Providers and payers are investing more in IT infrastructure in response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack earlier this year, and organizations seem willing to experiment with AI and natural language processing, according to a new report.
Healthcare technology research firm KLAS Research's new report, done in collaboration with global management consulting firm Bain & Company, found that three-fourths of the 150 providers and payers surveyed said their organization increased IT investments over the last year.
Providers are investing in health IT to optimize operations and reduce burnout, the report says, while payers are investing in IT to improve risk adjustment and quality programs.
KLAS and Bain focused a portion of their survey on how healthcare IT investments have changed since the February 2024 cyberattack on claims clearinghouse Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth. Of the 150 providers and payer organizations surveyed, 70% were affected by the attack, which disrupted healthcare billing for weeks and affected healthcare operations for months.
The Change attack prompted more healthcare organizations, especially payers, to assess their organization’s cybersecurity and vulnerabilities within their systems, KLAS and Bain found.
Half of payers reported doing audits of internal systems, 60% did audits of current vendors, and 56% increased cybersecurity software spend, the survey found.
Roughly 40% of providers reported taking the same actions: 44% are auditing internal systems, 43% are auditing current vendors and 38% are increasing cybersecurity software spending.
“While cybersecurity was already top of mind for most organizations, they are allocating greater efforts and spending to this area, including auditing internal systems and third-party solutions and building redundancy to mitigate future risks,” the report says.
Provider and payer organizations have also increased their attention to AI solutions that assist with decision making, operational efficiency and customer engagement.
Per the survey, more organizations have adopted AI strategies, up from 5% of provider organizations last year to 15% that have strategies this year. A quarter of payer organizations reported they have an AI strategy.
In both the provider and payer groups, 70% of respondents were optimistic about implementing generative AI.
The survey says that providers have begun engaging in pilots of generative AI tools, especially for clinical documentation and decision support tools. The report notes that ambient clinical note-taking has been particularly successful.
Payers are using generative AI for member engagement and interaction, to save on costs and to optimize resource allocation. “There is a growing need for robust governance frameworks, transparency and accountability mechanisms to ensure responsible and ethical use of AI in healthcare,” the report says.
However, providers and payers said there are barriers to adoption, including regulatory considerations, legal considerations and cost and accuracy of the models.
Other investment priorities for providers are cybersecurity, clinical workflow optimization, data platforms and interoperability and revenue cycle management, KLAS and Bain found.
Payers are prioritizing health IT investments to identify high risk members and monitor utilization. For claims processing and payments, payers are investing in provider payment tools, modernizing their core administrative processing system infrastructure and purchasing more payment integrity solutions.