AI and empathy and the surprising insights I gathered from AVBCC 2025In October, I had the privilege of attending the 15th annual Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) meeting in New York City, where leaders from across the healthcare ecosystem—clinicians, employers, payors, and innovators—gathered to explore the business end of cancer care through the lens of value, access, and patient experience. The conversations were both inspiring and sobering. We discussed the broken state of the generic drug market, the persistent challenges of defining and measuring “value,” and the widening gap between scientific advancement and system-level implementation. AI was a recurring theme. Its potential to transform HUB services, streamline patient navigation, and accelerate research was undeniable, but so was the reminder that empathy remains at the heart of care. What struck me most was the duality of progress and reality. Despite all our innovation, affordability and access still stand in the way. For every breakthrough molecule, there’s still a patient struggling to park their car or understand their bill. The best quote of the conference summed it up perfectly: “Soon my bot will be talking to the payor’s bot.” The future is coming fast, but we can’t lose sight of the human beings it’s meant to serve. As I reflect on these sessions, I’m left asking: Can AI truly humanize the care journey or will it widen the empathy gap? How can employers and providers collaborate to catch cancer earlier and lower costs? And what would it take for “value-based” care to mean the same thing to every stakeholder involved?
Explore more with me in my full takeaways in this issue’s article (below). Cheers,
Harry
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