Healthcare leaders need a path forward, and they need it now.  Workforce churn, AI acceleration, payer pressure, policy shifts and other factors are converging in ways that make “wait and see” a liability. That’s why showing up in Houston this March matters. ACHE Congress 2026 (March 2–4, in Houston, TX) is about making smarter decisions in the middle of real constraints.  

On last week’s podcast Dan Collard holds a conversation with David Bartholomew, FACHE, ACHE’s senior vice president of learning. Together, they offer a preview ACHE Congress 2026 (March 2–4, in Houston, TX) and build a strong case for why this is the year to attend. Here are a few examples of what to expect at Congress:

 A powerful sense of community.  When times get hard and we need to reinvent ourselves, community is more crucial than ever. AI integration, shifting care models, funding shortfalls, workforce shortages—all require collaboration. Plus, we need to lean on each other. Gathering helps us remember we’re not alone. We feel seen, heard, understood. It’s okay to let our guard down and talk about our struggles. The value of these shared experiences is real and powerful.  This feeling of being “in community” lightens the load and bolsters our resilience. That’s why ACHE Congress matters. It’s where healthcare leaders come together to connect, learn from peers, and shape what comes next.

 Who you’ll see on stage. Expect a mix of futurists and frontline leadership voices like Adam Grant, Amy Webb, Shiv Rao, Patrick Lencioni, Anne Morris, Cheryl Pegus, Christian deRitis, Scott Hamilton, and more. The main stage brings big-picture analysts alongside system operators who are running hospitals, service lines, and payer-strategy portfolios day to day.  

Breakouts feature physician and nursing executives, finance leaders, quality/safety chiefs, and operations teams walking through current cases—what they tried, where they iterated, and what they’d do differently. You’ll get frameworks, but also the practical details that make them usable back home.

Tracks, topics, and trends that meet the moment. Congress is built around the real work leaders are tackling right now. For example:

• Leadership under pressure: setting standards, reclaiming trust, aligning teams after reorganizations, and communicating with clarity when tradeoffs are unavoidable.
• Multigenerational teams: practical approaches for onboarding, feedback, and accountability that land with early-career talent and veterans alike.
• Retention pipelines: designing internships, administrative fellowships, and first-role pathways that reduce churn and build a bench.
• AI in clinical and business ops: ambient documentation, workflow redesign, safety and quality guardrails, change enablement, and the governance questions that keep implementations on track.
• Access, experience, and safety: throughput, referral management, patient communication, and high-reliability practices that lower risk while improving experience.
• Payer strategy and performance: cost-to-serve, site-of-care shifts, and contracting realities—how systems are protecting margin without eroding access.
• The consumerism trend: how to build a consumer-centric healthcare organization while moving toward a value-based care payment model
• Rewiring leader development: why today’s external environment calls for a more personalized approach to leader development (“off the shelf” solutions no longer work).

 Career Hub, leveled-up.  The Career Hub has expanded beyond quick résumé reviews into stage-specific support. Students and administrative-fellowship candidates get navigation help and interview prep; first-role leaders work on the shift from individual contributor to people leader; executives in transition get time with search firms and targeted coaching. Sessions are integrated into the agenda so you can learn, practice, and then apply during the week.

 Innovation you can apply. Congress pairs operator experience with industry expertise to solve real problems. Expect working sessions where health-system teams and partners pressure-test solutions on access, cost, and care-model shifts. You’ll see examples of what it takes to move from pilot to scale: governance, data plumbing, front-line workflows, and accountability measures. 

The hallway advantage. If you’ve been before, you know the hallway is where your next collaboration often starts. Congress designs for that: role-based meetups, CEO/CHRO roundtables, and first-timer guides so you’re not wandering. You’ll leave with names of people you’ll actually call in April—peers who understand your market dynamics and will share templates, policies, and de-risked playbooks when you need them.

The opportunity to convene on the industry’s toughest issues. The challenges we face can feel overwhelming: OBBBA fallout, projected rural hospital closings, physician shortages, ACA subsidy uncertainty, workforce burnout, growing access gaps. Congress doesn’t pretend there are easy answers, but it does create space for leaders to work through the implications together. Attendees gain access to sessions and peer conversations focus on what these pressures mean for operating models, capital decisions, service lines, and community commitments, and how leaders are adapting in real time.

 Workforce pressure and technology adoption aren’t letting up; neither are payer and cost headwinds. Congress meets that reality with all-new content, pragmatic leadership training, and an ecosystem of operators wrestling with the same constraints you are. You’ll hear the future, yes, but more importantly, you’ll leave with what to do once you get back home. 

Listen to the episode with David Bartholomew here. The HPSG team looks forward to seeing you at  ACHE Congress 2026.  

Quint Studer:Leadership Insights: Rewiring Leader Development—The Right Plan for the Right Person at the Right Time
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
9:30am – 10:30am CT

Dan Collard: Genfluence: How to Lead a Multigenerational Workforce
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
3:15pm – 4:15pm CT