Generative artificial intelligence in healthcare: Enthusiasm outpaces readiness, report warns

Key Takeaways:

• Despite enthusiasm for generative AI among health professionals, fewer than one in five organisations have established formal policies or required training in its use.
• Clinicians identify key GenAI applications in alleviating workforce shortages, clinician burnout, and administrative burden — yet organisational structures lag behind these ambitions.
• Survey respondents urge a strategic approach, calling for governance frameworks addressing data use, ethical responsibilities, and workflow integration.
  

Introduction: Hope Meets Hesitation in Healthcare AI Adoption

Many healthcare professionals across the United States are hopeful that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can help address some of the sector’s most entrenched challenges — from persistent workforce shortages and clinician burnout to the administrative overload tied to electronic health records. However, a new report reveals a troubling gap between professional enthusiasm and institutional readiness.

The 2025 Future Ready Healthcare Survey Report, jointly released by Wolters Kluwer Health and Ipsos, highlights a sector on the cusp of change but burdened by systemic inertia. Drawing insights from 312 respondents — including physicians, nurses, administrators, and pharmacists — the findings underscore both the appetite for GenAI and the foundational barriers preventing its full-scale adoption.

“GenAI has the potential to be a powerful tool for supporting sustainability in healthcare organisations right now, as well as preparing them for a more efficient future,” said Greg Samios, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health. “Right now, organisations are at risk of falling behind unless they take a more cohesive approach to making GenAI standardised, scalable and impactful.”

Workforce Pressures Drive Demand for GenAI Integration

Among surveyed professionals, the top drivers for GenAI implementation centred on supporting a depleted and overstretched workforce:

• 85% highlighted recruiting and retaining nursing staff as a critical priority.
• 76% pointed to reducing clinician burnout.
• 67% aimed to ease the administrative burden of tasks such as prior authorisations.
• 62% emphasised streamlining electronic health record (EHR) management.

There was also optimism about more advanced applications of GenAI, including:

• Ambient listening tools for automated note-taking,
• AI-driven clinical decision support (CDS), and
• Communication and documentation automation.

However, while aspirations are high, the necessary infrastructure and governance to support these use cases remain largely absent.

Governance and Training: The Missing Foundations

Despite the proliferation of GenAI technologies, most healthcare organisations have yet to develop robust frameworks to guide their implementation. Only:

• 18% of respondents said their organisation had issued formal policies on GenAI use.
• 20% reported that structured training was required.

This lack of preparation is compounded by a broader issue — GenAI solutions are often added as standalone features, rather than being embedded into care workflows.

“GenAI delivers durable value only when it is welded to a mapped workflow rather than bolted on as another point solution,” explained Dr Matthew Crowson, Director of Digital Innovation, Health Research at Wolters Kluwer Health. “The first job is old-fashioned problem-solving.”

Risks of Inadequate Implementation

With so few safeguards in place, healthcare professionals expressed strong concerns about premature or unstructured GenAI deployment. Key worries included:

• 57% feared that overreliance on GenAI could impair clinical judgement.
• 55% cited concerns about transparency, data privacy, and the absence of industry-wide standards.

Pharmacists and allied health professionals were particularly wary. Nearly three-quarters in these roles warned that excessive trust in GenAI could lead to the erosion of essential clinical skills.

Personal Adoption Outpaces Professional Use

Despite the lack of institutional infrastructure, GenAI is already making inroads into the personal lives of health professionals:

• 51% said they use GenAI in their personal life at least once a week.
• Yet only 42% used GenAI at work weekly.
• 40% reported never having used GenAI in a professional context.

This discrepancy underscores a recurring theme in healthcare: the sector is often slow to adopt and integrate emerging technologies, even when those technologies are actively shaping other industries.

Opportunities for Early Adoption: Nurses and Pharmacists Leading the Way

The report identified nursing and pharmacy departments as potential proving grounds for GenAI integration. Respondents from these groups were among the most optimistic:

• 52% of pharmacists and 45% of nurses believed GenAI could significantly reduce burnout.
• Many also saw benefits in automating routine tasks such as scheduling and data entry.

There was limited concern that GenAI would displace core roles. Instead, professionals viewed it as a tool to enhance — not replace — clinical capacity.

A Sector-Wide Call for Strategic Leadership

To harness GenAI’s potential without introducing new risks, healthcare leaders are being urged to move beyond one-off pilot schemes. The report highlights strong support for:

• Clearer policies on responsible data use (64%),
• Greater transparency in addressing algorithmic bias (55%), and
• Legal and ethical clarity regarding GenAI’s role in decision-making.

“It is imperative organisations deploy GenAI strategically and methodically, establishing clear, understood, well-communicated guidelines and applicable training,” said Denise Anderson, President and CEO of the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

Some respondents went further, calling on leaders to shift their mindset entirely — from incremental improvements to systemic transformation.

“Too many healthcare orgs are duct-taping AI onto crumbling workflows, hoping for efficiency while ignoring reinvention,” said Tatyana Kanzaveli, CEO of Open Health Network. “GenAI is not here to optimise the past — it’s here to provoke a redesign of care itself. Until leaders shift from pilot projects to system-level provocations, we’ll keep solving yesterday’s problems with tomorrow’s tools.”

Conclusion: Realising the Potential of GenAI Requires Bold, Informed Action

The report leaves little doubt: generative AI holds promise for a more efficient, sustainable healthcare system — but only if implemented with foresight, structure, and purpose. Professionals are ready. Organisations must now catch up.