As health care in North America enters an era of AI‑led reinvention, organizations are under pressure to determine where artificial intelligence delivers real value and where it still falls short. In this episode of Podnosis, Sanjay Subramanian, SVP & Head of Healthcare Payer Business at Cognizant, explains where AI is generating measurable returns today and why many initiatives struggle to scale.
Sanjay says the clearest ROI is emerging in back‑office operations, including claims processing, prior authorization, payment integrity and revenue cycle management. In these data‑rich, repeatable environments, AI is reducing manual work, lowering administrative burden and improving both operational efficiency and member experience. At the same time, he notes that more advanced use cases — such as autonomous clinical decision‑making — remain limited because of fragmented data, regulatory complexity and trust concerns.
According to Sanjay, scaling AI requires more than technology. Organizations must modernize data platforms, redesign workflows and establish strong governance with executive accountability. The health care organizations that succeed, he says, will be those that move beyond pilots and treat AI as a core part of the enterprise operating model, not a standalone innovation effort.
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Sanjay Subramanian, SVP & Head of Healthcare, Payer Business, Cognizant | Sanjay Subramanian is a transformational leader with over 29 years of expertise in profit and loss management, sales and delivery across management consulting, systems integration and outsourcing. He is recognized for guiding CXO clients through strategic business decisions and digital transformation, consistently delivering measurable outcomes in challenging environments. Sanjay has led successful turnarounds, managed large teams exceeding 5000 members and originated transformative outsourcing contracts totaling over $8 billion with Fortune 100 clients. His experience spans Asia Pacific, the UK and North America, across industries including healthcare, life sciences, automotive, manufacturing, retail, energy, utilities, transportation and logistics. He has built and scaled businesses, launched new consulting capabilities and enabled cross-functional collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Sanjay brings a strong focus on client relationships and long-term value creation, supporting sustained growth across major global accounts. |