![\"Emcee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Business-of-Healthcare-Summit7.png\")
Emcee Michael D. Hartline, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Business, speaks during the FSU Business of Healthcare Summit. (Photo by Colin Hackley)\t\t<\/p>\n\t\tEmcee Michael D. Hartline, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Business, speaks during the FSU Business of Healthcare Summit. (Photo by Colin Hackley)\t\t<\/p>\n
Shevaun Harris spoke for a moment not as a top state government official but as a patient and consumer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just got fussed at by my doctor because I didn\u2019t get my labs done, and I was like, \u2018Honestly, I went in, and there was a three-hour wait. I can\u2019t sit and wait for three hours,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI think we really need to think about how we can have things more conveniently designed for consumers so that they put their healthcare first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris, secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, thereby summed up the focus of last week\u2019s 2026 Business of Healthcare Summit at Florida State University: to discuss and propose solutions to the most pressing issues facing the healthcare industry and to improve healthcare for Florida\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n
The summit featured Harris among about 20 distinguished speakers, panelists and moderators from industry, government, academia and the nonprofit sector. Panels emphasized operational excellence, including leadership, strategy, workforce, finances and technology. Discussions on the latter included the imperative and implementation of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is not going to completely take over, but over time, those who can leverage it will be empowered, and that will give them the opportunity to do more,\u201d said panelist Matt Feeney, an executive director and healthcare industry specialist at J.P. Morgan.<\/p>\n
The annual event, which drew a standing-room-only crowd for a third straight year, is a product of FSU\u2019s Herbert Wertheim College of Business<\/a> and an extension of FSU Health,<\/a> the university\u2019s bold initiative to bring together scholars, educators and clinical partners under one umbrella to transform healthcare in Florida. FSU Health served as the presenting sponsor of the 2026 event.<\/p>\n Michael D. Hartline, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Business and summit emcee, emphasized the university\u2019s increased healthcare-focused programs and research and its growing FSU Health infrastructure, including construction of a modern research center on the main campus of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and plans for an acute-care hospital in Panama City Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud at Florida State University to be a partner in this region\u2019s future,\u201d Hartline told attendees. \u201cWe look forward to opening doors of these new facilities and a new era of healthcare that will benefit families and communities for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stacey Patterson, FSU’s vice president for research, discusses the FSU Health initiative with Jeremy Slaga, FSU’s new vice president and chief clinical operations officer. (Photo by Colin Hackley) Sabin Bass, president and CEO of Capital Health Plan, participates in a discussion as part of a panel about operational excellence in healthcare (Photo by Colin Hackley).The \u2018philosophy\u2019 of FSU Health <\/p>\n In a conversation about healthcare education and research at FSU, Stacey Patterson, the university\u2019s vice president for research, touted the potential and capacity of FSU Health.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been describing it as a philosophy \u2026 about anything and everything that FSU can do, should do and will do to improve health and healthcare in this region,\u201d she said. \u201cIt includes everyone who has healthcare interests across our campus, and that\u2019s one of the beautiful things about working at a place like FSU, where we have so many disciplines that come to play, to really impact all across Florida and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy Slaga, FSU\u2019s new vice president and chief clinical operations officer, who joined Patterson for the conversation, trumpeted the university\u2019s strength in research and innovation and said multiple colleges and programs bring \u201cthat backbone\u201d to FSU Health.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThere are a tremendous number of great things that we can package and partner on, and align with new partners, and then avail that to the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Marsha Hartline, associate dean for student affairs in the FSU College of Nursing, moderated a panel on operational excellence in healthcare and asked panelists to offer advice to students seeking roles in healthcare administration. Attendees included about 30 graduate-student volunteers who served as FSU ambassadors, answering visitors\u2019 questions about the college and university.<\/p>\n \u201cAlways be inquisitive,\u201d responded Ross Nelson, who has earned medical and MBA degrees. A principal and leader of KPMG\u2019s Healthcare Deal Advisory and Strategy Sector, Nelson said: \u201cLook it up, get smart on it, and then ask a more advanced question. Know your market from a market perspective. Be hypothesis-driven. Always think about what question you\u2019re trying to answer, what data you\u2019re going to use, what are the outputs or what are the outcomes, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n In general, Nelson said, physicians and healthcare executives will \u201creact more positively if you \u2026 show them where the data leads you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Marsha Hartline, associate dean for student affairs in the FSU College of Nursing, moderates a panel on operational excellence in healthcare. (Photo by Colin Hackley)Panelist Michael van Meurer, senior solutions engineer at Snowflake, answers a question from the audience during a panel conversation moderated by Jonathan Fozard, FSU’s chief information officer. (Photo by Colin Hackley)The FSU Business of Healthcare Summit attracted a standing-room-only crowd for a third straight year. (Photo by Colin Hackley)AI: Topic of the day <\/p>\n Artificial intelligence emerged as a constant summit theme, including on Marsha Hartline\u2019s panel. In response to a question from the audience, J.P. Morgan\u2019s Feeney noted efforts of major pharmacy-based retailers to include small clinics in their stores.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd there\u2019s been a retraction,\u201d Feeney said. He said he thinks consumers haven\u2019t been comfortable with the concept.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the same way that folks approach AI,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wants to sign up to have a complete \u2018teledoc\u2019 visit, or a chatbots visit, where you\u2019re just talking to an AI model about what\u2019s wrong with you and what you think you need from a care delivery perspective. Maybe someday we are going to be comfortable with that. It\u2019s just not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Fozard, associate vice president and chief information officer at FSU, moderated a panel on data infrastructure, interoperability and artificial intelligence. He asked panelists what companies should consider before deploying AI.<\/p>\n Jeff Couch, co-founder and chairman of Ruvos, a healthcare data solutions company, said organizations should establish IT or data governance systems, which he called the \u201cscaffolding that will give you the efficiencies you need to move and adapt quickly, without putting your organizations at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you\u2019ve done that,\u201d Couch said, \u201cwhat does the end look like? Work backwards from the end, and say, \u2018How do we measure success?\u2019 And put those key factors in place for everything you do, your procurements. Are your vendors able to meet your measures of success? And are they going to be held accountable?\u201d<\/p>\n In a discussion about AI-readiness, Eyal Darmon, a managing director specializing in data and AI at Accenture, noted an \u201cacross-the-board\u201d skills gap.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough people who are AI-ready,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Workers who boast AI knowledge need to refine their skills for their new industry. And, in general, he said, \u201cthere needs to be a concrete focus on reskilling the workforce of today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n