Jan 23, 2025

The next 12 months hold immense potential for technological innovation in healthcare, but this rapid pace of change brings both opportunities and risks. As health systems adapt, continuous feedback will be necessary to make sure AI is serving its purpose to alleviate stressors while moving the industry forward. In doing so, AI has the potential to open doors for new applications that could solve complex issues within the healthcare sector, and possibly even cross over into other markets. We asked exectuive experts at  LeanTaaS , a company that transforms health system, hospital, and infusion center operations through AI-powered software and change management services to share their thoughts on how emerging health technologies are likely to shape business decisions in 2025. They also offer guidance to organizations aiming to leverage these advancements to improve patient access and enhance financial performance. Looking Ahead to New Technologies Tim Vasil, Chief Technology Officer at LeanTaaS The year ahead promises significant technological leaps, particularly in the healthcare industry, according to Tim Vasil, Chief Technology Officer at LeanTaaS. “Generative AI will revolutionize diagnostics, drug discovery, and treatment personalization. Edge computing will empower remote healthcare, at-home monitoring, and even surgery. Explainable AI will build trust in medical and financial decisions, and liven static dashboard with actionable insights. Extended reality (XR) will transform surgical training and rehabilitation. Data management will shift towards decentralized “data mesh” models for improved efficiency. Persistent challenges will remain, including cybersecurity threats, talent shortages, and economic headwinds. Organizations that thrive will need to prioritize continuous learning, scalable architectures, and robust security. Healthcare systems will be pressured to better integrate telehealth, mental health services, and personalized medicine. And, crucially, human-centered design, emphasizing ethics, equity, and transparency, will be paramount. As virtual assistants and real-time data analysis advance, prioritizing human well-being remains essential.” AI Will No Longer Be A Buzzword Hugh Cassidy, Chief Data Scientist at LeanTaaS Hugh Cassidy, Chief Data Scientist, anticipates a significant shift in the integration of AI–especially generative AI–within healthcare in 2025. “Generative AI, known for its ability to create new content and extract information from existing content, has many applications in healthcare, especially when combined with more traditional predictive analytics. We can expect to see generative AI assist health systems in many ways, including providing a natural language interface that allows teams to understand and act on complex analytics. For instance, generative AI can serve as a user-friendly, conversational interface, enabling healthcare workers to navigate complex data and machine learning models using simple, natural language queries. This can help clinicians and administrators access insights from data without needing advanced technical expertise, making it easier to retrieve critical information and apply data-driven decisions in patient care.” Advancing Technologies Mean Advancing Cyber Threats Bill Murphy, Director of Security and Compliance at LeanTaaS Bill Murphy, Director of Security and Compliance at LeanTaaS, acknowledges the potential benefits of AI but points out that it also introduces significant risks, with the possibility of AI revolutionizing cyber threats in troubling ways. “Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to craft highly persuasive phishing campaigns that overcome traditional red flags. With AI tools, attackers – especially those operating from outside the U.S. – can generate highly convincing messages without easy-to-spot indicators like poor grammar or awkward phrasing. By analyzing targets’ digital footprints, AI enables highly personalized attacks that are increasingly indistinguishable from legitimate communications. The accessibility of AI tools has dramatically lowered barriers to entry for cybercrime, enabling less sophisticated actors to launch complex attacks that previously required significant technical expertise and resources.”Murphy believes companies need to remain vigilant and look for new ways threats can emerge from new technologies. Solving Urgent Industry Pain Points Ashley Walsh, Chief Revenue Officer at LeanTaaS Technology leaders are continuing to develop AI-driven solutions to address long-standing challenges in the healthcare industry that demonstrate its value. For instance, to solve the ongoing staffing shortage, Ashley Walsh, Chief Revenue Officer at LeanTaaS says, “health systems are still using “institutional knowledge, “gut feelings,” and “past performance” to allocate and plan staffing resources, and those traditional methods fall short time and time again. Significant advancements in making predictions based on supply-demand matching have now been available for more than a decade – yet, many health systems are just beginning to catch up with the technology.”