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, GREAT DEBATE DINNER, and one-day LEADERS summit
Brought to you by
- 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
- The new elephant that just broke down the door
- Are AI plays like ChatGPT Health going to shift information access and power towards patients away from where its always been
- Should government and providers move to work with AI more than govern and control it?
- Practical ideas to meaningfully move the dial on prevention
Tuesday 16 June
Registration
11:30am – 12:00pm
Setting the scene panel: Has AI just flipped our approach to prevention?
12:00am – 12:40pm
Enjoy a buffet lunch while learning from this expert panel setting the scene for discussions to come.
Speakers:
- Dr Zoran Bolevich, CEO, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Bettina McMahon, CEO, Healthdirect
- Luke Slawomirski, Health Economist
- Alison Roberts, Commissioner, Productivity Commission
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
12:40pm – 4:30pm
- Why we talk about prevention but don’t invest in it or imbed it in strategy – why?
- Can we connect new care models, funding and our emerging AI landscape much better to prevention now?
- Can we reframe prevention for a sellable political ROI?
- How?
Presented and Moderated by Accenture Health
Sponsors Drinks
5:00pm – 6:00pm
THE GREAT DEBATE
6:00-8.00pm
Join us for drinks, grab a plate of food and a seat, and listen our first HSD The Great Debate.
Patients should be able to easily and sensibly connect their My Health Record, and their GP and hospital held data to ChatGPT Health and Claude Health whenever they like?
Moderator: Tom Cashman
Affirmative team: ChatGPT (on screen) , Dr Max Mollenkopf (TBC), Bettina McMahon (captain)
Negative Team: Claude Health (on screen), AI or Booking Engine Vendor leader (TBC), Dr Michael Wright (captain)
Wrap: Tom Cashman
Wednesday 17 June
FULL-DAY LEADERS SUMMIT
Registration
8:20am – 9:00am
Welcome
9:00am – 9:10am
What would Dr Kerri Parnell say about ChatGPT Health, current health policy and prevention?
Publisher – Jeremy Knibbs
MC – Tom Cashman
Train Crash
Our healthcare demographic time bomb in all its ugly glory.
Simon Kuestenmacher, Co-founder, The Demographics Group
The horrific truth of how our demographics are unfolding over the next 10 years in terms of our ability to meet the demands of health, age and disability care.
9:10am – 9:40am
Defusing a Time Bomb
9:40am – 10:10am
Panelists:
- Simon Kuestenmacher (The Demographic Group)
- Luke Slawomirski (Health Economist, Visiting Lecturer, Imperial College, London)
- TBC Senior Health Policy Officer, Commonwealth
Moderated by Jeremy Knibbs, HSD Publisher
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: Aspen Medical
10:10am – 10:20am
Panel: the first and last 1000 days
10:20am – 10-40am
- Why the first and last 1000 days are so important to prevention strategy
- The nuts and bolts of money and real prevention
- A reality check and a vision
Speakers:
- Anna Baker, HammondCare (TBC)
- Dr Alam Yousef,GP, Chair Murrumbidgee PHN and Aged Care Specialist
- Janet Zagari, CEO ACT Health (TBC)
Moderated by Hediyah Vandat, CEO and Co-Founder of Linéaire Projects.
Morning Tea
10:40am – 11:10am
Interview: DR John Halamka, 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?
Dr John Halamka is one of the world’s foremost clinical experts on the use of data in health transformation, AI in health, and digital health. He is president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, a digital initiative that brings together solution developers, data partners and healthcare service providers to transform healthcare.
Interviewed by Jeremy Knibbs, HSD publisher.
Model of Care Case Study 2: Vertical Integration in the Private and NFP Sector
11:50am – 12:00pm
Prevention Workshop FINDINGS and TAkeaways
12:00pm – 12:30pm
- Strategies to better imbed prevention in strategy
- Defining ROI for and funding prevention better
- Prevention in the context of provider and consumer side health AI
- Audience feedback protocols for whitepaper.
Speakers:
- Dr Michael Wright, President RACGP
- Simon Cleverly, DOHDA, digital policy
- Rachel David, CEO of Private Health Australia
- Luke Slawomirski, Health Economist
Moderated by Travis Grant, CEO of Accenture Health
Model of Care Case Study 3: Cardihab
12:40pm – 12:50pm
Lunch
12:50pm – 1:50pm
Insurers are pivoting and innovating fast, why not the public sector?
1:50pm – 2:20pm
- 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?
Speakers:
- Dr Rachel David, CEO, Private Healthcare Australia
- Dr Karen Price, Director, HCF Australia
- Marc Miller, Managing Director, Health Systems Advisory
- Dr Rob Marshall, Chief Strategy Officer, St Vincent’s Health Australia
- Chris Blake, CEO, St Vincent’s Health Australia
Interview: Senior Federal and State Health Politician
TBA
2:20pm – 2:30pm
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 Clinic type, vertically integrated model
- Extracting ourselves from he said, she said the Groundhog Day system funding paradigm
- What about AI?
Where does Prevention fit into our our “sharing by Default” program
2:30pm – 2:50pm
Speakers:
- Daniel McCabe, DOHDA, Head of Digital and Medicare
- Dr Sidney Chandrasiri, CEO, Australian Institute of Health Executives
Model of Care Case Study 4: Streamliners
2:50pm – 3:00pm
Afternoon Tea
3:00pm – 3:25pm
Panel:
Consumer vs provider side AI and prevention
3:25pm – 3:55pm
- Have ChatGPT and ClaudeHealth turned our digital health plans upside down?
- Is their a goldilocks position on governance that govt and providers need to contemplate?
- Provider side AI vs consumer side integration
- AI and our provider workforce
- Safety… over time
Speakers:
- Dr Jill Freyne, Healthcare Industry Lead, AWS
- Bettina McMahon, CEO, Healthdirect
- Anja Nikolic, CEO, Australasian Institute of Digital Health
- Dr Matt Vickers, Clinical Director, Eucalyptus
Moderated by Associate Professor Emily Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, EKology Group
Panel:
The implications of AI as a consumer side prevention platform
3:55pm – 4:30pm
- Should the government work with the AI vendors rather than try to control them too much
- Should we make the My Health Record and our GP and hospital patient data silos more immediately accessible to patients directly to suck into their AI app
- Optimising AI and the big consumer side apps – the booking engines
- Where else could AI stick its nose in digitally to improve prevention
- Who is going to pay for all of this?
Moderated by Jeremy Knibbs, HSD Publisher.
Speakers:
- Dan Stinton, CEO, Health Engine (TBC)
- Daniel McCabe, First Assistant Secretary of Medicare Benefits and Digital Health Division, DOHDA
- Dr Elizabeth Deveny, CEO, Consumers Health Forum Australia (TBC)
- Dr Richard Taggart, Chief Executive, eHealth NSW (TBC)
- Bettina McMahon, CEO Healthdirecct (1800MEDICARE)
Audience Q&A
4:30pm – 4:55pm
Wrap
4:55pm – 5:00pm
Key points from the day summing up.
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
