The Future of Public Health is Collaborative

The Future of Public Health is Collaborative 

The transformation of U.S. public healthcare is ambitious, necessary, and accelerating. The upcoming AFCEA Health IT Summit comes at precisely the right moment, as technology, policy, and practice converge to redefine how care is delivered, how patients are empowered, and how institutions adapt to rapid change. 

The Department of Health and Human Services is in the midst of historic restructuring, aimed at tackling chronic illness, improving environmental health, and modernizing programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In parallel, artificial intelligence and advanced data technologies are reshaping the foundations of healthcare—driving predictive analytics, enabling personalized medicine, and strengthening cybersecurity. These shifts make clear that technology is no longer a support function. It is now central to how public health achieves quality, resilience, and equity. 

With so many changes in motion, the importance of collaboration has never been greater. Government provides scale, authority, and the mandate for equity. Industry brings the platforms, tools, and speed to operationalize innovation. Academia and research institutions sustain the evidence, expertise, and training that move progress forward. And across these domains, interdisciplinary collaboration—linking data science with clinical expertise, regulatory science with patient experience, policy with technology—is what ensures that innovation translates into outcomes. The conversations at AFCEA will be an opportunity to bring these perspectives together at a moment when alignment matters most. 

At ICA, we are preparing to engage in these discussions with a focus on how advanced analytics, real-world data, and AI-enabled tools can help accelerate adoption, build trust, and deliver measurable improvements in public health. Our work across regulatory science, real-world evidence, and AI innovation is designed to support precisely the kinds of transformation that this summit is convened to explore. 

The stakes are high—population health, patient trust, and equitable access to care—and the pace of change is only quickening. The AFCEA Health IT Summit offers a vital forum to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and ensure that public service, innovation, and research move together. We look forward to the conversations ahead and to charting the course toward a healthier, more connected future.