Gen AI is rapidly transforming the healthcare industry. To understand the changing landscape, McKinsey has surveyed healthcare leaders since 2023 about their perspectives and approaches to gen AI (see sidebar, “Research methodology”).
The latest survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2024, found that 85 percent of respondents—healthcare leaders from payers, health systems, and healthcare services and technology (HST) groups—were exploring or had already adopted gen AI capabilities.
This survey targeted 150 US healthcare leaders across subsectors and builds on similar samples of 100 leaders from the first and second quarters of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2023. From the responses, four distinct themes emerged.
Stakeholders in the healthcare industry are seeking ways to create value and reduce costs across domains, providing ample opportunity for the use of gen AI. Despite the complexities of evolving regulation, risk compliance, and internal capability gaps, responses from this recent survey suggest that more payers, health systems, and HST organizations are progressing to implement use cases across functions. What’s more, many healthcare leaders are looking to fill the gaps in their capabilities by pursuing partnerships that allow them to bring in outside talent while maintaining flexibility and customization in AI solutions. Partnerships with hyperscalers that have data capabilities could help ensure successful implementations.
Respondents’ early use cases with gen AI have focused on improving administrative efficiency, addressing IT and infrastructure gaps, and increasing clinical productivity. As competencies mature, more use cases could become worthwhile, including external engagements with patients or members and quality-of-care use cases, which could further improve patient and member experiences overall. Leaders agree that risk management in implementing AI is important, and considering an AI governance approach will be important to advance these efforts safely.
So far, organizations that have developed their capabilities and appropriately targeted their gen AI efforts have had the most success achieving at-scale implementation. The development of gen AI remains important to success in the healthcare space, and leaders can consider how to position their organizations for the future. Successful implementations will require a value-driven strategy, strong delivery capabilities, and robust organizational management.
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