The patient who walks through the door of a hospital or health system in 2024 does so at one of the most inventive and transformative times in the history of the U.S. health care.

This is not to play down our serious and well-documented current challenges, but our era is also a time of remarkable innovation and fresh thinking, featuring the availability of treatments and medicines that were undreamed of even a decade or two ago.

American health care is blessed with motivated clinicians, care teams and hospital and health system leaders who strive to push the field forward, knowing that there is always new knowledge to be gained, new boundaries to explore and new ways to improve the patient care experience.

We live in a world of exciting innovation, new concepts and continual medical progress, fueled by the exchange of ideas, insights and strategies from many of the most accomplished thinkers and doers in our field. 

And so many of the advancements and modern techniques that are improving the patient experience today originate within the walls of a hospital, which continue to drive innovative care transformation. The pharma drugmakers haven’t cornered the market on innovation, nor have Silicon Valley tech companies.

When I think of true innovation, it’s the strides forward hospitals and health systems are leading to deliver safe, high-quality and equitable care to patients in their communities.

True innovation is how hospitals have implemented and continue to enhance telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, making geographic distance obsolete. 

True innovation is how hospitals are developing and using new technologies and strategies that improve patient care and increase operational efficiency.

True innovation is seen in the collaboration between hospitals and private sector partners to address health care’s most complex and pressing challenges and forge practical and tactical innovations for health systems and their patients.

Exchanging ideas is what drives innovation. AHA’s Leadership Summit, which will be held July 21-23 in San Diego, brings together many of the best minds in health care, medicine and technology with a shared passion for innovation as the road to advancing health. 

Our 53 sessions on key health care topics spread over these three days provide the opportunity to stay on top of the major issues, trends and developments affecting our field.

At the Summit, attendees will hear from senior health care executives, clinicians and experts in the field about innovative approaches to addressing financial challenges, future-focused strategic planning, unleashing the potential of hospital-at-home programs and dozens of other topics shaping our approach to care today.

We’ll explore solutions to challenges facing everyone, such as strengthening the health care workforce, redefining the role of health systems, and integrating physical and behavioral health within our workforces. Other sessions will examine how generative AI may reshape daily work tasks, how strategic investing can accelerate innovation and the best ways to foster health equity in startups.

The AHA Leadership Summit offers something valuable for every health care professional. It’s a great way to get updated on what’s happening across our field, as well as network and tap into the terrific energy that comes from connecting with colleagues, peers and friends who share common goals and concerns.

There’s still time to register for this year’s AHA Leadership Summit. Please view the agenda and register today. In addition, please visit our Telling the Hospital Story webpage for examples of how hospitals and health systems are driving innovation and to share your own organization’s story with us.

We hope to see you in San Diego!

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