National Research (NRC) Status Update summary

Key challenges in healthcare IT

• Physician burnout and staff shortages are critical, with one in five healthcare workers leaving the industry and insufficient new clinicians entering the field.

• Health equity remains a major issue, with less than 10% of physicians practicing in rural areas, compounding access disparities.

• Trust in healthcare institutions is low, though trust in individual doctors remains high, highlighting a disconnect between patients and the system.

• Economic pressures force care teams to do more with less, making efficiency gains through technology a top priority.

• Innovation is outpacing implementation, with hospitals struggling to adopt new solutions due to resource constraints.

Opportunities and strategies for technology adoption

• Technology, especially AI, should focus on reducing administrative burdens and enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients.

• Effective adoption requires validating solutions from clinical, workflow, and fairness perspectives, with transparency and oversight.

• AI and digital tools should augment, not replace, human care, preserving the patient-physician bond.

• Scaling care is possible by automating tasks clinicians dislike, such as prior authorizations and documentation.

• Partnerships across the ecosystem, including with tech companies and startups, offer avenues for innovation and disruption.

Managing hype, change, and trust

• Prioritize well-being as the central criterion for technology investments, avoiding tech for its own sake.

• Change management must involve clinical leadership from the outset, learning from past missteps with EHRs.

• Building trust requires transparency, partnership, and a focus on solving real user needs, not imposing top-down solutions.

• Marketing and communication strategies should foster the know-like-trust model, with digital presence and community representation.

• Trust is earned through consistent, responsive care and collaboration across C-suite roles.