AMCHAM’s 13th Healthcare Conference was held on September 19th , 2025, at T-Hub in Hyderabad. In the inaugural session Mr. Murali Krishna, Co-Chairman – Hyderabad Chapter, AMCHAM and Country Head, Providence India, highlighted that the U.S. healthcare industry is at a pivotal point — globally recognized for excellence but facing major headwinds like workforce shortages, burnout, and uneven adoption of technology. Key themes included:

• Innovation and ecosystem: Leveraging talent, technology, and partnerships across payers, providers, pharma, medtech, and start-ups to co-create solutions.
• AI and digital transformation: Embedding AI responsibly into workflows to make care more predictive, preventive, and personalized, while building trust and ensuring ethical use.
• Collaboration and partnerships: Driving innovation at scale requires collective strengths, humanizing care, and new partnership models between health systems and technology players.
• Future priorities: Making healthcare affordable, equitable, and accessible, with innovation rooted in compassion, efficiency, and resilience.

Mr. Krishnan emphasized that with the right use of technology, collaboration, and ecosystem strengths, healthcare can be transformed into a more connected, compassionate, and resilient system.

Ms. Laura Williams, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad thanked AMCHAM’s Hyderabad Chapter and highlighted the strong U.S.–India healthcare partnership. The U.S. brings innovation in biotech, medtech, and digital health, while India contributes scale, talent, and entrepreneurship. Together, they can deliver affordable, accessible, and effective healthcare. Key themes included:

• Innovation and AI: Applying AI and digital health responsibly to improve outcomes.
• Non-communicable diseases: Joint research and care models for diabetes cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
• Start-ups and ecosystem: Hyderabad’s start-up ecosystem is central, with affordable diagnostics and AI-powered solutions.
• Workforce development: Training and partnerships to address healthcare talent shortages.
• Collaboration: Partnerships between U.S. and India, startups and larger firms, to scale innovation.

The core message was healthcare for all — inclusive, innovative, and collaborative between the U.S. and India.

Mr. Marut Setia, Sr. VP, Indegene, drew on decades of experience with AI in healthcare, stressing that adoption is stronger than often perceived. However, technology alone doesn’t guarantee results — lab success may fail in real-world settings, as shown by TB detection and radiation dosage projects. The key challenge is silos: tools and protocols often don’t integrate across systems, limiting real impact. His core message was that AI can help address workforce gaps and boost efficiency, but true progress requires interoperability, governance, and decision-support systems that connect technology, hospitals, and clinicians — all working toward better patient outcomes.

Mr. Vikram Kumar, CEO, Multiplier AI focused on the “data bluff” in AI — most AI projects fail not because of algorithms but because of poor data quality and governance. He argues that while the U.S. leads in AI and India in data processing, success in healthcare depends on combining these strengths. Key points:

• Fix data first: incomplete or incorrect data leads to faulty AI outcomes.
• Data audits: continuous, automated checks are essential for accuracy.
• Automation over manual QC: manual quality control is insufficient for scale and compliance.
• Regulation readiness: with stricter AI and data laws (EU, US), real-time monitoring and compliance are critical.

Mr. Kumar’s core message emphasized strong, well-governed data is the foundation for successful healthcare AI — and U.S. India collaboration can make it happen.

Panel Discussion 1: Tackling NCDs with Innovation and Collaboration was moderated by Mr. Ratan Jalan, CEO/Founder, Medium Healthcare Consulting with featured speakers Mr. Amol Kodag, Sr. Director Engineering R&D, MEIC and Dr. Rahul Medakkar, CEO, Star Hospitals. The panel highlighted the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions. It stressed how late diagnosis, lifestyle risks, and systemic gaps — like incentives favoring treatment over prevention — are worsening outcomes. Addressing this requires collaboration across stakeholders, cultural shifts toward preventive care, insurance reforms, and technology-driven innovations like wearables, remote monitoring, and AI diagnostics.

Panel Discussion 2: Reshaping Healthcare with Digital Tools was moderated by Mr. Ramaesh Rathinam, Sr. Director Engineering, Medtronic with Mr. Ritesh Dogra, VP Growth Markets, Multiplier AI, Mr. Ketan Jajal, CEO, 3d Surgical and Dr. Chinnababu Sunkavalli, Surgical Oncogolist, Yashoda Hospitals. The panel focused on how collaboration and digital tools are reshaping healthcare. Speakers shared real-world examples of innovation, from AI-assisted cancer screening in rural areas and digital pathology to 3D-printed implants designed across borders. Key themes included:

• Adoption of digital health accelerated by COVID, with AI, robotics, and telesurgery becoming part of clinical practice.
• Collaboration and trust as critical ingredients — hospitals, start-ups, medtech, pharma, and doctors must work together around real-world problems, not just ready-made solutions.
• Bridging inequalities with technology which can reduce the digital divide through mobile apps, remote screening, and localized solutions, though surgical access and affordability remain challenges.
• Diagnostics transformation: AI is improving radiology, pathology, and personalized medicine, supporting clinicians with alerts and precision insights.
• Future promise: Personalized, predictive, and proactive healthcare, with more care delivered at home, and hospitals focusing on complex procedures.
• Challenges ahead: Over-reliance on AI or “Google doctors” leading to mistrust, medico-legal disputes, and the need for cultural mindset shifts. 

With collaboration, trust, and patient-centered innovation, digital health can transform outcomes — but without them, technology risks deepening divides and creating new challenges.

Panel Discussion III: AI in Healthcare: Improving Outcomes & Addressing Gaps was moderated by Ms. Dipanwita Ghosh, Principal, Zinnov, Ms. Preetha Kumar, Executive Director Data Science, Providence India and Mr. Suno Chacko, Country Head, AMPS Healthcare. They highlighted how AI is delivering real-world healthcare outcomes —from infection prediction to digital diagnostics — by leveraging data quality, clinician collaboration, and localized models. Success depends on:

• Quadruple aim: better outcomes, reduced burden, sustainable ops.
• Governance and compliance: PHI safeguards, monitoring, certifications.
• Collaboration: clinicians, engineers, product teams working together.
• Workforce readiness: structured training, cultural sensitivity.

AI is moving beyond pilots to practice, but adoption requires trust, compliance, and continuous learning.