JPM Healthcare Conference Insights with Amber Walsh of McGuireWoods LLP 1-15-26

Summary

Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast

Episode: JPM Healthcare Conference Insights with Amber Walsh of McGuireWoods LLP
Date: January 15, 2026
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Amber Walsh, Partner at McGuireWoods LLP

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Episode Overview

This episode features a conversation between host Scott Becker and returning guest Amber Walsh, a partner at McGuireWoods LLP, discussing the notable themes, trends, and shifts emerging from the 2026 JPMorgan Healthcare Conference—the industry's most influential event at the crossroads of healthcare and private equity. Amber shares her observations from afar, providing insight into participant shifts, increased dealmaking optimism, and the often-unofficial side of the conference. The discussion centers around AI adoption in healthcare, the strategic move toward outpatient care, and unique partnerships signaling larger market shifts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Atmosphere and Structure of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

• Amber Walsh's Experience as a Remote Observer
  • Amber was not onsite in San Francisco this year, but monitored trends via industry blogs, presentation clips, and contact with colleagues on the ground.
  • The conference features both highly public formal presentations (by health systems, key industry figures, etc.) and numerous private, dealmaking meetings that drive much of the value.
  • "What goes on and where the learning comes from is the official and the formal and very much the informal." (Amber Walsh, [02:56])

2. Why 2026’s Conference Felt So Active and Crowded

• Record Interest and a Return to In-Person Energy
  • Both Scott and Amber noted increased energy and participation this year.
  • Possible drivers:
    • Post-pandemic normalization—people want to be together and do deals face-to-face again.
    • Dealmaking lagged in 2023-2024 due to uncertainty, but is rebounding in 2025-2026 as regulatory environments stabilize.
    • San Francisco has made it easier and more attractive for large gatherings.
  • Shift in participant mix:
    • Notably reduced presence from major payer organizations due to both regulatory/accounting restrictions and internal tragedies.
    • Increase in health system (especially nonprofit) participation and visibility.
  • "There's a general sense, I think, that deals are going to happen this year, investors are ready and as it has always been, it's the place to be to kick off the year." (Amber Walsh, [05:43])

3. Major Themes: AI’s Central Role in Healthcare Investment and Operations

• Artificial Intelligence Leading the Conversation
  • AI is at the forefront of nearly every discussion—strategy, investment, risk mitigation, and opportunity.
  • Faster adoption rate in healthcare than most other industries: about 27% of health systems have integrated AI as a significant component of their operations.
  • The conversation is not just about deploying AI, but also about managing the systemic risks and disparities it can introduce.
  • Scott cites Cedars Sinai’s initiative to train thousands in AI as evidence of this major organizational commitment.
  • "You can't have a conversation about any investment opportunity, about any healthcare strategy... without incorporating AI into the conversation." (Amber Walsh, [08:14])
  • "The number you frequently see... is 27% of health systems have adopted AI as a significant part of their solution, which dramatically outpaces the rest of the economy." (Amber Walsh, [08:34])

4. "Back to Basics" Focus: Outpatient Care and Cost Control

• Shift Towards Care Outside the Hospital
  • Health systems are emphasizing cost control and shifting care toward outpatient settings—ambulatory surgery centers, primary care, and hospital-at-home models.
  • Technology and labor solutions are both critical for "care at home" and other non-inpatient strategies.
  • The outsourcing of "where care happens" is louder and more overt in strategic discussions than in years past.
  • "Most of the health system presentations... have been very focused on cost cutting, but also moving to the outpatient setting and the different ways to move to an outpatient setting." (Amber Walsh, [10:00])

5. Innovative Partnerships with Nontraditional Players

• Big Health Systems Teaming Up Outside the Industry
  • Example: Hackensack Meridian Health (NJ) CEO spotlighted partnerships with Amazon, Uber, and other tech giants—eschewing more traditional provider-to-provider collaboration.
  • This reflects a maturing and expanding concept of what constitutes a healthcare partner and signals system leaders’ openness to new delivery and logistics models.
  • "To have a health system say that they were going to pursue those types of partnerships nearly exclusively as compared to more traditional partnerships... I think is really interesting and it's another theme..." (Amber Walsh, [11:41])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Conference’s Unique Recharge:
  "It's always frenetic and exciting and exhausting and a great way to kick off your dealmaking." (Amber Walsh, [01:25])

• On Participant Shifts After COVID:
  "Now you have dealmaking that stalled a little bit... and now it's almost like you have been through the past year of uncertainty with a lot of regulatory change where people are starting to say okay, we know what we're living with for the next few years from a regulatory environment." (Amber Walsh, [04:53])

• On AI’s Pervasiveness:
  "Both the most effective solutions, but the unique ways that AI has been used and how you can have solutions for the risks that appear from AI, the systematic disparities that it can cause." (Amber Walsh, [09:17])

• On the Future of Her Attendance:
  "I'm 90% or more sure that I will report for you from San Francisco next year." (Amber Walsh, [12:50])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Conference Format & Energy – [01:07] – [03:37]
• Surging 2026 Participation and Participant Shifts – [04:16] – [07:37]
• Core Themes: AI, Cost, and Outpatient Shift – [07:47] – [10:55]
• Nontraditional Partnerships & Strategy – [10:55] – [12:25]
• Amber’s Take on Returning in 2027 – [12:38] – [13:00]

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Summary Table of Major Themes

| Theme | Description | Key Quote & Time | |--------------------------|-------------|------------------| | In-person resurgence | Post-COVID, regulatory stabilization, increased dealmaking energy | "Deals are going to happen this year, investors are ready..." [05:43] | | AI adoption and impact | Central to strategy; health leads in AI uptake | "27% of health systems have adopted AI..." [08:34] | | Outpatient & cost focus | Shift from inpatient to outpatient; hospital-at-home | "Treating patients outside of the inpatient setting..." [10:10]| | Partnerships with tech | Providers partnering with Amazon, Uber | "Going to pursue those types of partnerships nearly exclusively..." [11:41] |

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This episode is a concise yet vivid window into the evolving priorities and strategies shaping healthcare private equity and delivery in 2026, as seen through the lens of the industry's premier conference. Amber Walsh’s practical, insider perspective highlights both enduring fundamentals and bold new directions for the sector.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by Amber Walsh. Amber joins us regularly to talk to us about issues she's watching usually at the intersection of health care and private equity today and this week is a perfect week to talk about that. Amber's going to talk to us about some of the biggest themes that that they're talking about at JPM's healthcare conference, which is the biggest in this sort of business, at the intersection of business and healthcare. Amber, why don't I tee you up and ask you to take it away. What are a couple of themes that you're watching closely?

[C]

Yeah, and I am watching this year, Scott, as an observer who's not actually in San Francisco this year. So I have been to J.P. morgan many, many times. It's awesome. Always the second week of January. It's always frenetic and exciting and exhausting and a great way to kick off your deal making. And you're thinking about big macro healthcare themes for the year. But this year we have several of our McGuire woods colleagues that are out there and I'm not one of them. I'm actually observing by watching all of the blog writers, hearing clips from the presentations, the few that are actually recorded, and kind of tracking the themes that are coming out of the presentations and the private meetings. And just to give a little flavor of kind of what happens out there, there are always a series of formal large health care player presentations, some publicly traded, you've got some not for profit. And then for Prof. Health systems that are still privately held, they present. You have big important stakeholders like Mehmet Oz has presented twice out there. Jamie Dimon, you have these big presentations that are big and thematic and then you have a lot, many, many times more private meetings that are happening all around the official conference. And those are really interesting because what happens in those meetings is obviously a dissection of the big presentations talking about big themes, investment, theses that are coming out for private equity investors. But you also see a lot of companies that are out seeking investment out kind of on the block sometimes with their investment banker testing the waters, seeing how they present, kind of starting to get their name out there. So it's really interesting. Kind of what goes on and where the learning comes from is the official and the formal and very much the informal. So that's just a piece of kind of what it's like to be there. But I can certainly talk about the themes as well.

[B]

No, thank you. And just it seems like this year, as busy it's been in a long time, it seems to be more going on, more people out there, more things happening than I've seen in a long time. Why do you think that is? It just seems like incredibly busy. I. I can't go through a moment without somebody saying, are you at J.P. morgan? Are you going to visit? Can we visit? Stuff like that. And I like you, I'm not there. But. But I find it fascinating to see how much interest there seems to be this year from the venture capital community, the private equity community, the business community, the healthcare community. Ran into the CEO of Northwestern the other day. He was going. It seems like so many people are going to. What's your take on why there's so much activity this year?

[C]

Yeah, that's a great observation and I agree there's a lot of interest and activity and we're talking about a conference that is in its 44th year. So this is nothing new, but it is a little bit different this year. You have a little bit of a shift in the participants as compared to the kind of tried and true that are always there. For example, our colleagues, myself and yourself included in years past, have been going for more than 15 years routinely in a group to make sure we're there and having the conversations and are in the heart of the deal making. But it is a little bit different this year and I think it's a few different things that are driving that. The first is obviously, not surprisingly, it was very depressed participation, very different looking coming out of COVID even. Even though deal making went on a real rapid surge in 2021, 2022, JP Morgan obviously was a little bit thinner participation for obvious reasons, people just weren't doing that. Now you have dealmaking that stalled a little bit in 23 and 24 and then started to pick back up in 25. And now it's almost like you have been through the past year of uncertainty with a lot of regulatory change where people are starting to say okay, we know what we're living with for the next few years. From a regulatory environment, we're ready to do deal making. It is a comfortable environment. You have no overhang of COVID We want to be together, we want to be in the heart of dealmaking activity. We want to make this venture out to San Francisco. The city itself has made some changes to make it a little bit more affordable for people to be out there and to kind of move through the city when you have tens of thousands of people out there. So the city has actually made it more attractive. And there's a general sense, I think, that deals are going to happen this year, investors are ready and as it has always been, it's the place to be to kick off the year. So starting last year, really we had a shift away from what had been pretty routine and robust participation from the health care insurance payer community. And between the terrible Brian Thompson tragedy which impacted payers, rules about public speaking and public travel, versus the kind of odd time on the calendar that JPM occurs where it's a blackout period for a lot of earnings calls for these payers. For the past two years now, there is almost zero payer participation in the formal podiums. So that's been a real shift. Whereas we see a lot more health systems, including non for profit health systems that had historically had a smaller participation. And they're up on the podium, they're talking about their strategy and that's been kind of an interesting shift as well as to just who's there and willing to share.

[B]

Fascinating. And then talk about some of the trends. It seems like so much discussion around biotech, technology, digital health, what's, what's front and center, what are people talking about?

[C]

I mean, of course, of course, of course. And you have to start there. There's lots of other trends. Some are really kind of back to basic things that I'll talk about in a minute, but I think you have to start with AI. You can't have a conversation about any investment opportunity, about any health care strategy. Law firms can't have conversations about their next year of planning without incorporating AI into the conversation. And the rate of adoption of AI solutions in health care versus the broader US economy generally has been much higher. And health systems have led that the number you frequently see. And there's different ways to define AI adoption, but the oft quoted number is 27% of health systems have adopted AI as a significant part of their solution, which dramatically outpaces the rest of the economy. And so when you have health Systems who are presenting more. You have everyone trying to figure out the most appropriate and effective way to use AI. Of course, it's going to be a part of every single conversation. Both the most effective solutions, but the unique ways that AI has been used and how you can have solutions for the risks that appear from AI, the systematic disparities that it can cause. So that's a big part of the conversation and I think it has to be at the top of the list.

[B]

Thank you. And so after AI and it seems like AI is cascading in all these different places, probably the most interesting I think I saw today was Cedars Sinai, one of the great systems in the country, training several thousand of their people on AI and how to use AI, which indicates a big investment in trying to make sure AI is more fully utilized throughout that system. And it's one of the top five systems in the country. What are people saying about AI and what else are you hearing from JP Morgan?

[C]

Yeah, so kind of the next theme beyond AI, which is a whole, you know, whole conversation in and of itself. I also think it's really interesting to shift into more of a back to basics, which is most of the health system presentations, just like most of the conversations and the writings about health systems who have announced their strategies for the past at least 18 months, has been very focused on cost cutting, but also moving to the outpatient setting and the different ways to move to an outpatient setting. This is nothing new. This has been a focus of many health systems for multiple decades. But I feel like it's a much louder and overt part of the announced strategy is treating patients outside of the inpatient setting. In many cases a focus on care at home. So you have hospital at home programs and the solutions, the tech solutions, but also the physical labor solutions that they need for, for hospital at home and for primary care. And again moving to the outpatient, which isn't just ambulatory surgery centers, which are also very important, but different outpatient settings. That's a big theme for many of these systems. And to layer into that, that I think is really interesting, I got a real the Hackensack Meridian, which is a health system in New Jersey. Their CEO's presentation, talking about how they were going to accomplish these things and already have been accomplishing these things through unique partnerships, not necessarily with other traditional healthcare providers. So with Uber and with Amazon, those types of partnerships have been under discussion for many years, emanating out of JP Morgan even prior to Covid. But to have a health system say that they were going to pursue those types of partnerships nearly exclusively as compared to more traditional partnerships. I think is really interesting and it's another theme that I think has been pretty prevalent out at JP Morgan this week.

[B]

Thank you. Just fascinating. Amber, give me the odds of you going back to JPM next year or you're going to enjoy following it from afar. What is your odds? What's your percentage? Guess. And going back next year?

[C]

I think it's very high. I'm going to be back. I am actually jealous. I needed a break after many, many years of just total exhaustion. But I'm jealous of our colleagues that are out there. I'm ready to go back. I'm 90% or more sure that I will report for you from San Francisco next year.

[B]

God bless you again. Amber Walsh McGuire woods lives brilliantly at the intersection of healthcare and private equity. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business Podcast. Thank you very, very much.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

If you're an H Vac technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.