioned to serve them may look very different from those that dominated the last era.

That should excite incumbents willing to evolve, and concern those still assuming the future will look like the past.

Final thought

Healthcare has long been structured around institutions. The next phase may be structured around people.

Care where I am. Data that follows me. Navigation that makes sense. Prevention before crisis. Support beyond the hospital stay.

That future is already forming.