Digital Health Investment Symposium 2025

Uncertainty Around Policy Changes Is Driving Budget Cuts for Healthcare Organizations

In the last five years, the healthcare industry has seen consistent pressures and critical threats. These challenges were the central theme of DHIS 2024, which specifically discussed black swan events like COVID-19 and related aftereffects (e.g., staffing shortages, supply chain breakdowns) and how organizations can build resiliency against the unknown.

2025 has brought its own threats—chief among them is the uncertainty around shifting federal and reimbursement policies, which were a key focus of this year’s DHIS event. Summit attendees grappled with this challenge, discussing how to respond to changing policies and reduce costs while still improving patient outcomes. Compared to HIT vendors and investment firms, healthcare organizations are particularly feeling the burden of tightening margins caused by reimbursement policy changes; of the 21 pre-summit survey respondents who indicate plans to decrease their budget, 86% are healthcare organizations. However, these budget decreases do not mean that healthcare organizations aren’t investing in technology. At the summit, provider attendees emphasized that HIT investment is a key strategy to mitigate the effects of margin pressures, as they need to leverage technology to drive efficiencies and do more with less (see next section).

Healthcare Organizations Need Strong Vendor Partnerships to Overcome Barriers to Innovation

As healthcare organizations invest in technology, they must ensure their money goes toward solutions that will deliver tangible outcomes or address top priorities, as there is no room for wasted spending. Provider attendees emphasized that to maximize ROI, organizations need strong vendor partnerships. Healthcare leaders can’t evaluate or invest in all new technologies due to budget constraints, and having a strong vendor partnership can simplify decision-making and provide more immediate cost savings. In particular, healthcare organizations are looking to partner with EHR vendors and/or vendors who are willing to go at risk; while at-risk contracts are rare due to the higher cost, being willing to go at risk can help vendors build trust with provider customers. Summit attendees noted that vendors need to be cognizant of the pressures that healthcare customers are facing and be generous with their support and resources. For example, helping healthcare organizations with change management is a tangible way to strength user adoption, thus increasing the likelihood of a better ROI.

Amid Workforce Challenges, AI Can Help Healthcare Organizations Increase Efficiency & Staff Experiences

In KLAS’ report Navigating the Uncertainty of Federal Policy 2025, data indicates that workforce restructuring (e.g., reallocating, hiring, or reducing staff in certain areas) is the top contingency plan as healthcare organizations seek to anticipate and combat policy shifts. While staffing challenges are not new to the healthcare industry, recent years have brought unprecedented staffing shortages in clinical and IT spaces. These shortages will only worsen over time, as reduced birth rates and an aging population in the US have resulted in fewer individuals entering the workforce—a trend that will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Consequently, healthcare organizations are prioritizing investment in their workforce to better attract, manage, and retain clinical and IT talent. AI and automation play a key part in this, as these technologies can reduce administrative work, enable staff members to focus on more important tasks, and potentially reduce the number of FTEs needed for entry-level work. For example, ambient speech solutions are proven to improve clinician satisfaction, care quality, and reimbursement by streamlining documentation workflows. While summit attendees said they feel optimistic about AI’s potential, many cautioned against deploying AI without specific outcomes in mind, especially in high-risk clinical settings, noting that AI is better served in low-risk, high-impact administrative areas (e.g., revenue cycle management).