The AI MonitorEdge Report

Healthcare Firms Going Long on GenAI Investment

October 2024 Healthcare firms are bullish on AI investments, and most have already deployed GenAI in product innovation and customer service initiatives.

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    GenAI is shaking up major industries, especially those that rely on big data and advanced technology. In the healthcare sector, forward-looking firms are doubling down on their GenAI investments with a long-term growth perspective.

    PYMNTS Intelligence polled C-suite executives at healthcare firms generating at least $1 billion in annual revenue on their GenAI strategies. Nine in 10 expect a positive return on investment (ROI), and most plan to ramp up their investments next year. These executives are deploying the technology in a wide variety of key applications, including product innovation, fraud prevention and customer service.

    As GenAI becomes central to operations, healthcare businesses must ensure they have the right strategies in place.

    Healthcare Firms Going All In on GenAI

    Healthcare stands as one of the most promising and lucrative areas for GenAI-driven innovation. Ninety percent of the healthcare executives we surveyed report that their previous GenAI investments have already achieved a positive ROI. This is remarkable, considering technology investments tend to be slow and expensive to implement. On average, the respondents expect to fully embed this technology across their businesses in 7.4 years. Both results match the cross-industry averages.

    Notably, 59% of healthcare executives say they will increase GenAI investment in the next year. They are more bullish, on average, than their peers in other industries, with the overall cross-industry average at 52%. Scaling up investments in the technology is quickly becoming essential for healthcare players to keep pace with the competition.

    Greater Investment, Greater Rewards

    Healthcare firms are pouring serious money into GenAI. On average, the companies we polled put $2.7 million into GenAI implementation and services in the last 12 months. Importantly, a closer look reveals that the companies investing the most in GenAI tend to have the best ROI outcomes. The healthcare players reporting very positive ROI from their GenAI investments spent $6.4 million, on average. Meanwhile, those with somewhat positive ROI outlines invested an average of $2 million, and their peers with negligible benefits spent $1.5 million. These results highlight the need for companies to prioritize their AI strategies and invest accordingly.

    Prioritizing GenAI Innovation and Customer Service

    Healthcare firms are deploying GenAI for a wide array of purposes, both internal and customer-facing. Per the executives we surveyed, two areas stand out as frequent use cases. The first is the broad area of innovation of products and services. This can mean research and development, brainstorming and ideation, or other applications that fuel new areas of business. The second is real-time, automated responses to customer queries — in other words, better chatbots and customer self-help tools. Roughly 6 in 10 healthcare CFOs said their companies already use this technology for these two purposes. Other areas in which at least half the companies surveyed have implemented GenAI include data visualization and reports (55%), search and access to information (55%) and workflow automation management (51%).

    We also note that most healthcare firms are not yet deploying GenAI in certain areas. Most notably, only a few have rolled out GenAI for fraud detection or cybersecurity management. While this technology is advancing at a rapid pace, healthcare firms should approach these high-stakes areas cautiously and likely focus their GenAI investments on other areas, at least for the near future.

    Read More

    For more on AI’s role in business, dig into PYMNTS Intelligence’s studies and Trackers®. Check out AI-Enabled Payments Enhance Customer Options and learn What Generative AI Has in Store for the Retail Industry.

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    PYMNTS INTELLIGENCE

    PYMNTS Intelligence is a leading global data and analytics platform that uses proprietary data and methods to provide actionable insights on what’s now and what’s next in payments, commerce and the digital economy. Its team of data scientists include leading economists, econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the issues that define the future of the digital transformation of the global economy. This multilingual team has conducted original data collection and analysis in more than three dozen global markets for some of the world’s leading publicly traded and privately held firms.

    The PYMNTS Intelligence team that produced this report:
    Managing Director: Aitor Ortiz
    SVP, Data Products: Yvonni Markaki, PhD
    Senior Writer: Daniel Gallucci
    Senior Content Editor, Head of Reports: Matt Vuchichevich

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