Reinventing Health Care: Tom Koulopoulos on AI, Behavioral Shifts, and the Human Future of Medicine
The opening of this year’s Clinical Pathways Congress and Cancer Care Business Exchange (CPC+CBEx) featured keynote speaker Thomas Koulopoulos, chairman and founder of the Delphi Group. He delivered a provocative presentation on the future of health care and technology, framing the current moment as one of both deep crisis and unprecedented opportunity. Despite widespread skepticism, he insisted these were “the good times” because the system has the chance to reinvent itself. He envisioned the creation of a global benchmark for health care, one centered on patients rather than institutions. While technology provides tools, he stressed that the true challenge lies in human behavioral shifts that will impact continuity and collaboration for navigating patient care.
Tracing the trajectory of computing from vacuum tubes to today’s smartphones, Koulopoulos illustrated how exponential growth in technology laid the foundation for artificial intelligence (AI). He explained that genomic medicine, digital twins, and massive data growth would soon transform health care into an environment where the amount of data exceeded comprehension, forcing new ways of managing, analyzing, and applying it. Yet, the fundamental question was not whether the technology could exist, but how society would use it to reshape health care delivery. He emphasized that younger generations, raised in digital environments, already rejected the friction of traditional health care systems and gravitated toward alternative, technology-driven models. This generational shift threatens to create a shadow health care system unless the industry adapts quickly.
Koulopoulos highlighted the demographic crisis facing global health systems, with aging populations putting unsustainable pressure on resources. He warned that ignoring this reality would make future crises worse than the pandemic. To address it, health care has to evolve into an “ambient” model where patients are cared for continuously rather than episodically. Wearables, digital advocates, and constant biometric monitoring could provide 24/7 insights, enabling early interventions and value-based care. He shared scenarios where digital advocates collaborated with clinicians to detect anomalies, adjust treatments, and guide patients, effectively transforming health care into a seamless, personalized experience.
Central to his vision is the role of AI. He distinguished between today’s AI—automation and large language models—and the next stage of agentic AI, which could make decisions and act autonomously. Beyond that, recursive AI would teach itself, simulating millions of scenarios in seconds to identify optimal therapies. This progression, he said, would augment clinicians, administrators, and specialists, amplifying their capabilities rather than replacing them. However, it is difficult to align AI’s ethics with human ethics, which varies across cultures. Still, he asserted that humanity has always created new value when old systems shift, and AI would accelerate this pattern.
At the end of his presentation, Koulopoulos underscored the human dimension of health care. Through a personal story of a childhood illness and reconnection decades later with the physician who saved him, he illustrated that the essence of care was humanity, empathy, and trust. AI, he argued, should elevate that humanity, not replace it. He concluded that health care must embrace behavioral change, technological innovation, and patient-centered design to create a system that was both sustainable and humane, ultimately putting people at its very center.
Reference
Koulopoulos T. Navigating Tomorrow's Healthcare Gigatrends. Presented at the Clinical Pathways Congress; September 5, 2025; Boston, MA.
