Engage, Disrupt, Transform: Reflections from HIC 2025
By Kate Wylie

Shifting priorities in healthcare innovation
This year’s Health Innovation Community (HIC) conference in Melbourne carried the theme ‘Engage, Disrupt, Transform’. With the healthcare system under sustained pressure from rising demand and rising costs, the conversations felt more urgent than in previous years.
If last year was about AI and interoperability, this year it was AI and productivity that dominated. That shift says a lot about where healthcare is right now: looking for practical ways to ease workloads and drive efficiency.
Dr Norman Swan’s plenary captured this mood, moving away from hope, admiration and inspiration of last year’s plenary and instead asking the harder question: When will we actually see change, and what will it take?
AI hype and the ‘AI abyss’
What stood out to me was how everything is now branded as AI. Last year, Microsoft’s new end-to-end stack and then-emerging products like Heidi Health’s clinical scribes were the novelty. This year, even advanced analytics solutions were rebadged under the AI umbrella sometimes less about the technology itself, and more about being part of the conversation.
It reminded me of the dashboard era (circa 2015): dashboards promised clarity, but soon came “death by dashboard,” where we weren’t sure what data to look at or when. I suspect we’re approaching a 2025 version what I’d call the “AI abyss”. This time leaders will be flooded with good solutions and still be left asking: Which one actually makes healthcare more affordable, more accessible, and a better place to work?
Interoperability and progress
Amid the AI hype, interoperability remained a strong thread. Not just as a technical challenge, but as an essential foundation reinforced by the government’s Health Connect pathway and calls from across the sector to make integration and standards a non-negotiable.
Bettina McMahon from Health Direct (soon to be 1800 Medicare) reminded us that while we still have a long way to go, we can’t let perfect be the enemy of progress. The significant effort and investment behind My Health Record has made Australia the envy of many other countries even though it’s not meeting our expanding and evolving needs.
The real test of innovation
My reflection upon leaving is … the opportunity now is clear. AI can free up clinicians to be more human, improve workflows and give time back to patient care. But it won’t mean much if it’s disconnected, duplicative or driven by hype.
The real test for every innovation is simple: does it make life better for the people we care for, and for those delivering that care? If we can keep that question at the centre, then engaging, disrupting, and transforming will feel less like buzzwords and a lot more like progress.

Engage, Disrupt, Transform: Reflections from HIC 2025

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