Friends and colleagues,
I had the privilege of attending the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) 2026 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, and I want to share observations, musings, and reflections on what I heard and witnessed.
A few notes on the event itself:
- It was well attended, reportedly the highest since pre-COVID, up 20% from last year.
- The energy and vibe were positive. Though many organizations and leaders are facing margin pressures and other notable care delivery challenges, they arrived with curiosity, ideas, hope, and a willingness to share and learn from others.
- AMGA runs a great event. It was well organized, with excellent speakers, a helpful app, the right balance of in-session work and networking, and outstanding on-the-floor support from the AMGA team.
Here are four observations that have stayed with me post-immersion with my fellow healthcare leaders at AMGA:
- The Basics Are Having a Moment, and That’s a Good Thing
Across conversations, sessions, and hallways at AMGA, I kept hearing a quiet but insistent pull back to the fundamentals: human connection, purpose, and the kind of impact that makes this work worth doing. There is growing recognition that our workforces cannot perform, innovate, or sustain themselves if they don’t feel seen, supported, and anchored in meaning. Building cultures where people can truly thrive isn’t a wellness initiative; it’s the work most want to do. Every leader I spoke with cited finding meaning, purpose, and connection as a compelling yet elusive intention, one that builds their capacity for results and is an essential part of caring for their teams.
- The Clinician as Healer Must Remain at the Center
Yes, we are augmenting care with AI tools, predictive analytics, and an ever-expanding suite of technologies, and many of these are relevant and significant. But none of it amounts to much if we allow our clinicians to lose themselves in the process. The identity of the physician, the nurse, and the care team member as healer, as someone in a meaningful relationship with a patient, is the core of what we do. Technology should serve that identity, rather than erode it, and we must be intentional about protecting it.
- We Must Focus on Raising Human Capabilities
This was a common theme emerging in sessions and hallway conversations with leaders. How do we raise the capacity of our people to achieve our goals? By advancing patient connection capabilities across teams to improve the patient experience and drive growth. By improving leadership effectiveness to drive engagement and retain talent. By increasing psychological safety within and across teams to accelerate high reliability. By committing to unlocking human potential to improve care. Developing people as an accelerant to change was part of the broader “taking care of our people” sentiment we heard again and again from leaders, from small medical groups to large integrated systems.
- Technology Adoption, ROI, and Remaining Human Are Essential
AI was everywhere, present in every conversation with every system. There was a blend of apprehension stemming from hype versus value, workforce readiness to use AI tools effectively, and rising security risks. But there was also great optimism, especially around ambient listening, clinical documentation, workflow improvements, reducing clinician burdens, access to support solutions, and decision support enhancements. In deeper conversations, AI was discussed as a potential solution to some of the cultural and engagement challenges that were consistent priorities for healthcare systems. Could AI help advance the very purpose-driven connection that so many systems are seeking? Could AI serve as an enabler of human capabilities through prompts, nudges, and the development of scalable culture-building behaviors? Clearly, AI solutions alone can’t and won’t create thriving, adaptive, connected, and healthy cultures, but many are hopeful that they can help bring those cultures to life by providing time, focus, and bandwidth to connect with patients, each other, and our healing purpose.
An Invitation
Every leader we spoke with said the same thing: culture and connection matter now more than ever. What’s exciting is that AI, adopted intelligently and deliberately, has the potential to make a high-performing, purpose-driven culture scalable, which frees leaders, teams, and clinicians to do what only humans can do.
These reflections are an invitation.
An invitation to think together about what healthcare can become when technology is coupled with and empowers human-centered health systems.
The organizations that will rise in this moment are those that invest in their people, cultivate human connection, and lead with purpose.
We believe that developing the capabilities of your people unlocks excellence with patients, with each other, and as leaders.
The behaviors that drive engagement, belonging, and results aren’t out of reach, and they are absolutely vital to endure the challenges so many face now.
We’d love the chance to explore with you how purpose, connection, and the behaviors that bring them to life can play out as we juggle culture, AI, and caring for patients and our people to achieve more…with less.
Warm regards,
Stephen Beeson MD
Founder, Practicing Excellence
Building Human Capabilities in Healthcare
Stephen Beeson, MD is the Founder of Practicing Excellence. An author of two national best-selling books, Dr. Beeson has become a national thought leader in building human capabilities to help healthcare organizations develop the behaviors that drive measurable improvements.
