HLTH USA 2025: Innovation, AI, and Actionable Insights Transform Health & Life Sciences

I attended my first HLTH USA conference this week at the Venetian in Las Vegas, joining over 12,000 attendees from across the HLS ecosystem. Technology is evolving at lightning speed, and payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies face growing pressure to deliver more content, faster, and with greater personalization.

At Gradial, we're helping these enterprise brands transform their marketing workflows by accelerating their content supply chains—often increasing capacity by 40% or more. HLTH offered the perfect setting to connect with leaders driving that transformation.

As a first-time attendee, a few things genuinely surprised me.

• HLTH’s roots in innovation are deep. Startups, investors, and enterprise leaders were forming partnerships everywhere.
• HLTH is now the must-attend event for HLS professionals, cited as invaluable for connection and collaboration.
• Not all HLS events are serious—HLTH balanced substance with fun, making networking and after-hours gatherings a highlight.

Some themes, however, were expected. The healthcare system’s deep structural challenges were acknowledged, and all agreed that patients and outcomes must remain central.

Panels moderated by Bertha Coombs of CNBC and Zach Stafford of SiriusXM pressed leaders like CVS’s Tilak Mandadi to consider whether they’re part of the problem or the solution.

If there was one word that echoed through every hall, it was “AI.” Nearly every session title, panel, and conversation referenced it—sometimes every third word. AI is now embedded in every aspect of the HLS value chain, from expediting lung cancer drug development (Pfizer cut discovery time from 10 years to 4) to enabling more personalized patient experiences.

“AI is endemic. If you have an AI Officer, it’s incorrect. Don’t do it.” —Kindred Ventures’ Kanyi Maqubela

Notable voices like Mark Cuban, disrupting drug pricing, and Rob Lowe, sharing the importance of clinical trials, made lasting impressions.

My favorite session was “Stop Tinkering and Start Transforming,” featuring:

• Micky Tripathi, Chief AI Implementation Officer, Mayo Clinic
• Bruce Broussard, formerly CEO of Humana
• Lidia Fonseca, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Executive Vice President, Pfizer

The panel called out the risks of “pilot-itis”—the tendency to keep testing innovations without scaling their impact. Their message was clear: transformation at scale requires courage, ecosystem partnerships, and seamless workflow integration.

Three Points Resonated Deeply

1. Innovation demands speed and alignment. Many organizations lag behind because governance can’t keep pace. Gradial empowers early adopters to accelerate value realization and guide broader transformation.
2. Workflow integration drives adoption. Successful innovation meets people where they already work. Gradial embeds into platforms like Jira and Workfront, handling complexity behind content creation, compliance, and reviews.
3. Partnership is faster than reinvention. Building in-house wastes time and resources. Partnering with innovators lets enterprises focus on missions while staying ahead of the curve.

Mayo Clinic exemplified this with 97 AI systems deployed and 270 more in the pipeline.

A conference highlight: hosting clients and prospects at an intimate dinner at Chica—a great opportunity to deepen relationships outside the conference floor. I’ll absolutely be back next year to continue these conversations and connections.

If you’d like to see how Gradial can help your organization move beyond tinkering and into true transformation, reach out for a demo. Let’s explore how Agentic AI can accelerate your marketing workflows—and impact. cara@gradial.com