Healthcare provider organisations (HPOs) have come down from the generative AI (GenAI) high. They are now embarking on a journey for the long haul and are intent on laying the groundwork. Forrester research reveals that 46% of US healthcare organisations are in initial production implementation of GenAI (with departmental-scale use cases), scaling up to enterprise-level deployment. But it will take time, trial and error, training, and talent to make meaningful strides that positively impact the clinical workforce.
Previously, we’d seen GenAI used in ambient solutions. Now we see an emerging area beginning to show promise for clinicians: clinical operation tools. They perform tasks using a myriad of input combinations to answer questions or summarise documents. We will see massive adoption of operation tools among clinicians. Technologies such as Avanade’s Copilot, LeanTaas’ iQueue, and Credo Health offer time savings, increased clinician engagement, and creative approaches to solving everyday problems.
But before diving in, decision-makers at HPOs need to consider the following:
- Identify isolated AI use cases before they occur. GenAI applications are an opportunity to provide various flexible outputs, and HPOs will fail to benefit from AI solutions that produce only one output when addressing an issue. These narrow solutions continue to permeate the clinical experience and will create inconsistent patient experiences across the care continuum. To reverse this trend, HPOs will have to take a more thoughtful approach to current and future use cases for GenAI, as wella s how and when the technology can help create better insights.
- Invest in clinical and administrative workforce technology. Workforce engagement, productivity, and efficiency are your organisation’s lifeline. Don’t just provide tools that can help clinicians excel in their work. Carve out space to train your workforce on how to use GenAI applications for “make it or break it” tasks. Your clinicians need to know how to prompt an AI engine specifically and contextually. Otherwise, they (and their patients) will fall victim to garbage in, garbage out.
- Emphasise strategy, not ROI. When evaluating the impact of AI and GenAI, HPO leaders should shift focus from short-term ROI to more strategic results. Identifying ways for both the clinician and patient to benefit from the technology is key. Focusing solely on traditional ROI measures will fail to acknowledge indirect outputs that GenAI yields, including operational efficiencies, employee well-being, and other cultural shifts that healthcare desperately needs.
No matter where you are on your journey to improve the clinician experience with AI, we are here to help. If you are a healthcare leader who addresses clinical workforce technology or clinician well-being, we would love to speak with you about your experience. Forrester clients have the option to request an inquiry or guidance session. If you are not a Forrester client, you can reach out to the Forrester account team to explore how you can benefit from Forrester Decisions and harness its power.
