March 9, 2026
The 2026 ACHE Congress officially wrapped last Wednesday, March 4, and Brand Rounds has prepared a summary of the most relevant highlights for healthcare marketers. These trends include trust as a brand asset, the continued importance of consumerism, and the need for communications professionals in AI transformation.
The need for communications professionals in AI transformation
Unsurprisingly, AI was the most dominant topic at this year’s ACHE Congress. The sessions were unavoidable and I attended several. Across each session, one thing was clear: communications professionals are an underutilized resource in the AI transformation.
95% of AI projects fail. While some of those projects fail because of poor data or faulty technology, many fail due to misaligned expectations and failures to change operations to support AI initiatives. These risks could be mitigated with the help of change management. Communications leaders should consider connecting with their technology partners and offer to support change communications.
Trust as a brand asset
Second only to the dominance of AI was the repeated references to trust across nearly every session. Sessions covered the theme of trust from both the perspective of trust within teams and the trust of consumers toward the healthcare industry and providers.
Thomas H. Lee, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Press Ganey showed compelling evidence that although they are often treated as a zero-sum game, team trust, patient trust, and outcomes are highly correlated with one another. When one grows, another grows. When one fails, the others are at risk of failure.
Unfortunately, we face spread of healthcare misinformation at never before seen scale and speed and in parallel, the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on Trust in Health shows declining trust in healthcare systems.
Healthcare marketing and communications professionals need to claim their role in restoring trust in healthcare organizations through brand storytelling, authentic community partnerships, and patient-centered communications and digital experiences.
The continued importance of consumerism
If you’ve worked in or around the healthcare industry for the past decade, it feels like we must have covered every possible angle of consumerism in healthcare by now, but the topic persists! Likely because the significant amount of discussion on the importance of consumerism, little progress has been made to deliver on evolving consumer expectations by comparison. Systems continue to struggle to modernize access, for example.
Fortunately, healthcare marketers have access to a plethora of data about patient expectations from Google reviews to website data to market research. Yet healthcare systems have not consistently embraced marketing and communications as a key partner in efforts to improve the patient experience. Marketing leader should continue efforts to persuade their organizations to partner with their teams to glean insights on evolving consumer expectations.
Save the date for the 2027 ACHE Congress
The 2027 ACHE Congress will be held in Nashville, TN from March 22-24. For more information, check out the ACHE Congress website.
About the Author
Court Wakefield is the founder and editor of Brand Rounds Magazine. Court is a healthcare marketing executive with two decades experience leading brands through periods of high-stakes change.
