Healthcare leaders are ready to unleash investment in technology.
Finance leaders at healthcare companies around the country responded to our survey and shared their priorities and plans for evolving the finance function.
What opportunities and risks stand out to healthcare finance leaders?
The U.S. healthcare sector is under pressure. Still recovering from the massive impact of COVID-19, it’s now struggling with high inflation and labor shortages. Conditions are tough, but the opportunity is massive: McKinsey estimates that total profit across the healthcare industry will grow at a 4% CAGR to $790 billion by 2026.1
We surveyed 200 finance professionals in the U.S. healthcare sector to understand how all this is changing healthcare finance teams’ priorities and risk perception, and how they compare with finance teams from other sectors.
Here are the key findings.
1. Technology is an important area of focus.
Deploying technology within the finance function is finance leaders’ second biggest priority (34%), after cost-cutting (41%). These two priorities are linked because businesses hope healthcare technology will make them more efficient. The research shows that many other sectors outside of healthcare also prioritize cost cutting and technology investment.
2. AI has great potential.
About six in 10 organizations believe AI in healthcare could completely redefine how they run and operate the finance function. In other sectors, it’s only about half of finance leaders.
In addition, when asked about their top three investment priorities specifically relating to technology, their top choice was using AI and machine learning to enhance insights from data.
3. There is a high level of interest in instant payments.
Finance leaders want to improve the payment experience for patients. Part of this will involve new forms of digital payments, such as instant payments. 70% intend to use instant payments in two years’ time, compared with 47% today.
Healthcare providers are also ahead of other sectors when it comes to using a range of digital payments: 54% already use B2C payment methods such as Zelle® and Venmo®, compared with 43% of other sectors.
4. Transformation is tough
Healthcare finance leaders have ambitious plans for modern technology. But putting those plans into action isn’t easy; hurdles are the absence of a strategy, inertia, and a lack of understanding of what’s possible. According to the research, 44% of healthcare finance leaders say that a lack of strategy is a top-three obstacle, compared with 36% in other sectors.
More Resources
Stay Connected
Read the full healthcare industry report for a detailed analysis.
The complete healthcare report dives deep into the findings from our survey to provide a rich analysis and synthesis of the responses. The research demonstrates how healthcare finance leaders differ from their counterparts.
More insights from our CFO Insights survey
2023 CFO Insights Report
1,420 financial leaders voice their views.
We surveyed senior financial leaders at companies across the nation and across industries to find out what they view as the most important opportunities and risks now and in the near future. The responses provided exceptional insights.
Economic insights
Is the economy back on track?
For all the discussion about high interest rates, inflation and other headwinds, the economy might be in better shape than businesses think. Finance leaders shared their views about the economy as part of our survey.
Digital Transformation
Invest in tech to control costs.
As finance leaders seek cost savings, our survey shows many are planning to invest in technology, not only as a means of cost control but to transform the finance function itself. This article offers four things to aid in your digital transformation.
Payment insights
Instant payments usage keeps rising.
With both the RTP® network and the FedNow® Service up and running, companies that haven’t yet started using instant payments appear eager to start doing so. Our new payments insights report shows 68% of respondents intend to use instant payments within two years.
California Report
California-specific data from our survey
143 finance leaders at companies in California told us their views on topics from ESG to digital transformation to cost control as part of our survey. Find out whether, and how much, their priorities differ from those of finance leaders in the rest of the country.