AMCP Keynote Speaker Vin Gupta Says Future of Healthcare Is Digital | AMCP Annual 2025

At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s annual meeting in Houston, Vin Gupta, M.D., MPA, former chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy, delivered an urgent message during his keynote address this morning: the U.S. healthcare system must innovate to survive.

His keynote, titled "The Future of Health Care: How Your Organization Will Be Impacted," explored how the healthcare industry can deliver more care with fewer resources. He noted the triad of an aging population, a shrinking healthcare workforce and rising healthcare demands. To bridge these gaps, he emphasized the need for digital solutions.

Gupta predicted that by the mid-2040s, there will be a demographic decline in the United States entailing an increase in older Americans without an increase in life expectancy.

Vin Gupta, M.D., MPA

“We're going to get older, and this has a lot of consequences,” Gupta said. “When we think about a taxable base for entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, we're going to have fewer people, in relative terms, contributing to that.”

There is also an ongoing healthcare worker shortage, meaning the country may not have enough help to care for an aging population.

Along with an aging population, U.S. society is also becoming more digital and divided.

“These are things that we don’t necessarily always talk about in the day-to-day because we're focused on patient care as we should be, but I think all of us in the room need to also be really mindful of all these factors, as this is going to impact all of us,” Gupta said.

Gupta shared an example of how the U.S. healthcare system is already underprepared, showing a clip of a C-130 bomber being used as an ICU transport system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can't spend the $500 million that it would require us to sustain this capability,” he said.

He shared ideas about how U.S. healthcare should adapt, focusing on digital innovations. He said that generative artificial intelligence and at-home diagnostic devices can help make healthcare more convenient and keep patients healthy.

For example, he showed studies that showed patients dislike having their blood pressure taken or making appointments for CT scans, but that those are both things that are sometimes necessary.

As potential alternatives, he showed examples of smart mirrors and even a toilet seat called The Heart Seat that takes vitals throughout the day.

“Somebody will roll their eyes and say, ‘Well, gosh, patients just need to suck it up and put that blood pressure on their arm.’ They don't. They do not do it,” he said.

Gupta noted that the largest issue with these technologies is trust.

Pharmacists, nurses and doctors are the most trusted communicators of health information, he said.

“If we make it more faceless because we're trying to do the right thing and increase access, the question is, will there be utilization? I don't know. I don't think we're having that conversation nearly enough," he said.