Healthcare organizations are accelerating their use of Artificial Intelligence, and adoption is spreading beyond large systems to mid-size and smaller practices. According to a Chase survey of business leaders released in July, more than half of healthcare firms, 51 percent, are expanding their use of Artificial Intelligence, while 41 percent are experimenting with different tools. Liz Wilke, chief economist of business intelligence for Chase, said health care has many use cases that are well suited for these technologies, and discussed the trend on the latest episode of Healthy Bottom Line, a podcast from Chief Healthcare Executive.
Workforce strain is a key driver. Many providers are grappling with persistent hiring challenges, and Wilke noted there is strong demand and scarcity for talent across healthcare. Organizations are leaning on Artificial Intelligence to ease staffing gaps and help retain employees by automating time-consuming administrative and bureaucratic tasks that contribute to burnout and attrition. By offloading routine work, Wilke said these tools can free clinicians and care teams to focus on high-value, human-centered tasks that are essential to quality caregiving.
Adoption is likely to deepen as health systems look to support staff amid projections of a worsening physician shortage in the coming years. With more physicians reaching retirement age, Wilke said organizations will have opportunities to bring in younger, digitally savvy talent that is more comfortable integrating new tools and less tied to legacy processes. That generational shift could further accelerate Artificial Intelligence deployment, helping small and mid-size practices improve their bottom lines and maintain operations that serve their communities.
Cybersecurity is rising as a parallel concern. More than one in five healthcare organizations, 22 percent, cited cybersecurity as a top worry in the Chase survey. Wilke said advancing technology is creating more pathways for scams, fraud, payment schemes, and data breaches, increasingly affecting even small practices. She added that many providers now have personal experience with attacks, and that threats are filtering down to smaller organizations, making security a stronger industry-wide priority. In a wide-ranging conversation, Wilke also touched on tariffs, economic and policy uncertainty, and why many healthcare businesses remain optimistic about growth, encouraging listeners to check out the full discussion on the podcast.
