| Despite the AI boom across healthcare, insurers have been a lot slower than providers to use and invest in the technology. That’s starting to change. |
| The share of insurers that said they plan to significantly increase their budgets for AI spending rose from 6% in 2024 to 31% in 2026, according to a Define Ventures report, based on conversations with 62 senior leaders across regional and national insurers and provider organizations. |
| When AI was first taking off among providers, insurers were still reeling from the Change Healthcare cyberattacks and focusing on securing their respective technology, Define Ventures founder and managing partner Lynne Chou O'Keefe told me. Recently, though, there’s a need to catch up. |
| “The business need, the need for efficiency, macro changes in policy and current events, and, quite frankly, the success that providers have seen have really driven payers to say, ‘This is a very clear priority and we're going to invest in it,’” she said. |
| But insurers haven’t decided where AI fits best yet. While providers have largely been eager to buy AI scribes and administrative software, the insurers surveyed by Define only settled on one priority: call center operations. It's a straightforward way to keep costs low by answering routine questions, saving staff time. |
| Next, Chou O'Keefe said she’s seeing tools to help members navigate care grow more popular. Time will tell if insurers extend beyond that. |
| - Ngai |
| (Editor’s note: It’s interesting to see how much the conversation has evolved in the year since we last talked to Define about its AI thesis. Then, the focus was on the readiness of the industry to adopt AI.) |
