The Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum 2025 convened December 7-10 in Anaheim, California, with an urgent message for healthcare professionals: the time has come to speak up.
With approximately 2,400 attendees gathering at the Anaheim Convention Center, this year’s conference centered on a powerful theme—courage—as leaders confronted mounting political and economic pressures threatening healthcare quality and access.
A Call for Courage Amid Turbulent Times
Courage emerged as a defining theme throughout the IHI Forum 2025, appearing repeatedly in keynote addresses and breakout sessions. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a global nonprofit that has been advancing healthcare quality for over three decades, made courage one of its core values, and this year’s forum demonstrated why.
In her inaugural address as IHI President and CEO, Sylvia Trent-Adams urged attendees to embrace intentional collaboration during times of rapid change. During a fireside conversation with IHI President Emerita Maureen Bisognano, Trent-Adams emphasized that transformative change requires bold action.
Her message resonated throughout the conference halls: healthcare professionals must work deliberately across roles, departments, and systems to strengthen capabilities and solve problems effectively.
The new CEO’s call for collaboration wasn’t simply about working together—it was about empowering patients and communities to shape their own healthcare solutions. This approach, which she described as thinking globally while acting locally, reflects IHI’s commitment to bringing quality improvement directly to the communities that need it most.
Taking a Stand When Healthcare Becomes Political
One of the most discussed sessions at IHI Forum 2025 explored an uncomfortable reality: how healthcare professionals can take public stances on important health issues when these topics have become increasingly politicized.
Donald Berwick, the co-founder and president emeritus of IHI, facilitated discussions where attendees broke into groups to address challenges and share best practices.
Among the most popular topics were kindness and courage. The courage group specifically tackled the difficult question of speaking out publicly on healthcare policy issues. Participants acknowledged that different organizations have varying tolerance levels for risk, making this a complex challenge with no one-size-fits-all solution.
Berwick, a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, didn’t mince words in his closing keynote. He characterized recent healthcare policy decisions as deeply problematic, pointing to reductions affecting Medicaid, public health agencies, research institutions, and safety net programs.
The message was clear: during the pandemic, healthcare professionals focused on eradicating a biological threat. Today, leaders argue they must stand against policy decisions they view as harmful to patient care and public health.
Confronting Greed in American Healthcare
Beyond political challenges, IHI Forum 2025 addressed another uncomfortable truth: the role of profit-seeking in American healthcare. Berwick declared that quality improvement has become politicized and emphasized there is no room for greed in healthcare, reminding attendees that without healing, there is no mission.
This critique builds on themes from previous forums. The emphasis on combating what Berwick calls the monetization of healthcare reflects growing concerns about how financial incentives can compromise quality care. He advocates for healthcare leaders to recognize that sustainable quality improvement ultimately drives better financial outcomes—not the reverse.
The forum’s discussions around profit in healthcare weren’t about attacking individuals but rather examining systemic issues. When healthcare organizations prioritize short-term financial gains over long-term patient outcomes, the entire system suffers.
The IHI Forum 2025 Experience
Now in its 37th year, the conference featured 190 sessions, 450 presenters, and more than 550 poster presentations showcasing real-world improvement projects from healthcare organizations worldwide. The four-day event attracted nurses, physicians, patient advocates, executives, students, and quality improvement professionals committed to advancing healthcare delivery.
The conference agenda addressed healthcare’s most pressing challenges across multiple content tracks. Sessions covered improvement capability, patient and workforce safety, health equity, climate change’s impact on healthcare, and artificial intelligence integration.
Keynote sessions remained a hallmark of the forum, providing moments of inspiration and connection that challenge assumptions and spark innovative thinking. These presentations, combined with hundreds of concurrent sessions and poster presentations, equipped attendees with practical tools and strategies for leading change in their organizations.
Age-Friendly Care and Patient Safety Innovations
The Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative received significant attention, showcasing how more than 5,500 healthcare sites now provide the “4Ms” of age-friendly care to millions of older adults. These real-world examples demonstrated how systematic quality improvement can transform care for vulnerable populations.
Patient and workforce safety remained central to the forum’s mission. IHI introduced new professional development offerings including courses on human-centered resilience engineering, human factors in healthcare, and leadership essentials for patient safety. These programs represent IHI’s commitment to evolving safety practices beyond traditional approaches.
New credentials were also announced, including certifications for professionals specializing in age-friendly healthcare and clinical health equity. These credentials provide healthcare professionals with recognized qualifications demonstrating expertise in critical areas of modern healthcare delivery.
The Path Forward: Intentional Collaboration
As IHI Forum 2025 concluded, the message for healthcare professionals was clear but challenging. The path forward requires courage to speak up about harmful policies, wisdom to resist financial pressures that compromise quality, and commitment to intentional collaboration across traditional boundaries.
Trent-Adams’ vision of leaders working deliberately across roles and systems to share power and strengthen capabilities offers a roadmap. However, implementing this vision requires healthcare professionals willing to take risks, challenge the status quo, and prioritize patient welfare over organizational politics or financial pressures.
As healthcare continues evolving, the IHI Forum remains the premier global gathering for professionals committed to better care. The 2026 forum is already scheduled for December 6-9 in Phoenix, Arizona, where the conversation about courage, collaboration, and quality will undoubtedly continue.
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