Shared responsibility, digital pathways, and collaborating for better patient outcomes.
On 23 June 2026, as part of Day 2 of the International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP) Annual Conference, a breakfast roundtable brought together senior leaders from across the UK and international healthcare sectors to explore this question.
Hosted jointly by iFHP and Harley Street Health District, the session convened executives from organisations including Vitality Health, AXA Health UK, Bupa, WPA, Vhi, Medibank, Southern Cross, Medavie, HCA Healthcare UK, Priory, Welbeck, Mayo Clinic, Healthcode, EY, WTW and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The discussion was facilitated by Chris Watney, CEO of iFHP, and Professor Jenny Shand, Strategic Advisor to Harley Street Health District. Opening perspectives were shared from both payer and provider viewpoints, setting up a candid discussion held under Chatham House Rule.
Several key themes emerged from the discussion:
- Growing demand for transparency around outcomes, quality and pricing.
- A broader definition of access, focused on helping patients reach the right care through connected pathways.
- Continued commitment to prevention, despite funding models that often favour treatment over keeping people healthy.
- The importance of data sharing in enabling coordinated care, alongside ongoing challenges around governance, interoperability and trust.
- The potential of AI to improve navigation, decision-making and efficiency when supported by appropriate oversight.
- An increasing role for employers in supporting prevention, wellbeing and long-term health outcomes.
- The need for patients to have greater ownership and understanding of their own health, supported by better information, navigation and continuity of care.
A convergent moment
The opening perspectives highlighted significant shifts taking place across healthcare. Providers are increasingly adopting a population health mindset, focusing on prevention, early intervention and continuity of care. At the same time, payers are accelerating investment in precision prevention and proactive health management.
This convergence is being accelerated by developments in biotechnology, data science, digital tools and new care models. It is also changing the boundaries between payers and providers, with some payers moving further into direct service provision in order to create more integrated, end-to-end models of prevention, care delivery and outcomes measurement.
Together these shifts are creating new opportunities for collaboration. However, participants agreed that meaningful transformation will require closer alignment across organisations and sectors. No single organisation can deliver this alone: progress depends on shared responsibility between payers, providers, patients, employers and, where relevant, public-sector partners.
Rethinking incentives and business models
A central discussion point was the challenge posed by existing reimbursement models, which often reward activity rather than outcomes. If funding continues to be linked primarily to treatment, it becomes difficult to redirect resources towards prevention.
Participants explored what new incentive structures could look like and acknowledged that achieving change will require collaboration between payers, providers, employers and regulators. There was strong agreement that the financial model matters. Value-based healthcare depends on the ability to measure outcomes, identify where value is created, and agree how that value is shared or reinvested.
The conversation also highlighted the need to move beyond the rhetoric of patient-centricity. True patient-centred care means more than offering choice; it means enabling people to understand their health, navigate the system and participate in decisions with the right information and support.
Creating more connected patient journeys
There was broad agreement that patient journeys remain too fragmented. Multiple handovers, inconsistent information flows and limited coordination can affect both patient experience and clinical outcomes.
While AI was seen as a promising tool to improve navigation and efficiency, participants stressed that success depends on strong underlying data infrastructure, governance frameworks and trust. AI can support better decisions and smoother journeys, but it cannot compensate for poor data, unclear accountability or misaligned incentives.
Transparency, data and trust
Transparency emerged as one of the strongest themes of the discussion. Participants saw transparency as essential to building trust between payers, providers and patients, and as a practical foundation for linked data, shared outcome measures and value-based models of care.
There was particular interest in how the private healthcare data environment could evolve to cover more of the patient journey, including outpatient, digital and follow-up touchpoints.
What needs to be true
The roundtable concluded that progress will depend on several critical factors:
- A shared definition of value, including the patient perspective.
- Greater transparency and trust between payers and providers.
- Business models that reward prevention and outcomes.
- Data infrastructure that enables coordination while maintaining appropriate governance.
- Evidence that demonstrates ROI for payers, providers, employers and patients.
- A more seamless end-to-end patient journey, supported by both digital tools and human navigation.
- A commitment to partnership rather than transactional relationships.
The discussion continued well beyond the formal session, reflecting both the complexity of the challenges and the appetite for collaboration. Our thanks go to Chris Watney and Chinwe Onyema at iFHP for their partnership in convening the event, and to all participants for contributing to an important and ongoing conversation about the future of healthcare.
