According to the PwC Global Health Report, successful health organizations of the future will not only add digital tools to existing processes but will fundamentally rethink their operating models. Isolated, episodic care is likely to be replaced by integrated patient journeys that form a continuous system from prevention and diagnosis through treatment to follow-up.
Changing public expectations
Public expectations point toward prevention and continuous care: PwC’s survey finds that 65% of respondents want a healthcare system that places greater emphasis on prevention than on treating illness. At the same time only 26% are satisfied with the current foundations of digital health services, indicating a clear need to develop patient journeys and care models.
Dr. Remete Gergő, PwC Hungary’s healthcare expert, said: “The future of healthcare does not start in the clinic but in homes, workplaces, on wearable devices and through data. The institution-centered mindset is gradually being replaced by a human-centered, continuous and predictive approach.”
AI as a new infrastructure
The report emphasizes that artificial intelligence already goes beyond administrative support: AI is being used to identify risks, detect early deterioration, optimize patient pathways and support preventive interventions. The real value of AI is increasingly measured by its effect on patient outcomes and overall system performance.
That requires adequate data governance, IT and security backbones, which in many systems still need development. Technological advances will allow automation of routine and administrative tasks, freeing clinicians to focus on complex decisions, professional validation and patient communication. PwC introduces the concept of "algorithmic capacity": future system performance will depend not only on clinicians and hospital beds but also on the ability to process data quickly and effectively.
“The strongest health systems will not necessarily be those that collect the most data but those that can turn available information into better decisions the fastest and most securely. Data become a strategic resource, but they only create real value if handled transparently and safely. The success of digital health is therefore as much a question of trust as of technology,” the expert added.
New sites of care
Patients now expect the same simple, fast and personalized service experience from healthcare that they receive in other sectors. While 72% of respondents received healthcare in a traditional clinic in the past year, only 34% would consider that their primary site of care in the future. Routine check-ups, chronic care management and preventive services are increasingly likely to take place in home-proximate, community, virtual or hybrid settings, while hospitals concentrate on complex, acute and resource-intensive interventions.
Putting the patient journey at the center
The report states that the patient journey will become the organizing unit of care: care will be treated as a unified process from prevention through diagnosis and treatment to follow-up. This shift is particularly important given aging populations, the spread of chronic conditions and the growing number of patients living with multiple diseases.
This change in perspective also affects financing: with the rise of value-based models, the focus shifts from the volume of interventions to the outcomes achieved for patients. In the future, the key metric will be less the number of tests, visits or hospital days and more whether patient condition improved, deterioration was prevented and health gains were sustained long-term.
Data as a decision-support resource
PwC highlights data liquidity—secure, standardized and interpretable flows of health data—as a precondition for prevention-centered, AI-enabled healthcare. In practice this means that information from clinical documentation, imaging systems, payer databases, wearables and home monitoring solutions can be linked and directly incorporated into care processes.
At the same time, boundaries between healthcare and wellness services are blurring: digital technologies allow people to actively monitor and shape their health outside the care system. PwC also cites an international figure that 70% of respondents use some form of health technology on a monthly basis.
Quality of life as the goal
PwC’s experts note that global trends point in the same direction for Hungary: data-driven care organization, digital patient journeys, home-proximate care models and prevention will grow in importance. One of the biggest near-term challenges will be organizing available resources so patients receive appropriate care faster, more simply and more personally.
The ultimate aim shifts from merely extending lifespan to increasing years lived in good health. Analyses based on WHO data indicate that, on average, people spend nearly ten years living with some disease or functional limitation. Therefore emphasis moves to preserving independence, functionality, social participation and work capacity for as long as possible. Home and community care forms, assistive technologies, rehabilitation services, digital monitoring systems and multigenerational community models will play key roles in achieving better quality of life and more healthy life-years.
Methodology
The PwC Global Health Report draws on analyses by PwC’s global experts, industry data and several international PwC surveys. The study aims to provide a comprehensive picture of structural trends shaping the health sector from 2026 onward, examining links among data-driven healthcare, artificial intelligence, changing consumer expectations, value-based care models and system-level solutions that support longer, healthier lives.
