In a new report on health artificial intelligence adoption, researchers at the Arch Collaborative took a wide-angle view of the evolving AI landscape rather than focusing on a specific type of health IT functionality.
WHY IT MATTERS
Departmental adoption is the most common strategy healthcare organizations are taking to implement AI systems that better balance financial constraints and workforce limitations, according to the KLAS Healthcare AI 2025 report.
"AI is featured in the majority of current conversations around healthcare and is being integrated into many healthcare solutions," KLAS researchers said.
They offer several examples of common AI use cases in the report:
- AI-driven analytics for patient engagement.
- AI imaging analysis to support diagnosis.
- Deep learning to understand patterns to support diagnosis and treatment planning.
- Generative AI for ambient speech tools that reduce documentation burden.
- Machine learning for risk analyses and predictive use cases.
- Natural language processing of medical records for faster surfacing of relevant patient data.
AI is also used for clinical trial matching, surgical systems and robotic prosthetics, as well as in revenue cycle management, according to insights from 256 respondents interviewed in January about their current adoption of and future investment plans for AI.
By job title, executives, directors and managers were most likely to say that they used AI directly in their work.
Respondents also indicated that electronic health record vendors "remain central to current AI adoption in healthcare," recognizing the benefit of integrating AI automation and documentation tools into their clinical workflows, according to researchers.
Not unexpectedly, the respondents expressed that their organizations would continue to invest in AI with strategic partners.
"The priority for most is establishing strong AI governance structures so they can appropriately balance innovation with regulatory compliance and vendor capabilities, with established partners like Epic, Microsoft and Oracle Health playing key roles in AI expansion across healthcare operations," the KLAS researchers said.
THE LARGER TREND
The use of health AI has been growing. In 2023, KLAS found that healthcare organizations were generating excitement about generative AI, though many did not yet know where they would use it.
Since that time, uses in HIT have prompted KLAS to add several new categories related to AI for its Best in KLAS 2025 report.
ON THE RECORD
"Healthcare organizations commonly worry about being behind in the use of AI, but the reality is that most organizations are still early in developing their AI strategy, figuring out which AI solutions to use and building governance around the AI tools they are implementing," KLAS researchers said.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.