EY-Parthenon’s Abhay Bangi: Healthcare sector moving into more experiential, regionally mobile future

He explores how healthcare in Asia is evolving and how organisations can manage innovation, regulation, expansion, and future challenges.

Asia has become a global hub for medical innovation in recent years, driven by a tech-savvy middle class that expects better healthcare experiences and a growing ageing population. At the same time, its focus has now shifted from rapid growth to smarter, more strategic decisions amidst rising costs.

Against this backdrop, key industry leaders like EY-Parthenon Asean and Singapore Life Sciences and Healthcare Leader Abhay Bangi has become a recognised industry voice. Bangi, a strategy and operations expert with over 20 years of consulting experience, has advised corporates, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds on market entry, growth strategies, and major transactions.

He also speaks frequently at industry events and writes about trends, innovation, and business challenges across Asia. In his capacity as a judge at the Healthcare Asia Awards 2026, Bangi uncovers strategic insights into how the healthcare industry in Asia has evolved and how it can navigate future disruption, focusing on balancing innovation with stability, overcoming expansion challenges, and preparing organisations to stay competitive in a rapidly changing landscape.

With over two decades in strategy and operations consulting, how have you seen the healthcare industry in Southeast Asia (SEA) evolve, particularly in terms of innovation and market disruption?

Over the past twenty years, healthcare in SEA has shifted from being largely hospital-centric and capacity-driven to becoming more patient-centric, data-enabled, and innovation-led. Many healthcare organisations are moving beyond simply adopting digital productivity tools to using technology to fundamentally redesign patient care, from personalising patient journeys and creating AI-native workflows to supporting clinical decision-making and delivering more proactive, outcome-driven models of care.

A major driver of disruption is changing consumer expectations, particularly for patients. Patients now expect the same level of convenience, transparency and integrated (digital and physical) engagement from healthcare as they do from other industries. At the same time, the dynamics between healthcare payers and providers are evolving, with both sides pushing for greater transparency, measurable outcomes, and cost-effective care models.

These factors are accelerating the shift toward value-based healthcare and driving new partnerships and operating models across the region.

How should healthcare operators balance innovation with operational stability when rolling out new technologies?

Healthcare operators balance innovation and operational stability best when they treat technology adoption as a managed capability rather than a one-off upgrade. This means taking a phased, risk-based approach, starting with small-scale pilots in controlled environments before scaling system-wide. This is particularly important in healthcare, given the implications for patient safety and health outcomes.

Equally crucial is co-designing solutions with frontline clinicians and administrators early in the process to get their buy-in and support. This helps to ensure that new technologies enhance existing workflows rather than disrupt them unnecessarily.

Pairing innovation with robust enablement, which includes training, playbooks and clear data standards, ensures that technology is embedded smoothly into daily operations. As well, strong governance with clear decision rights, defined success metrics and structured change management can help operators introduce new technology tools whilst maintaining patient safety and care, staff productivity, regulatory compliance and business continuity.

Having advised a healthcare government body on regulatory transformation, how can regulators enable innovation without sacrificing patient safety?

Regulators can support innovation whilst protecting patient safety by first creating a regulatory system that is agile, risk-based and data-driven. Emerging technologies should be assessed proportionately to their level of risk, with higher risk areas receiving deeper scrutiny. Strengthening horizon-scanning enables regulators to stay ahead with emerging technologies and opportunities so regulations can evolve in step with new care models.

In addition, investing in digital and analytical capabilities, such as improved data integration, automation, and AI-assisted review, can help regulators manage the growing demand and complexity of healthcare innovation.

Lastly, clear governance, robust conflict-of-interest safeguards, and strong post-market surveillance ensure that as innovation accelerates, public trust and safety remain non-negotiable. For the end-users of the system, transparent engagement with industry helps innovators navigate requirements confidently without lowering regulatory standards.

What are the biggest hurdles healthcare organisations face when attempting regional expansion and how can they be mitigated?

When healthcare organisations expand regionally, one of the biggest hurdles is to find a balance between bringing forward what they do best, such as globally recognised clinical standards, strong operating discipline, or premium brand positioning, and adapting these strengths meaningfully to the expectations, culture, and realities of each local market. What works in highly structured, mature markets cannot be replicated wholesale in markets where patient pathways, price sensitivities, and care-seeking behaviours are different.

Successful operators invest time to understand what local communities value, how care is accessed and the source of their patient pools, instead of assuming that demand patterns will mirror those of their home market. These operators bring their core capabilities and clinical governance but adapt their approach with local insight, flexible operating and staffing models, and strong in-market leadership. This ensures market expansion delivers real value and a competitive advantage, rather than building a collection of disconnected assets across markets.

What must healthcare companies do today to prepare for the next wave of disruption in the region?

The next wave of disruption in SEA’s healthcare sector will look different from the last. Where previous waves focused on digitising existing processes, the coming shift will be defined by the convergence of real-time intelligence, decentralised care delivery, and rising patient/consumer and payer expectations. To stay ahead, healthcare providers need to deepen three strategic capabilities: data maturity and clinical excellence, workforce transformation, and ecosystem collaboration.

Firstly, data maturity and effectiveness go beyond collecting information. Operators must be able to turn data, AI and predictive analytics into everyday decision-making that drives clinical excellence and outcomes. Active performance tracking and calibrating care delivery to evolving standards ensures operators stay ahead of competitors, manage cost pressures and remain transparent with their pricing models.

Secondly, workforce transformation means equipping clinicians and operational teams with the skills and confidence to work alongside automation and AI-enabled tools, as well as new digital workflows, whilst redesigning roles and governance to ensure technology enhances rather than overwhelms frontline care and supports a service experience that meets today’s ‘always-on’ consumer expectations.

Finally, ecosystem collaboration will also become increasingly important. Future disruption will come from integrated platforms, payer-provider partnerships and cross-border care networks, making partnerships essential to scale new models of care and deliver long-term value.

Preparing early means investing in flexible infrastructure, modern data foundations and skilled talent. It also requires a willingness to rethink legacy business models so healthcare providers can operate confidently in a more intelligent, decentralised, and outcomes-driven healthcare environment.

As a judge for the Healthcare Asia Awards 2026, what notable emerging industry trends have stood out to you amongst the submissions?

Submissions reflect a strong momentum in intelligent digital transformation. Many highlighted progress in areas such as the AI-enabled diagnostics, automation and patient administration. At the same time, healthcare operators are also investing in their workforce so that clinicians can work confidently alongside AI-enabled tools and within increasingly intelligent care ecosystems.

‘Patients at the centre’ has been an ongoing trend, but there is now a clear elevation of the patient experience as a strategic priority. Investments in seamless care journeys, redesigned admission and discharge processes, real-time feedback mechanisms, and hospitality-informed service models show that operators are increasingly embedding empathy, communication, and convenience into clinical delivery.

Finally, cross-border care and medical tourism ecosystems continue to expand. Several operators presented sophisticated international patient strategies, including multilingual support, concierge navigation, structured referral pathways, luxury recovery environments and digitally enabled care continuity for international patients. There is a shift from opportunistic medical tourism to deliberate, system-level, cross-border healthcare delivery.

Taken together, these trends illustrate a sector moving into a more connected, experiential, and regionally mobile future, where scale, service excellence, and cross-border relevance are redefining leadership in SEA’s healthcare.