Where Healthcare Business Leaders Should Invest In Operational AI

Jason Considine is the President of Experian Health, a leader in revenue cycle management solutions.

​Healthcare organizations have plenty of opportunities to invest in and use AI to advance the operations and business side of providing care. In fact, investment in AI healthcare overall, including the clinical side, was more than $1 billion last year. The question is no longer whether AI belongs in the investment portfolio. Now comes the harder part: deciding what deserves to scale. The best place to start is with the problem, not the technology.

Every investment, especially in the fiscally squeezed healthcare system, competes for limited resources and organizational attention. With the median hospital operating margin index at just 2.5%, innovation can test an organization’s risk tolerance and may slow progress. Leaders need a strong use case and clear measures of value to determine whether the investment solves meaningful problems and produces sustainable results. Additionally, scaling innovation does not stop at the software. Leaders need to invest in people and processes.

Scale the organization with the technology.

A successful AI pilot is only the beginning. Deloitte’s 2026 U.S. Health Care Outlook found that only about one-third of healthcare organizations operate AI at scale. Closing that gap requires both capable technology and an organization prepared to adopt it.

A pilot answers one question: Can this work?

Scaling requires several answers: Does it solve a priority problem? Can we quantify the improvement? Does it fit into the way people actually work? Do our teams have the training and authority to use it? Can we support it operationally and monitor performance as conditions change?

AI doesn’t need to be deployed everywhere at once. Leaders can start with the strongest business case, learn from real-world use and then scale deliberately as the technology, workflows and workforce mature together.