3 shifts in digital health I’m watching right now as an industry CCO
My perspective on the consumer, AI, and market forces reshaping digital health.
TL;DR — The three shifts shaping the next 6 months:
Consumers have given up on reactive care. They're buying proactive, whole-person health outside the traditional system, and they're spending real money to do it.
AI is already the patient's first consult. 40M people ask ChatGPT health questions every day. Most digital health brands are not connected to that conversation.
Every brand with an engaged audience is a potential health brand. The infrastructure to launch one no longer takes 12 to 18 months. Most operators don't realize the math has changed.
There is no shortage of "top trends in digital health" lists out there. This isn't one. I'm focused on what's happening right now and what it means for what's next in digital health over the next 6 months or more.
These are the three shifts I'm personally watching. They’re not the loudest stories yet, but they're the ones I'm hearing from operators actually building in this market every week, and they’re changing how we advise clients and where we invest product effort.
If you're a founder, growth lead, or product strategist in digital health, here's where I'd be paying attention.
1. AI is the patient's first consult now, but it's disconnected from care
A few years ago, patients Googled their symptoms. Today, they're asking their favorite AI model
This is already mainstream. According to a January 2026 report from OpenAI:
More than 40 million people ask ChatGPT healthcare questions every day, and roughly 5% of all messages sent to ChatGPT globally are health-related
3 in 5 U.S. adults have used AI tools for healthcare or health questions in the past three months, with 55% using it to check or explore symptoms.
7 in 10 of those health conversations happen outside typical clinical hours, meaning patients are forming opinions when no clinician is in the room.
And the influence is real. A Tebra survey of 803 Americans found that 41% have sought a second opinion based on ChatGPT's health advice, and 20% have followed ChatGPT's advice instead of their doctor's recommendations.
The problem: this AI-driven first step is completely disconnected from the clinical experience that follows. The patient gets information from one system, then has to start over with a provider who has no context, no continuity, and no awareness of what the patient has already researched.
That disconnect is one of the most interesting gaps in the market right now.
Where this is heading
The brands that win the next five years won't be the ones that bolt AI onto the back office. They'll be the ones that bring AI into the consumer-facing experience in a way that stays connected to the clinical experience.
That means:
AI-assisted intake and pre-consult triage that a clinician can actually see and act on
Clinician-in-the-loop workflows where AI handles the routine and providers focus on judgment
A continuous patient record that travels with the patient across AI and human touchpoints
AI is already woven into how we run operations internally. The next industry leap is on the patient side: building a consumer-facing AI layer that connects directly into clinically compliant care rather than living in a parallel universe.
The bottom line: If your roadmap doesn't have "what role does AI play in the patient's first 10 minutes with us," that's the gap to close in 2026.
2. Consumers are done waiting for reactive care
The single biggest shift I'm watching is consumer behavior, and it's not subtle.
Patients in the U.S. are paying closer attention to their own health and demanding more proactive options. The numbers back it up:
46% of U.S. consumers now own a wearable, a 33 percentage point climb from 13% in 2015.
Wearables are expanding from single point solutions to more integrated tracking devices, even capable of diagnosing sleep apnea.
The U.S. wellness market is now worth more than $500 billion, growing 4 to 5 percent annually, with 84% of U.S. consumers calling wellness a top or important priority.
Only 16% of Americans are satisfied with the cost of healthcare, the lowest mark in Gallup's annual Health and Healthcare poll since 2001.
60% of consumers globally now say healthy aging is a "top" or "very important" priority, with younger generations buying preventative care earlier than ever.
The only relationship most adults have with their PCP is reactive: an annual visit, or worse, waiting until something is wrong to call.
I was one of those patients.
For years, my own healthcare was an annual visit with a PCP who had to skim notes to remember who I was, a basic blood panel, and cookie-cutter advice that could have been written for anyone.
As a father of two children, I decided that wasn't the version of healthcare I wanted.
I worked with a telehealth clinician to review test results from a 100+ biomarker panel through OpenLoop's Whole-Health Diagnostic program and we built a real plan. It included targeted peptides under clinical supervision, a nutraceutical regimen tied to the gaps the panel surfaced, and a diet built around heart health.
Once you've lived the difference between reactive and proactive care, the idea of going back to a once-a-year visit feels almost absurd. I want to be around for my family as long as I can. This is the shift I'm watching other consumers, fathers, mothers, and friends, make on their own.
What this means for builders
The brands winning right now are the ones meeting patients where they already are. Not asking patients to find them.
That looks like:
Clinical services layered into a gym membership
Whole-health programs offered through a chiropractic practice
Hormone or metabolic support introduced through a medspa
Chiropractors are a great example. Patients tend to see them proactively, not reactively, because they're accessible and trusted. That posture, combined with a clinical service extension, becomes a powerful entry point for whole-person care. The same logic applies to gyms, fitness studios, and other trusted consumer touchpoints expanding into wellness.
The bottom line: Convenience is now the care delivery strategy. If your model still assumes the patient will come to you, you're already behind.
3. Every brand with an engaged audience is a potential health brand
This is the one I have the strongest opinion on.
Most companies with an engaged customer base are clueless about how much value they're leaving on the table by not offering a clinical health extension to that audience.
That sounds aggressive. I mean it that way.
If you operate a gym, a med spa, a chiropractic practice, a fitness brand, an HSA program, an employer benefits platform, an online community, or even a consumer brand in an entirely different category, your customers are already buying health services somewhere. They're paying for GLP-1s, hormones, sleep diagnostics, peptides, and longevity programs. They just aren't buying those services from you.
And when a customer goes elsewhere for their health, they often take the rest of the relationship with them.
Why this matters more for the rest of 2026 than it did six months ago
Two things changed.
First, consumer demand for proactive health has crossed from "trend" to baseline expectation. McKinsey reports that 56% of U.S. consumers say they're prioritizing wellness more now than they did a year ago, and wellness now drives more than $500 billion in annual U.S. spend.
Second, the infrastructure to launch a clinically compliant brand has finally caught up.
It used to take 12 to 18 months and a small army to launch a virtual care brand:
Clinician network
Multi-state licensing
EHR
Pharmacy and labs
Clinical compliance
24/7 patient support
Marketing infrastructure
That's why most operators with great audiences referred their patients out instead of building. That math has changed.
We built Launchpad specifically to compress that timeline. It's an AI-native tool that lets a brand stand up its own clinical health offering on top of our existing infrastructure: an NCQA-accredited clinician network, 50-state coverage, pharmacy and lab partners, 24/7 patient support, and the clinical compliance framework that makes the whole thing safe for the patient.
The point isn't that launching a health brand is easy. The point is that the operational and compliance burden no longer needs to sit with the brand owner.
Three questions to ask this quarter
If you have a consumer audience that trusts you, ask:
What health services are my customers buying somewhere else right now?
What would it look like to keep that relationship under my brand instead?
What would I have to build versus partner on to make that possible?
Most operators dramatically overestimate the answer to question three.
The bottom line: That gap between perceived and actual build-cost is the most misunderstood part of the market heading into the back half of 2026.
Bonus insight: peptides are powerful, but they aren't a miracle drug
For the operators who made it this far, one more thing worth your attention.
Peptides are everywhere in the conversation right now, especially as the industry watches which Category 2 peptides might shift to FDA Category 1. Much of the coverage frames them as the next miracle drug.
They aren't. And brand owners considering a peptide offering need to be strategic about how they enter this space.
Peptides do offer meaningful clinical potential. They serve specific, strategic purposes around cellular optimization, performance, and longevity. But the broad human-based research isn't yet there to support the breathless claims showing up in consumer marketing. And the regulatory line between what's eligible for patient-specific compounding and what isn't can move quickly.
That makes peptides a category where the upside is real, but the execution risk is high.
The brands that get peptides right will share three traits:
They build under licensed clinician oversight, not as a direct-to-consumer commodity
They watch the regulatory environment closely, adhere to current FDA guidance and adjust their strategy as policy evolves
They resist marketing language that overpromises what the science currently supports
The brands that chase the headlines instead are going to learn an expensive lesson. Done right and done compliantly, peptides can be a meaningful addition to a longevity-forward portfolio. Done wrong, they're a reputational and regulatory liability that's hard to recover from.
What to do in the next 90 days
If I had to give an operator four specific moves to make before the end of 2026, these would be it:
Audit where your customers are buying health services today. Run the actual numbers. You will be surprised.
Define your AI patient-facing strategy. Not internal ops. The patient's first 10 minutes.
Pressure-test your build-vs-partner assumption. The infrastructure landscape has changed faster than most roadmaps account for.
Build your peptide plan today, so you’re ready for when policies shift.
The companies that take these shifts seriously are going to look very different by this time next year in 2027.
Ready to launch your virtual care brand in a day?
OpenLoop powers the technology, clinician network, and operational support behind some of the most recognized virtual care brands in the country. Whether you're a digital health company scaling into new categories, looking to expand in peptides compliantly, or a consumer brand exploring your first clinical offering, we can help you launch on top of clinically compliant, turnkey infrastructure servicing over 500,000 patients per month. All under your brand.
Talk to our team about what a white-label telehealth partnership could look like for your organization.
*This content is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, please consult a licensed attorney.