Wild Health Canberra 2026


The Great Prevention Pivot

We talk incessantly about it, but politics, system momentum, tribal thinking and vested interests keep combining to stymie any meaningful progress towards transitioning our system to prevention. Times up. What are the key blockers in play and how can we start going around them to actually start ‘The Great Prevention Pivot’?

Tuesday June 16th – Wednesday June 17th 2026, Park Hyatt Canberra

A half-day workshop and one-day summit, followed by the inaugural Health Services Innovation Awards gala dinner.

Brought to you by Health Services Daily, Wild Health and the AIDH

  • Healthcare in the harshest light of our rapidly approaching demographic train crash
    • The unfolding reality of aged care, mental health, the NDIS, chronic care, hospitals and the capacity of community healthcare services
    • Workforce crash
  • Identifying the critical inflection points in the intersection of technology, policy and funding
  • Deconstructing key system dynamics to understand points of potential intervention
  • Our hospital problem
  • Practical ideas to meaningfully move the dial on prevention:
    • Federal vs State system management opportunity
    • New models of care that are scaling and having impact
    • Learning from PHI innovation
    • Private vs public system integration
    • Optimising the evolving sharing by default infrastructure
    • Inverting the hospital centric model with connectivity
    • Workforce and AI
  • Case studies of success

Tuesday 16 June

DECONSTRUCTING PREVENTION WORKSHOP

A professionally moderated healthcare leadership workshop looking at what keeps blocking meaningful movement to a prevention system paradigm, and, what strategies might help in moving us all forward

12:00pm – 4:30pm

  • Why we aren’t investing properly in prevention?
  • Context: The first and last 1000 day paradigm
  • Prevention deconstructed:
    • Understanding and managing the politics of federation
    • New care models in a line from treatment to prevention
    • Patient data sharing, ownership and prevention
    • Scaffolding – ‘sharing by default’ et al
    • Why private providers are leading prevention innovation
    • Managing medical tribalism
    • Learning from overseas models like Mayo
  • Reframing the prevention paradigm for a sellable political ROI
  • A draft plan in the form of a sector whitepaper

Moderating Group TBA


Welcome Sponsors Space Drinks

5:00pm – 7:00pm

Wednesday 17 June

FULL-DAY LEADERS CONFERENCE


Registration

8:20am – 9:00am


Welcome

9:00am – 9:10am


Train Crash

Our healthcare demographic time bomb in all its ugly glory.

Simon Kuestenmacher, Co-founder, The Demographics Group

9:10am – 9:40am


Time Bomb

Simon Kuestenmacher vs TBC Senior Health Policy Officer, Commonwealth

Moderated by Jeremy Knibbs, HSD Publisher

9:40am – 10:10am

What are the inflection points of opportunity in our changing demographic for our healthcare leaders and policy makers? How much time do we have? What can’t we avoid and therefore need to plan better for?


Model of Care Case Study 1: Virtual Care

10:10am – 10:20am


The relevance of the first and last 1000 days

Speaker: TBC

10:20am – 10:40am

  • The nuts and bolts of money and real prevention
  • A vision for context
  • Now the reality check

Morning Tea

10:40am – 11:10am


Interview: TBC, Mayo Clinic

11:10am – 11:50am

The road to prevention according to Mayo . US challenges vs Australia. What can Australia learn and apply from a highly stressed system?

Interviewed by Jeremy Knibbs, HSD publisher


Model of Care Case Study 2: Vertical Integration in the Private and NFP Sector

11:50am – 12:00pm


Panel: PHIs are pivoting and innovating, why not the public sector?

12:00pm – 12:40pm

  • Why private health insurance is pivoting so big to prevention
  • PHI is going around the public funding model. What does that mean for the system?
  • The pros and cons of a set of big new vertically integrated players in our healthcare system
  • How far can they go without funding?
  • Can the public sector take advantage of these first movers?

Model of Care Case Study 3: Private-Public Partnerships

12:40pm – 12:50pm


Lunch

12:50pm – 1:50pm


Interview: Senior Federal and State Health Politician

TBA

Interviewed by XXX

1:50pm2:20pm

Topics:

  • Can we see the state-federal hospitals blind spot in terms of moving us to prevention
  • How state-federal co-operation works, and might work better
  • A straw man for a vertically integrated state run, commonwealth guided Mayo vertically integrated model
  • Extracting ourselves from he said, she said the Groundhog Day system funding paradigm

Scaffolding and plumbing update: When the rubber hits the road on the HIE, MHR upgrade, consent and other government adventures in legislation and infrastructure

2:20pm – 2:40pm

Speakers: Daniel McCabe, Simon Cleverly, et al


Panel:

Prevention with a touch of seismic disruption

2:40pm3:10pm

  • AI and workforce, especially the clinicians
  • The end of asymmetric knowledge in medicine
  • AI, the patient and prevention
  • An empowered patient
  • Out of control AI
  • Safety… over time
  • Sentient AI and medicine

Moderator: Dr XXXX


Model of Care Case Study 5: Community Health Hubs

3:10pm – 3:20pm


Afternoon Tea

3:20pm – 3:50pm


Model of Care Case Study 6: ERx

3:50pm – 4:00pm


Beware the changing psychology of a digitally aware healthcare consumer

4:00pm – 4:30pm

Speaker: TBC and Sarah Barter


Audience Q&A

4:30pm – 4:55pm


Wrap

4:55pm – 5:00pm

Key points from the day summing up.


Wednesday 17 June

7pm

GALA DINNER

Inaugural Health Services Innovation Awards

7:30pm – 11:00pm

  • Gala dinner and awards ceremony
  • Celebrating innovation in technology, policy and leadership in the delivery of health services

Award categories include innovation in:

  • New Care Models
  • PHNs
  • Hospital Networks
  • Community Provider (GP, Allied, other)
  • Policy (state and federal)
  • Funding Innovation (state, federal, private, not for profit)
  • Clinical Information Management Platform
  • Analytics/Business Intelligence
  • Private/Public partnership
  • Cloud integration and/or design
  • Startup/Scaleup
  • Patient Experience/Advocacy
  • Patient app
  • Workforce optimisation
  • AI integration
  • Leadership (open to govt, public, private, etc)
  • Most Innovative Organisation (govt, private, public, NFP)

Stay tuned for entry criteria and judging process


Hediyeh VahdatCEO and Co-Founder of Linéaire Projects
Dr Robert MarshallChief Strategy Officer, St Vincent’s Health Australia
Dr Tim SeniorGP | Medical Advisor Aboriginal Health, RACGP
Sidney ChandrasiriChief Executive, Australian Institute of Health Executives
Ken Hillman AOEmeritus Professor of Intensive Care UNSW
Rachel DavidCEO, Private Healthcare Australia
Simon KuestenmacherCo-Founder and Director, The Demographics Group
Marc MillerManaging Director, Health Systems Advisory
Travis GrantManaging Director, Australia Health, Accenture
Anja NikolicCEO at Australasian Institute of Digital Health
Associate Professor Alam YoosuffChair, Murrumbidgee PHN
Bettina McMahonCEO, Healthdirect Australia

Program, Content and Panelist Enquiries
Talia Meyerowitz-Katz: talia@medicalrepublic.com.au

Hyatt Hotel, Canberra – A Park Hyatt Hotel

Location

120 Commonwealth Ave, Yarralumla ACT 2600

https://www.hyatt.com/park-hyatt/en-US/canbe-hyatt-hotel-canberra-a-park-hyatt-hotel

Public Transport

The Hyatt Hotel is 9 Kilometers away from Canberra Airport (CBR), and 5 Kilometers away from Canberra Railway Station.

Parking

Self-Parking

The hotel also offers self-parking. Parking spots for people with disabilities is situated in the undercover car park and conveniently close to the lift, which has direct access to guest-room levels. Wheelchair access is also available at the banquet entrance of the hotel.

Daily $30.00

Street Parking

There are 200 off-street parking spaces surrounding Hyatt Hotel Canberra – A Park Hyatt Hotel, with fees Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Parking is free on Saturday and Sunday.

Daily $15.50s

Valet Parking

Hyatt Hotel Canberra – A Park Hyatt Hotel offers valet parking.

Daily $55.00

EV Charging

Complimentary EV charging stations for guests are available in the hotel car park.

Getting Here

Registration Enquiries
Talia Meyerowitz-Katz: talia@medicalrepublic.com.au

Program, Content and Panelist Enquiries
Talia Meyerowitz-Katz: talia@medicalrepublic.com.au

Partnership Opportunity Enquiries
Michelle O’Brien: michelle@wildhealth.net.au