JP Morgan 2026: Strategic Healthcare Market Takeaways

Our team spent the week at the JP Morgan 2026 conference engaging with industry leaders, health system executives, and financial sponsors. The prevailing tone was constructively optimistic, with participants focused on navigating reimbursement headwinds while reallocating capital toward defensible, data-driven platforms. These are the themes we heard most consistently, framed for operators and sponsors evaluating deployment and portfolio strategy in 2026.

Medicare Advantage and Value-Based Care

Stakeholders broadly expect continued challenges for VBC providers with direct Medicare Advantage exposure in 2026, particularly where VBC providers have assumed meaningful downside risk amidst budget uncertainty and accelerating pharmacy spend. In response, investor interest is shifting toward pharmacy-centric infrastructure—including PBMs, PBAs, and specialty pharmacy—and toward value-based care providers that can anchor PMPM-aligned models with measurable cost containment and clinical performance visibility. For sponsors, disciplined underwriting around risk corridors, pharmacy trend calibration, and contract durability remains paramount.

Health Systems and 340B Dependance 

Health systems continue to operate under tightening budget constraints and, in many cases, are increasingly reliant on the 340B program to sustain margin and fund strategic initiatives. At the same time, market participants recognize that policy recalibration of 340B—even if incremental—could materially affect health system financial profiles, warranting scenario planning and contingency structuring for JV, network, and purchasing constructs linked to 340B economics.

Behavioral Health

The sector remains weighed down by legal controversies and negative media coverage regarding alleged fraud, which is suppressing certain sale processes and driving valuation dispersion. That overhang may create a clean-slate entry point for new platforms untainted by historical allegations, particularly where compliance-forward operating models and outcomes documentation can be credibly demonstrated.

COPAs and Regulatory Scrutiny

Health systems operating under Certificates of Public Advantage (COPAs) are showing heightened sensitivity to public criticism and the (albeit remote) possibility of FTC inquiry or intervention. The regulatory temperature underscores the importance of robust governance, transparent community-benefit articulation, and proactive engagement strategies around competition policy narratives.

Artificial Intelligence and the Quantum Inflection

Participants anticipate that Quantum AI will move from concept to applied deployment in 2026, accelerating innovation across personalized medicine, advanced diagnostics, and clinical operations, beyond its initial pharmaceutical use cases. As is typical in healthcare, the regulatory framework is trailing the technology, with a near-term focus on privacy, data reliability, and governance, which will shape implementation timelines and risk allocation in commercial agreements. Expect a busy regulatory year as agencies iterate guidance around data integrity, model accountability, and patient protections.

Outlook and Engagement

Against this backdrop, we remain constructively bullish on well-structured transactions and thoughtfully capitalized platforms. We look forward to partnering with you on strategy, execution, and risk allocation as you pursue 2026 objectives.