7 tips to prepare your healthcare organization for AI in 2025

As the healthcare industry faces growing patient demand, AI and automation are giving us the opportunity to rethink how we deliver care. Yet many organizations struggle with where to begin.

"AI is not a hammer looking for a nail," emphasizes Dave Henriksen, Head of Value Based Care at Notable. "Organizations have problems...they need to understand how AI can help them solve their core problems."

Drawing from their experience implementing AI across leading health systems, Henriksen and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Aaron Neinstein share seven tips to help your organization navigate an organization-wide AI strategy. 

Tip #1: Define your north star

"Don't go into AI for the sake of using AI," urges Neinstein. Your AI strategy must align with your organization's mission and long-term vision. You need a firm vision of where you want to go as an institution.

Bill Gates frames the opportunity clearly: with AI's productivity gains, you can "increase the quantity of output, improve the quality of output, or reduce the human labor hours that go in."

While you'll likely see improvements across all three, being clear about your primary goal is crucial. Are you trying to expand access to care? Improve quality outcomes? Reduce provider burnout? Your AI strategy should accelerate progress toward these goals, not distract from them.

Tip #2: Establish clear business objectives

Move beyond the hype by defining specific, measurable goals. AI projects fail when they start with technology instead of business problems. Whether you're focusing on operational efficiency, patient access, or quality metrics, know what success looks like.

Start with the workflow you want to improve, then determine how AI can help.

Neinstein shared a cautionary tale from UCSF: their initial deployment of a no-show prediction algorithm led to overbooking without improving outcomes because they started with the technology rather than the business problem. 

Tip #3: Develop guiding principles

Don’t start from scratch. Build upon your existing privacy, security, and compliance frameworks while adding AI-specific considerations. As Henriksen emphasizes, "Stay focused on how the patient experiences care while doing it at a lower cost with higher quality.”

Healthcare organizations already have strong foundations in IT governance, privacy, security, and user experience. 

While AI brings new considerations, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, layer AI-specific guidelines into your existing frameworks, focusing on:

• Patient experience and care quality
• Caregiver support and efficiency
• Clear guidelines for AI use in clinical settings
• Data governance and security
• Integration requirements

Tip #4: Invest in change management to drive adoption

AI success isn't just a technical challenge—it requires buy-in across your organization. Instead of avoiding concerns about AI, successful organizations address them directly through education, storytelling, and frontline engagement.

During his time at Intermountain Health, Henriksen shared that they would connect with employees and ask what's working and what isn’t; many of their suggestions came from consumer experiences outside healthcare. “Through AI, we can finally enable those solutions,” he explained.

The key is making staff part of the process rather than recipients of change. This approach isn't unique to AI. We used similar strategies moving from paper to electronic health records, but it's essential for building trust and adoption.

Tip #5: Achieve early wins to accelerate your strategy

"Think big, start small, move fast," advises Neinstein. Rather than getting stuck in analysis paralysis, successful organizations identify focused opportunities for quick wins that build confidence and momentum.

At Intermountain Healthcare, small tests of change with a subset of users proved powerful. When staff members could tell colleagues, "This literally saved half my day," adoption accelerated naturally. These early advocates become crucial for winning over more skeptical team members.

Remember: all the planning in the world can't replace the experience of doing. One Notable partner reduced prior authorization times from days to minutes while patients waited in the office—exactly the kind of concrete win that transforms skeptics into believers.

Tip #6: Create a strategic  plan for workforce transformation

AI will change how healthcare workers do their jobs—there's no avoiding this reality. But, successful organizations approach this proactively and transparently, focusing on how AI can enhance rather than replace human work.

Consider the front desk role. "Stop telling me to be good at patient experience if you're also asking me to be a payments collector," notes Henriksen. By automating collection tasks, AI can free staff to focus on what matters most: patient interaction.

Don't let your AI strategy become a "third rail" everyone fears discussing. Instead, involve your workforce in planning how roles will evolve. The Medical University of South Carolina exemplifies this with its ten-year strategic plan, preparing employees for tomorrow's opportunities rather than leaving them anxious about change.

Tip #7: Form long-lasting platform partnerships

Who you partner with matters more than what specific products you buy. "You're not just buying today's product—you're buying the company and partnership," emphasizes  Neinstein.

Avoid the temptation to rely solely on your EHR vendor or to accumulate dozens of point solutions. EHRs are your foundation—"the load-bearing walls" of hospital operations—but transformation requires partners who can move more nimbly while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability.

Look for configurable platforms that can solve multiple problems while growing with your organization. The right partners will help you navigate AI's rapid evolution while maintaining focus on your core mission: delivering exceptional patient care.

What's next?

The organizations that will thrive in 2025 aren't necessarily those with the biggest AI budgets or the most advanced technology. Success will come to those who approach AI strategically, align it with their mission, and focus on solving real problems for their patients and staff.

As Neinstein notes, "All the planning in the world can't replace the experience of doing." Start small, learn fast, and keep your focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional patient care.

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