Excitement for AI’s potential in health care is growing, survey finds

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to command attention from senior leaders in health systems as executives search for ways to leverage the technology, according to the Top of Mind for Top Health Systems survey published by the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM) at UPMC.

It is the second year in a row that executives cited AI as both the most exciting technology in health care and the most improved, underscoring the durability of AI as a potentially transformative technology.

“Health system leaders are understandably excited about the potential for AI to significantly benefit health care by automating time-consuming manual tasks and freeing up clinicians to focus more on patient care,” said Robert Bart, M.D., chief medical information officer for UPMC, which is a founding partner of the CCM. “But the excitement also must be balanced with a commitment to high-quality care for patients and protections of their data and privacy.”

Produced in partnership with KLAS, a health care-focused research firm, the Top of Mind survey collected responses from representatives at 55 U.S. hospitals and health systems in March 2024. More than 90% of respondents were C-suite and other senior executives, primarily in information technology, operational and administrative roles.

Further highlighting the growing momentum around AI, the technology category was cited as most exciting by 85% of survey respondents. Additionally, among the examples of AI that were identified by executives, generative AI was the most cited. Generative AI emerged in 2022 and is being applied to clinical documentation and other tasks.

While AI was cited as most-improved, health system executives also identified telehealth and virtual care technology as showing progress, signaling refinement of those solutions since the COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid adoption by health systems.

In addition to AI’s improvement and excitement, the eighth annual Top of Mind for Top Health Systems survey identified patient care as the challenge in health care that can best be addressed with technology. Clinical leaders at health systems are exploring solutions such as remote patient monitoring, decision support technology and tools to enhance continuity of care as ways to improve patient care.