Three-quarters of U.S. healthcare suppliers and payers say they elevated their IT spending previously 12 months, based on a report launched Tuesday by Bain & Firm and KLAS Analysis.

The report predicted that this development will solely proceed. It was based mostly on a survey of 150 suppliers and payers within the US.

“Payers and suppliers proceed to put a premium on know-how, a sentiment that has turn out to be more and more true within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Eric Berger, a companion in Bain’s healthcare & life sciences and personal fairness apply, mentioned in an announcement. “Whereas the deal with ROI has elevated, we’re additionally seeing these organizations extra keen to experiment with know-how, notably with superior options like AI and pure language processing, to enhance outcomes.”

The cyberattack that Change Healthcare skilled in February has prompted each suppliers and payers to extend their investments in cybersecurity know-how, the report discovered. About 70% of organizations included within the report mentioned they had been instantly affected by the occasion.

Organizations are spending extra money and time on issues like auditing inside programs, implementing endpoint safety options and scaling up safety consciousness coaching packages. The Change Healthcare cyberattack has additionally led to an elevated deal with assessing particular person vulnerabilities, with leaders allocating a portion of their budgets to enhancing redundancy round crucial programs within the IT stack, the report mentioned.

In terms of AI, suppliers are ramping up their spending. About 15% of suppliers mentioned they’ve an AI technique, up from the 5% of suppliers who reported the identical final 12 months, the report discovered. Payers’ AI investments remained largely the identical as final 12 months, with a couple of quarter reporting they’ve a longtime AI technique.

A lot of the AI ​​adoption by suppliers is concentrated on scientific workflow optimization. For instance, they’re implementing instruments that scale back administrative burden, similar to instruments that generate scientific observe drafts, and instruments that enhance income cycle administration, similar to instruments that automate prior authorization.

On the payer aspect, the report discovered that care coordination and utilization administration instruments are gaining traction. These instruments allow payers to determine high-risk members, join care supply throughout suppliers and settings, and be certain that care is cost-effective.

The report additionally discovered that payers are investing extra in instruments that enhance the claims processing and fee course of, and in instruments centered on high quality administration and threat adjustment.

The report discovered that almost all payers are specializing in streamlining their know-how stacks and prioritizing current distributors reasonably than introducing new distributors into their ecosystem.

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