2025: The ‘great tech reckoning’ and the ‘real’ AI revolution
Healthcare has no shortage of challenges and technologies that CIOs and other healthcare IT leaders at hospitals and healthcare systems can wrap their arms around. And 2025 will be a year of all kinds of changes and trends that come with the continued evolution of healthcare and health IT.
Russ Graney is the founder and CEO of Aidin, a healthcare management platform provider. Healthcare IT news decided to call on his deep expertise in healthcare IT and ask him about trends and technologies that healthcare executives should look out for next year.
He identified the “real” AI revolution, what he called the “great tech reckoning” and the rise of healthcare management technology as a supply chain powerhouse.
Q. You suggest that the “real” AI revolution in healthcare will continue to take place behind the scenes in 2025. Please explain this.
A. The long-awaited AI revolution in healthcare has often focused on clinical advances: AI-powered diagnostics, predictive analytics, and even AI “doctors” assisting with life-or-death decisions.
But despite all the hustle and bustle, 2025 will mark another year in which the true transformative power of AI operates quietly in the background, reshaping the operational backbone of healthcare systems. This “real” AI revolution is not flashy but fundamental, addressing the complex operational challenges underlying patient care and system efficiency.
Healthcare operations, unlike clinical decision making, offer an immediate and measurable return on investment for AI adoption. Tools that automate administrative, error-prone processes – such as managing payer-provider transactions or optimizing patient transitions – are gaining ground and delivering tangible results.
For example, systems like St. Luke’s University Health Network are already using AI to streamline patient discharges to post-acute care. These tools eliminate manual inefficiencies, reduce delays and help ensure patients receive the right care at the right time. Healthcare systems that adopt this technology will have smoother workflows, deliver better patient outcomes, and be better equipped to meet increasing financial and operational pressures.
This quiet revolution may lack the drama of AI diagnosing rare diseases, but it is no less impactful. It makes healthcare work better for everyone – patients, providers and payers alike – by addressing the systemic inefficiencies that have long plagued the industry. In 2025, the real value of AI will not be in transforming medicine, but in transforming the mechanisms of healthcare delivery.
Q: You say there will be a “major technological reckoning” in healthcare by 2025. What do you mean? And what will be the consequences for hospitals and healthcare systems?
A. Hospitals and healthcare systems will face increasing pressure to reassess their digital investments by 2025 in what could be considered a “major tech reckoning.” This reckoning stems from two converging forces: the relentless demand for cost savings and a new wave of forward-thinking leaders determined to modernize healthcare operations.
While digital transformation has been a buzzword in healthcare for years, 2025 will separate the winners from the rest as organizations will be forced to double down on technology that delivers measurable results and abandon systems that fail to do so.
This shift will redefine the way healthcare organizations approach technology. Hospitals will no longer tolerate tools that complicate workflows or fail to demonstrate clear ROI. Instead, the focus will be on platforms that enable consistent, reportable and efficient processes across all departments – from care management to finance and compliance.
This means eliminating fragmented systems in favor of interoperable systems that reduce labor costs and increase workforce efficiency. The implications are significant: organizations that embrace this technology-driven pragmatism will be stronger, more resilient and better positioned to meet future challenges.
This reckoning is both a challenge and an opportunity for hospitals and health care systems. It’s an opportunity to leave behind outdated, underperforming technologies and invest in platforms that actually drive operational and financial success.
Partnering with trusted, innovative suppliers will be critical, as will embracing change management as a core competency. Ultimately, the great technology reckoning of 2025 will reward healthcare systems that prioritize flexibility, efficiency and impact.
Q. You predict that healthcare management will become the powerhouse of the healthcare supply chain by 2025. How so?
A. Long considered a behind-the-scenes function, healthcare management is poised to become the powerhouse of the healthcare supply chain by 2025. Often underestimated, these teams are critical in coordinating patient care transitions, securing necessary resources and managing billions of dollars in annual expenditures. . Yet their potential is hampered by fragmented processes and inefficient workflows.
That’s going to change.
By 2025, healthcare management will have the opportunity to transition from the current hunt-and-peck approach to a market-driven model enabled by advanced technology. Platforms that enable real-time connections between care teams and high-quality providers will streamline patient transitions and reduce delays.
By leveraging these tools, hospitals can achieve faster discharges, fewer readmissions, and shorter lengths of stay – key metrics that have a direct impact on both patient outcomes and financial performance. For example, incentivizing providers with transparent, quality-based metrics will create a more competitive ecosystem, ensuring patients receive the best possible care while reducing administrative burdens on care teams.
This transformation positions healthcare management as more than just a logistics function; it becomes the linchpin of healthcare efficiency. By acting as the “supply chain” for patient care, these teams will drive operational excellence and improve the overall patient experience. As healthcare systems embrace this shift, healthcare management will strengthen its rightful role as a strategic driver of both clinical and financial success in 2025 and beyond.
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