Dual Priorities Reshape Healthcare Technology
Security has long been a top priority for healthcare organizations—a trend that is not expected to change given the prevalence of cyber threats.
However, as technology purchases continue to increase in complexity, healthcare organizations are now refocusing on operating efficiencies to improve outcomes in 2025—while mitigating risk. AI, which has helped other sectors improve productivity, is poised to become a key driver of operational innovation for healthcare in the years to come.
By 2023, AI had already reached the “peak of inflated expectations” in its hype cycle across many industries (Gartner, 2023). Healthcare has shown a comparative delay in the adoption of AI due to security and privacy concerns, regulations, and budget constraints as a result of extreme staffing shortages (HealthExec, 2024)—until now.
As healthcare technology decision makers prepare for AI adoption, they do so with support from patients and consumers. A survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center found that most Americans are both comfortable with AI in healthcare and recognize its potential benefits (Wexner Medical, 2024).
Now that AI has become a leading priority, reconciling its efficiencies with security is a final, imperative challenge for healthcare organizations and their solution providers.
AI is the top priority for 75% of healthcare organizations.
Security technology remains not far behind at 70.8%
“This is the year that healthcare organizations will tackle obstacles surrounding AI solutions, turning AI from an unknown risk into a valuable operational asset.”
INFUSE
Three obstacles to healthcare AI adoption
The INFUSE Insights Voice of the Buyer 2025 report indicates that 70.8% of responding healthcare organizations deem operating efficiency a primary desired outcome from technology investments in 2025.
This focus underscores the healthcare sector's drive to invest in AI. Use cases associated with this desire for better operating efficiency include the following:
Healthcare organizations must carefully navigate the complex landscape of technological solutions to ensure their investments align with their specific operational needs and constraints.
For many healthcare organizations, the decision to purchase certain technology to help achieve this goal will be based on a few key hurdles to overcome:
- Understanding purchase drivers behind investments like AI
- Maintaining security and privacy while embracing innovation
- Tackling interoperability, scalability, and other key issues
#1 Understanding purchase drivers behind investments like AI
Engaging buying groups at healthcare organizations is uniquely challenging due to the higher number of stakeholders involved in decision making than other sectors.
62% of healthcare technology purchases span more than seven decision makers, compared to an average of 50% among other organizations (Voice of the Buyer 2025). In addition, approximately 20% of healthcare organizations include more than 15 people throughout the purchase process for a technology solution.
Individuals within these healthcare buying groups have conflicting priorities, influence, tech knowledge, risk tolerance, and more. For example, IT professionals are by far the most engaged in identifying, researching, evaluating, and selecting vendors for technology solutions (Voice of the Buyer 2025). However, finance, legal, operations, security, and other business professionals also participate at key moments in the buying process, along with external consultants, partners, and subject matter experts (SMEs).
In response to this complexity, most healthcare marketers (67%) list creating more high-converting content assets as their top challenge in 2025. Yet, approximately half plan to develop content strategies focused on educating their target audience on pain points and solutions, indicating the prioritization of TOFU content (Voice of the Marketer 2025).
This challenge is compounded by the disconnect between marketers’ approach and goals, particularly considering the difficulty of building consensus within these immensely complex teams.
Sudden buyer drop-off can be triggered when the wrong contacts are engaged or messaging is misaligned. Therefore, it is essential for demand generation and sales efforts to leverage the latest data intelligence to adapt strategies accordingly.
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62% of healthcare technology purchases include >7 decision makers in the buying process
20% of healthcare technology purchases include >15 decision makers in the buying process
"Given the complexity of healthcare technology purchases, marketers must craft strategies that engage each stakeholder effectively, aligning messaging with their unique concerns and priorities. Doing so can reduce disengagement and guide these intricate buying processes towards successful conversions, even in the face of conflicting opinions and varying levels of influence within healthcare organizations."
INFUSE
#2 Maintaining security and privacy while embracing innovation
The emphasis on security and privacy for healthcare technology investments cannot be overstated. Healthcare decision makers are navigating high levels of risk due to the factors below:
- Sensitive patient data: The confidentiality and integrity of medical records, insurance information, financial information, and more
- The value of patient data: Stolen health records may sell up to 10 times or more than credit card numbers on the dark web (AHA, 2024)
- Patient safety: Cyber attacks on healthcare systems can directly impact patient safety and care delivery because of how interconnected IT systems and medical devices can be (AHRQ, 2024)
- Regulatory compliance: Breaches can result in a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation, among others, leading to severe financial penalties and reputational damage
As a result, technology purchases must pass stringent requirements to mitigate risk and address these issues. In many ways, AI now meets these standards and is even being leveraged to facilitate other technology purchases. For example, organizations utilizing AI threat detection, response, and recovery have lowered the damages from data breaches by an average of $2.2 million (IBM, 2024).
Before investing fully, healthcare organizations will need to know how to mitigate cybersecurity risks associated with their AI technologies. Below is a checklist to facilitate this process:
"In healthcare, security and privacy are more than checkboxes—they are the foundation of patient trust and organizational integrity. As AI matures, it's transforming into a powerful ally in our cybersecurity arsenal.”
INFUSE
#3 Interoperability, scalability, and affordability
Cloud solutions are the fourth most popular technology investment planned by healthcare organizations in 2025, according to the INFUSE Insights Voice of the Buyer report. AI is a main driver for this priority, as investments in cybersecurity and Cloud solutions are fundamental to providing the necessary infrastructure for AI implementation.
Cloud solutions support healthcare AI investments in several ways:
- Cloud platforms offer scalable computing resources and storage capabilities that can accelerate the development and deployment of AI and support robust security solutions and needs
- Cloud solutions can also significantly enhance interoperability for healthcare organizations by centralizing data storage and access, supporting standardized data formats, offering scalability and flexibility, and allowing for real-time sharing—as well as collaboration, and remote care
- Cloud technology can be a cost-effective approach to implementing and maintaining IT infrastructure, especially for healthcare organizations with varying workloads and budget constraints. Pay-as-you-go models, in particular, allow organizations to avoid significant upfront costs associated with purchasing and maintaining on-premises hardware and software
The enhanced technology capabilities that cloud solutions provide are numerous, however, they require clear objectives, system analysis, adoption of standards like Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), and usage of APIs for seamless data exchange.
“As healthcare organizations consider technology investments in 2025, they face the challenge of balancing security imperatives with the transformative potential of AI. The industry's shift toward embracing AI for operating efficiency while maintaining a strong focus on security marks a significant turning point. Success will hinge on addressing key hurdles such as understanding AI's specific applications, ensuring robust security and privacy measures, and leveraging complementary technologies like cloud solutions. This balanced approach will be crucial in shaping a more efficient, secure, and technologically advanced healthcare ecosystem in the years to come.”
INFUSE
Key takeaways
- Increasing operating efficiency is the primary motivation for healthcare technology investments in 2025. AI solutions are leading the charge, complemented by Cloud technologies.
- GTM teams must reconcile AI efficiencies with security risks to ensure successful integration
- Healthcare technology purchases can involve more decision makers than other industries, with 62% of purchases spanning more than seven stakeholders
- Buyer’s journeys must account for multiple personas and pain points to address the entirety of buying groups
- AI investments in healthcare are being motivated by a desire to automate and analyze data, as well as streamline and optimize systems and processes
- To remain competitive and deliver improved patient care, healthcare organizations must embrace this innovation while adhering strictly to cybersecurity standards and industry regulations
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