5 Innovators Take Center Stage at the AHA Leadership Summit

At the recent 2025 AHA Leadership Summit, the Advancing Innovation Showcase offered a rapid-fire glimpse into the future of care delivery, workforce support and digital transformation. Featuring five venture-backed companies, the session highlighted innovations built for direct, measurable impact in hospitals and health systems.

The showcase introduced practical solutions to pressing challenges like clinician burnout, emergency department (ED) crowding, patient engagement and closing gaps in behavioral health and men’s health care. Each presentation offered candid perspectives on potential hurdles and real-world applications.

Posterity Health: Reimagining Men’s Health through Virtual-First Care

Matt Lenz, chief growth officer of Posterity Health, kicked off the session by addressing a long-overlooked population: men. With 87% of men facing a health concern and 40% lacking a primary care provider, Posterity Health built a virtual-first platform focused on fertility, hormone therapy and preventive care across a man’s life span.

Posterity’s model combines telehealth, at-home diagnostics and in-person options — allowing patients to access care within 72 hours. The platform has delivered more than 32,000 appointments with an 85+ Net Promoter Score. For employers and health systems, the return on investment is compelling: Early male fertility evaluation can cut time to conception and reduce the need for expensive interventions like in vitro fertilization.

Therify: Closing the Behavioral Health Gap after Discharge

Warren Sadler, CEO of Therify, laid bare the crisis in post-discharge behavioral health care. Up to 50% of patients with behavioral health needs are discharged with no follow-up care, which could lead to costly readmissions and poorer outcomes, Sadler said. Therify’s continuity model solves this with smart matching and AI-powered coordination, connecting patients to in-network, culturally aligned therapists within five days of discharge.

Integrated directly into hospital workflows, Therify supports care teams, manages reminders and follow-ups, and provides closed-loop feedback to clinicians. The result: reduced readmissions, freed inpatient capacity and an 83% appointment show rate driven by identity-aligned care that builds patient trust.

Loyal Health: Turning Digital Engagement into Measurable Growth

Nanette Oddo, CEO of Loyal Health, addressed a reality that health systems can’t ignore: Patients expect seamless digital experiences and will switch providers if they don’t get them. With one in five patients reporting poor digital engagement as a reason for leaving their providers, Loyal’s platform helps hospitals transform clicks into conversions.

Loyal’s Care Activation Platform powers provider search, scheduling, CRM outreach and reputation management, all integrated with real-time electronic health record (EHR) data. In one case study, a large health system replaced more than 20 vendors with Loyal’s centralized tools and increased self-scheduled appointments by 46%. Across its clients, Loyal has supported more than 6 million provider searches and 70,000+ scheduled appointments.

Mednition: AI That Saves Lives And Reduces Burnout

ED crowding and nurse burnout can impact patient safety and health system finances. Deena Brecher, chief nursing officer at Mednition, introduced KATE AI — a nurse-first, real-time risk intelligence platform that integrates directly into clinical workflows with no extra steps.

KATE continuously scans EHR data to flag high-risk patients and alert care teams in real time. The platform has helped hospitals reduce ED length of stay by 10%, cut inpatient stay for sepsis patients by 24 hours and increase high-risk patient identification by 93%.

Pieces: Lightening Clinician Workloads with Voice-to-Voice AI

Ruben Amarasingham, M.D., CEO of Pieces, shared how documentation burdens are driving clinician burnout. Physicians spend nearly seven hours completing EHRs during an eight-hour clinic day, with 81% reporting that documentation interferes with care, he said. Pieces' AI platform acts as a virtual assistant by transforming quick voice conversations into ready-to-sign notes, discharge summaries and task updates.

From inpatient to discharge, Pieces supports clinicians with real-time summaries and SafeRead, its AI-powered review system that ensures documentation accuracy. The result: a 31% reduction in cognitive load and 80% to 92% physician adoption.