Business at OECD Health Forum: “Healthcare’s Competitive Future: From Reactive Systems to Economic Catalysts”

On 3 December 2025, Business at OECD hosted the 2025 edition of the Health Forum under the theme “Healthcare’s Competitive Future: From Reactive Systems to Economic Catalysts.” As part of our Stronger Together campaign, this flagship event marked the culmination of a year-long global dialogue on the economic value of health, building on discussions at our Latin American Roundtable in Costa Rica, our B7 Side-Event in Canada, and our B20 Side-Event in South Africa. The Forum brought together over 20 OECD Ambassadors, close to 200 senior representatives from business, government, and the OECD, including leading voices from healthcare, life sciences, and policymaking circles, to position health as a strategic economic investment for resilience and sustainable growth.

Our business speakers outlined several recommendations. To position health as an economic priority and make the economic case for investing in health, speakers underlined reinforcing stronger, healthier populations directly contributes societies productivity as well as long-term fiscal stability. To shift from reactive to proactive care, we encouraged the OECD to explore how early detection, preventive strategies, and evidence-based interventions can improve outcomes while optimising resources, among others. To build climate-smart and resilient health systems, speakers emphasised strategies to reduce environmental impact as well as equip the workforce with future-ready skills are essential. Finally, to re-imagine better health investment, innovative financing approaches, such as co-investment and prevention-focused funding, can generate measurable economic and social returns.

The OECD's Deputy Secretary-General Mary Beth Goodman delivers open remarks at our event.

UnitedHealth Group's Chief Physician Dr Wyatt Decker delivered a keynote speech at our event.

Left to right: Our Health Committee Chair and UnitedHealth Group's Olga Mironenko Stampfer, Roche's Tamara Schudel, Novartis' Michele Mestrinaro, MEDEF's Christine Le Page, USCIB's Whitney Baird and the OECD's Mark Pearson.

Left to right: Optum's Rebecca Richmond, the OECD's Francesca Colombo, the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry's Caroline Brooks, Johnson & Johnson's Carla Cartwright and Pfizer's Diane Thomson?.

Left to right: Opella's Patricia Pascual, the OECD's Kumi Kitamori, and Bayer's Dr Mike Devoy.

Left to right: the International Federation of Ageing's Dr Jane Barratt, the OECD's Glenda Quentini, and Sanofi's Charles Wolf.

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine's Mark Hicken delivered introducing remarks in the afternoon.

Left to right: Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine's Mark Hicken, Global Self-Care Federation's Greg Perry, Philipps' Patrick Jeurissen, Office for Health Economics' Lotte Steuten, Sanofi's David Elvira Martinez and the OECD's Frederico Guanais.

In this year’s event, we re-affirmed our commitment to advancing health as an economic imperative and fostering stronger public-private collaboration to build resilient, high-performing health systems. This dialogue will continue to inform our engagement with the OECD Health Committee and global partners as we work towards smarter, sustainable health policies.