Executive priorities
As health systems navigate the risks associated with rapid regulatory and political changes, they are focusing on driving efficiency and scale strengthening, modernizing their core technology, and implementing next-generation technology with a clearer path to ROI. Healthcare leaders are driving towards three general goals this year.
Increasing brand by attracting and retaining patients with a modern experience that is convenient, timely and affordable.
Improving care outcomes by transforming large amounts of data to enable faster and better clinical decision-making.
Operating intelligently as a business with data-driven insights, overcoming workforce challenges and scaling talent with automation.
CIO initiatives
The IT organization must ensure that the business is set up for successful adoption or expansion of technologies that will drive towards these 2025 goals. CIOs and their teams are balancing innovation with renewed investment in these four key areas of their core business.
Infrastructure modernization
To support the digital transformation required for automation, AI or any next-generation digital initiative, existing technology investments must be modernized. Health systems are often operating on end-of-life technology that doesn't or can't scale to meet the requirements that these modern digital tools present. Additionally, leveraging modern cloud experiences to run these applications, although crucial, is a challenge for an industry that has traditionally been cloud-avoidant. As a result, IT teams are striving to develop modern hybrid cloud and enterprise architecture strategies.
Data strategy
With the average health system generating over 137 terabytes of data per day, data readiness is the greatest barrier to the success of any AI or digital initiative. Managing and preparing data efficiently requires advanced data governance, data management and enhanced interoperability. Unlocking value from that data requires secure access, consumption and storage. To keep pace, organizations are increasing investments in modern data lakes, enterprise data platforms, storage and advanced analytics solutions.
Cybersecurity
Healthcare has some very specific security vulnerabilities including large supply chains with many blind spots, legacy infrastructure and data that is highly valuable to bad actors. It's no surprise that over 38 percent of health systems plan to increase cyber spending and allocate 6-12 percent of their IT budget to cybersecurity. These investments will focus on things like zero trust architecture, threat detection and response, and recruiting talent. Organizations are also beginning to mitigate risks created by end-users by increasing training and education programs for clinicians and staff.
AI in healthcare
The recent surge of interest in AI, fueled by its democratization with GenAI, has brought the healthcare industry to an inflection point. Data shows that 70 percent of healthcare organizations are already using AI, and 87 percent of healthcare leaders believe it could be the answer to the burnout crisis in the industry. Additionally, physicians, who have typically been AI-reluctant, continue to demonstrate an increase in adoption, which is now at 68 percent. Organizations are eager to define an AI adoption strategy and are prioritizing use cases for clinical decision support – like imaging and care plan insights – as well as workflow automation for clinicians and staff and business intelligence.
Conclusion
As health systems move ahead in 2025, their priorities reflect a commitment to innovation and resilience. By addressing workforce challenges, strengthening cybersecurity and readying for next-generation digital and AI solutions, healthcare leaders are working toward a more efficient, equitable and sustainable healthcare system for 2025.
