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
DECONTRUCTING 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
9:00m – 9:10am
Train Crash
9:10m – 9:40am
Our healthcare demographic time bomb in all its ugly glory.
Speaker:
- Simon Kuestenmacher, Co-founder, The Demographics Group
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
- The nuts and bolts of money and real prevention
- A vision for context
- Now the reality check
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?
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
1:50pm – 2:20pm
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
2:40pm – 3:10pm
- 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: Adam Ferrier, Thinkerbell 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
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
