Healthcare companies are drowning in a “sea of sameness,” says veteran comms pro

I recently held a workshop with over 50 health tech leaders on the value of storytelling in the age of AI. As homework, I asked each participant to submit a short video talking about their company. No polish, just a short form, off the cuff, 30-second video. 

The exercise was a near flop. Only two submissions came in by the deadline. By the time I managed to get a quorum, here was the result:

Despite the variety of business models, products, services and go-to-market strategies represented in the room, everyone’s description sounded just about the same. And if you’ve been around the healthcare block, this isn’t foreign. Take a walk around the HLTH or HIMSS show floor. Scan through your LinkedIn feed. Every company is innovative and transforming healthcare. We’re all leveraging AI to improve outcomes. And we’re definitely all thrilled about our newest utilization management tool and AI-driven revenue cycle management

I've been obsessed with healthcare communications for the better part of two decades, most recently leading communications at Headspace before hanging my own shingle. I've helped brands and leaders navigate their most visible moments, from funding rounds to product launches, broadcast interviews, events and marketing campaigns. The through-line across all of it has been the same problem: we’re drowning in a "sea of sameness." This isn't new to healthcare – we've all been competing against the same thesaurus for some time. But AI has poured gasoline on it, making it far too easy to create polished, jargon-heavy content.

The companies that win in healthcare aren't always the ones with the best product. They're the ones that tell the clearest story about why they matter. In an AI-flooded market, a strong story may be the most defensible advantage a healthcare company has left.