Approximately 75% of surveyed U.S. health care provider organizations and payer organizations increased their spending on information technology (IT) in 2024. For both provider organizations and payers, the need for IT investment in cybersecurity was amplified by the February 2024 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which affected 70% of the organizations participating in the survey. This need for investment in cybersecurity built on earlier needs for IT innovation and operational improvements that were revealed during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Provider organizations are prioritizing IT infrastructure and services, such as cybersecurity, clinical workflow optimization, data platforms and interoperability, and revenue cycle management (RCM). These areas aim to strengthen security, improve integration, and deliver a clear return on investment (ROI). To strengthen cybersecurity and mitigate risk, provider organizations are allocating more resources to audit systems, enhance third-party solutions, and build redundancy.
In comparison, payers are focusing on modernizing legacy technology stacks (the combination of software products and programming languages used to create a web or mobile application), which are costly and limit scalability. Over 65% of the survey participants cited legacy systems as a key challenge. Payer investments target care coordination, utilization management, claims processing, and payment integrity solutions.
For both provider organizations and payers, the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating. With this technology, organizations responding to the survey believe generative AI will help them enhance consumer experience, population health, cost reduction, and provider organization experience.
These findings were presented in “Healthcare IT Spending: Innovation, Integration, and AI,” by Eric Berger, Caitlin Dowling, Aaron Feinberg, and Rebecca Hammond for Bain & Company. The researchers analyzed the results of the 2024 Bain Provider and Payer Health Care Information Technology (HCIT) Survey, which included executives representing 150 U.S. health care provider organizations and payers.
The full text of “Healthcare IT Spending: Innovation, Integration, and AI” was published September 17, 2024, by Bain & Company. A free copy is available online at https://www.bain.com/insights/healthcare-it-spending-innovation-integration-ai/ (accessed April 17, 2025).
For more information, contact: Dan Pinkney, Senior Manager, Global Public Relations, Bain & Company, 131 Dartmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116; 617-572-2000; Fax: 617-572-2427; Email: dan.pinkney@bain.com; Website: https://www.bain.com/
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