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Daily Dispatch, Day 1: Turning possibility into impact
The 2026 Vizient Connections Summit opened with big ideas about healthcare’s future, a $1 billion technology investment, human-centered leadership, and the innovations shaping what comes next.
Editor’s note: This is the first of three daily recaps featuring highlights from Vizient Connections Summit. Look for the day 2 recap Thursday morning and the day 3 recap Thursday afternoon on Vizient Insights (and don’t forget to subscribe for expert perspectives on the biggest healthcare trends).
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our full slate of coverage by following Vizient, The Leading Edge, and Vizient Supply Chain Orchestration on LinkedIn.
You wouldn’t expect to see drumlines at a healthcare conference, but at the opening session of the 2026 Vizient Connections Summit they (quite literally) set the tone for a conversation about how intelligent orchestration can help health systems turn disconnected data, expertise, and technology into coordinated action.
The analogy was deliberate. A drumline may look and sound like a collection of individual performers, but the impact comes from how those performers organize around shared discipline, timing, and purpose. Healthcare organizations face a similar challenge. They have no shortage of data, technology, or expertise, but they often lack a reliable way to connect those resources around the decisions that matter most.
That’s why Vizient leaders spent much of Tuesday’s mainstage exploring intelligent orchestration and its potential to help health systems turn data into measurable performance improvement. They also shared a tangible proof point behind that vision: Vizient is making a $1 billion-plus enterprise investment in technology, expertise, products, and solutions over four years, beginning in 2026 and extending through 2029.
The investment is designed to modernize Vizient’s core product portfolio, improve client experience, expand operational workflows, and support new solutions shaped by client needs. It also will help enable Vizient Edge, the company’s connected intelligence platform, and its broader intelligent orchestration strategy by bringing together data, insights, expertise, and action around the challenges that matter most to health systems.
Summit attendees: Continue the conversation at today’s Data and Digital Forum, beginning at 11:10 a.m. in the Venetian Ballroom, where Vizient experts and clients will delve further into Vizient Edge, intelligent orchestration, and the role of AI in shaping the future of healthcare.
As outlined by Data and Digital President Arun Ramasubramanian and Spend Management President Simrit Sandhu, the investment reflects a commitment to putting meaningful resources behind long-term, client-centered transformation.
“Another insight is only useful if it changes what happens next,” Sandhu said.
Sandhu and Ramasubramanian made that idea tangible through examples from the supply chain. Health systems may negotiate significant savings through their contracts, but that value must make its way through purchasing, invoicing, payment, and utilization before it appears on the profit-and-loss statement.
When Vizient surveyed more than 110 chief financial and operating officers to ask how much of the savings contracted by their supply chain leaders ultimately reached the P&L, the findings showed it was just over 20%.
That means nearly 80% of contracted value, equivalent to an estimated $46 billion, is not being realized across the supply chain lifecycle. Sandhu attributed “The Performance Gap” to disconnected systems, manual processes, pricing discrepancies, off-contract spending, and changes in utilization.
The opening session highlighted two solutions designed to help close those gaps:
- A Clinically Integrated Supply Chain connects cost, utilization, outcomes, physician preference, and inventory to support more informed decisions across supply chain, clinical, and finance teams.
- P2P Price Assurance connects contract and transaction data to identify pricing discrepancies and support action before value is lost between the contract and payment.
Related: Putting more spend on contract is only the beginning. The real work is protecting that value through execution, says Sandhu in her recent blog.
Ramasubramanian said the same approach can extend beyond supply chain into clinical, quality, financial, and operational performance. The Vizient Clinical Data Base, for example, provides comparative data across 100+ measures, enabling organizations to identify opportunities and determine where deeper analysis may be needed.
The leaders also stressed that clients are helping shape the work. Through Voice of Client feedback, health systems are identifying the workflows where value gets stuck, the decisions that need better support, and the outcomes they’re trying to improve.
After all, technology may enable intelligent orchestration, but people, expertise, and partnership will determine whether it produces meaningful results.
“Measurable impact,” Ramasubramanian said, “is the standard.”
More from the opening session
Vizient CEO and President Byron Jobe officially kicked off the week’s events by exploring what makes a mission real.
The answer, he said, is impact: The point at which an organization’s mission begins to change the human experience for patients, caregivers, clinicians, and communities.
But that work is becoming increasingly difficult in a healthcare system overwhelmed by complexity. Physicians now work nearly 60 hours a week, with much of that time spent on documentation and other tasks surrounding the patient encounter. The work is important, but too much of it is disconnected from the moment when it could make a difference.
That’s where technology and AI can help, Jobe noted. Rather than adding another layer of complexity, they should help systems carry more of it, giving people back the time and capacity to focus on the uniquely human elements of healthcare.
“Technology creates possibility,” he said. “Humans create impact.”
He challenged attendees to consider three questions as they explored new ideas throughout the week: What burden does this remove? What action does it make easier? And what human capacity does it restore?
Those questions carried through to the opening keynote delivered by CommonSpirit Health President and CEO Wright Lassiter III, who offered a health system leader’s perspective on navigating transformation while ensuring people and communities remain at the center.
Lassiter discussed the challenge of improving performance today while preparing for what comes next, emphasizing that successful innovation requires responsible leadership, thoughtful governance, and the trust of the people expected to use it.
He also underscored the importance of ensuring that AI and other innovations strengthen, rather than replace, the human connection at the heart of healthcare. It’s vital, he said, to balance mission and margin, lead through uncertainty, and translate ambitious ideas into practical improvements for patients, caregivers, and communities.
“That means establishing strong governance. It means understanding where AI is appropriate and where it is not. And sometimes it means being willing to say no to something that is technically possible because it does not meet the standard we should require in healthcare,” Lassiter said.
A subsequent fireside conversation between Jobe and Lassiter explored those themes further, including human-centered innovation, responsible AI adoption, trust, and the leadership decisions required to move from vision to execution.
Vizient Connections Summit is an annual event that brings together healthcare executives, leaders, suppliers, and innovators to discuss strategies that shape the future of care. At this year’s Las Vegas-based gathering, 6,100 attendees will participate in three days of discussions, networking, and volunteer activities.
And the society-changing work doesn’t end there. To recognize our shared commitment to community, Vizient will plant one native tree for every Connections Summit attendee. Through a partnership with The Nature Conservancy, these saplings will be planted across six Nevada nature preserves, creating benefits that will continue long after the event concludes.
Where mission becomes action
Is 38,000 square feet enough space to accommodate all the greatness—from product demos to volunteer activities to live podcasts and more—that the newly minted “Mission City” has to offer?
The answer is both yes and no.
There’s still time to visit Mission City: Find it in Hall G at The Venetian from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday.
There’s certainly enough room for provider and supplier attendees to explore the Innovation District (where new and upgraded Vizient products are on display), and Volunteer Village, where participants can pack 3,000+ snack bags for Las Vegas-based nonprofit Three Square Food Bank. The space also features research posters and live podcasts from IMPACT Radio.
But the ideas on display are harder to contain. With conversations, demonstrations, and activities happening throughout the space, Mission City feels less like a single exhibit hall and more like a physical expression of Summit’s larger theme: making missions real.
Throughout Tuesday, attendees moved from one experience to the next, learning about new capabilities, connecting with colleagues, and finding practical ways to make an impact beyond the conference. The result was a space that showcased not only what Vizient is building, but also the people and partnerships that help bring those ideas to life.
Whether they were back for another year or exploring the event for the first time, attendees were ready to dive into all the possibilities ahead.
The variety of topics covered is one of the main draws of the event. From AI-enabled technology demos to the many expert-led sessions, there are always opportunities to discover new and better ways to deliver care.
Turning relationships into results
Not to keep mentioning “impact,” but it is, after all, the theme of this year’s Summit, and a prevailing descriptor of The Connect sessions. The annual meet-and-greets are designed for suppliers to network with Vizient staff and provider organizations to build relationships that will shape the future of healthcare.
Tuesday’s sessions connected suppliers with Vizient and Provista staff, where conversations centered on suppliers’ business goals, shared priorities, innovative ideas, and opportunities to deliver greater value for clients.
There are two more Connect sessions scheduled for Wednesday, including acute care and children’s hospitals from 8 a.m. to noon, and Provista and independent community market accounts from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Both sessions will take place in Hall G.
Suppliers honored for their impactful partnership
Suppliers were recognized across 24 categories during Tuesday night’s awards ceremony for outstanding service and partnership in support of Vizient’s provider clients.
"Strong supplier partnerships are essential to helping healthcare providers deliver greater value for the patients and communities they serve,” said Vizient Spend Management President Simrit Sandhu. “We are proud to recognize these suppliers for their commitment to collaboration, innovation, and the impact they make for Vizient clients.”
STERIS won Supplier Partner of the Year, while CSL Behring took home Pharmaceutical Supplier Partner of the Year. US Foods was recognized as Summit Partner of the Year for its sustained collaboration and meaningful engagement with the Vizient Connections Summit community.
Additional winners were recognized in categories including Suppliers of the Year, the National Account Leadership Award, and Excellence Awards.
Read our news release to see the full list of winners and see photos from the event in the slideshow below.
Thank you to the many sponsors who make Vizient Connections Summit possible.
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