Patient trends in 2025: What to expect in the year ahead

With the arrival of a new year, healthcare organizations are thinking about new ways to treat and serve patients.

Healthcare leaders share their predictions on trends in patient care in 2025.

Several healthcare leaders offered their thoughts on patient trends in 2025, including cancer care, women’s health, outpatient services, weight loss drugs, behavioral health, and more.

Calum A. MacRae, MD, vice chair for scientific innovation, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

“Increased access to emerging technologies and personalized data, combined with information specifically tailored for the individual, will drive self-care in health and wellness in more patients, initially in preventative medicine, in the next year. This phenomenon will begin to impact chronic disease management and progressively more complex conditions and will accelerate devolution of care and responsibility for many conditions to the patient - who is often best placed to understand their own health.”

Oliver Kharraz, MD, the founder and CEO of Zocdoc

“The story of GLP-1s is not over yet. There are still availability shortages. I think that is beginning to change, and as that has changed, over the last 12 months, we've seen increasing adoption by consumers, and I expect this to go on.”

Erik Swanson, senior vice president of data and analytics at Kaufman Hall

“I think we will continue to see the shift towards more and more outpatient type activity, and again, organizations that are well positioned to deliver care in the outpatient setting will be the ones that do better than those who are perhaps more brick-and-mortar, inpatient focused.”

Zhenya Lindgardt, CEO and president, Sera Prognostics

“Women’s health – especially maternal and neonatal health – continues to demand greater public attention and healthcare intervention. In the context of staffing shortages and healthcare deserts in the US, I see 2025 being a year of further innovation to drive improvements in care. Consumer-centered women’s health solutions – like diagnostics - will continue to play a significant role in improving women’s health outcomes. With new tools and resources available for physicians and women, I’m excited to see what transformations this year will bring!”

Steven Chen, MD, chief medical officer of ImpediMed

“The coming year will bring a fundamental shift in how we approach cancer survivorship, with healthcare organizations adopting more holistic care models. We'll see increased integration of physical monitoring, mental health support, and lifestyle interventions into standardized survivorship protocols.”

Gary Hamilton, CEO of InteliChart

“In 2025, healthcare will continue its shift toward patient-centric care, with providers leveraging technology to meet patients where they are in their care journey. By adopting tools that empower patients to access information, schedule services, and engage more actively, healthcare providers will improve care quality and patient satisfaction. This transformation will encourage patients to take a more active role in managing their health, enhancing overall outcomes while fostering stronger provider-patient relationships.”

Brad Kittredge, CEO and Co-founder of Brightside Health

“In 2025, virtual intensive outpatient programs (IOP) will emerge as a cornerstone of care for patients at the higher end of the severity spectrum, including those with mental health and substance use disorders. Traditional in-person IOP faces barriers, such as limited access, stigma, and logistical hurdles like transportation and taking time off work. Virtual IOP, however, offers a transformative alternative—providing the same intensive intervention in a more cost-effective, accessible, and less disruptive format that integrates seamlessly into a patient’s daily life. I predict increased adoption of virtual IOP, with greater patient adherence.”

Clay Ritchey, CEO, Verato

“As competition continues to escalate and healthcare consumers are more willing to change providers, the patient experience becomes paramount. Healthcare organizations will need to create a 360-degree view of each patient’s journey, build loyalty through providing exceptional experiences at every touchpoint, and integrate security to protect the brand and retain trust. In this context, an elevated focus on identity, knowing who is who, becomes essential—not only to enhance clinical care but also as a critical factor in patient acquisition and retention.”

Sashi Moodley, chief medical officer, Walgreens

“The healthcare macro-environment continues to evolve rapidly to meet changing consumer needs, fueled by increasing costs that include new expensive specialty therapies. Innovative, value-based care models, including hyper-targeted approaches, will gain prominence, with a greater focus on personalized treatment plans and hybrid care models leveraging multidisciplinary and integrated care teams. At the same time, consumers will prioritize health, wellness, and longevity, moving beyond traditional ‘sick care’ and focusing on holistic and preventive care. This shift, alongside growing use of digital tools and personalized health insights, will reshape the future of healthcare through innovation, consumer empowerment, and a demand for cost-effective care.”

Shana Hoffman, chief executive officer, Lucet

“Many do not realize the direct link between chronic disease and behavioral health conditions. While much attention is given to the physical impact of diseases, such as kidney disease, the mental and emotional toll it takes on individuals can be just as profound. Similarly, managing a chronic condition like Type 1 diabetes presents its own unique challenges, with patients living with this blood sugar disorder being two to three times more likely to experience depression compared to those without it. It is only by bringing together both aspects of physical and mental health that we can truly improve overall outcomes, enhance quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs. In 2025, we should expect that behavioral health clinicians will strategically align more closely with chronic disease providers to elevate how patients battling these illnesses are screened for depression and how often, ensuring that this unique patient population is guided to the unique mental health resources they may require and in a timely manner.”