As we close 2024 and look toward 2025, I begin this post filled with overwhelming gratitude to our clients and partners, all of whom in very specific ways are part of patient-centered care. Together we build solutions that innovate, retain healthcare employees, grow IT talent, and contain costs for our healthcare providers across the continuum of care.
As we look ahead to 2025, the landscape of healthcare and technology will continue to evolve rapidly, shaped by shifting political dynamics, groundbreaking innovations, and the ongoing challenges of delivering patient-centered care.
A New(ish) President, A New Congress
When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2025, it’s widely believed that one of his first of more than 200 executive orders will be to rescind President Biden’s October 30, 2023 Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, eventually replacing it with one of his own. Now that the healthcare industry has had several years of Artificial Intelligence or AI adjacencies in both patient care and administrative functions, the debate around AI and its use will become more nuanced. We’ve spent the last few years in a caveman-like dialogue “AI good. No. AI bad.” 2025 will pressure test what we’ve learned and reveal blind spots as AI becomes more embedded, less opt-in, and included in how we deliver patient care, starting with the Electronic Health Record. While Judy Faulkner, Michelle O’Conner, and David Feinberg are known to those of us working in Health IT, expect That One Uncle of Yours to name drop them in the same sentence with Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai.
Virtual Desktops
I’ve written about this before, but I predict that 2025 is the year you’ll see widespread use of virtual desktops in healthcare, particularly at bedside. Though the primary driver for this will be related to rising software licensing costs, ease of management, and improved security, the DOJ Antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet compelling the sale of Google Chrome is an interesting twist. This is going to “hit different” for the ironic t-shirt wearing Millennials and Gen Zer’s, cloud-first generations that grew up using Chromebooks in school. Now Healthcare IT decision makers themselves, the DOJ remedy may remove some overall endpoint inertia we’ve seen since 2020 as the threat of “losing” Chrome makes it more valuable to that persona group. That said, the DOJ remedy might not stick under the new administration and Google will likely file its own remedy. Looking beyond Chrome OS, both IGEL and Azure Virtual Desktop have strong healthcare case studies, and the timing seems right for greater adoption of these solutions in healthcare.
Virtual Care
It’s been 5 years since the Covid 19 pandemic transformed healthcare. One of the more lasting technology solutions from that time is telehealth and the positive impact that virtual care has had for patients, families, and care teams. It’s allowed the care teams greater reach, driven adoption of smart hospital rooms, and led to improved HCAHPS scores. Though the federal policies that provide reimbursements are set to expire on 12/31/2024, there’s support and a strong bi-partisan appetite to have these benefits extended. I expect to see an increase in the number of telehealth projects and some creative applications for ways that healthcare providers seamlessly blend virtual care with AI virtual assistants.
SaaS Applications/Cloud Usage
During the November CHIME Fall Forum in San Diego, I had a healthcare CIO confide that they were using more than 300 SaaS-based applications. Seeing the expression on my face, they offered up that while the cloud was still great for things like low upfront cost, speed to deploy, ability to scale—and that that these were benefits more keenly realized when cloud adoption was new and there were fewer than 25 agreements in place. Now more than 15 years into our collective cloud journey, OPEX concerns, security vulnerabilities, and egress fees have left healthcare organizations with a sprawling, often disjointed, poorly rationalized cloud strategy. This is true for many large organizations, but healthcare, uniquely stymied by stagnant reimbursements and overrun by inflation on med-surge equipment, is uniquely impacted. Expect some new healthcare stakeholders to start asking, “We’re paying SaaS Partner A how much a quarter?” This could lead toward a different negotiation strategy with the partner community, overall solution consolidation, or selective use of on-prem/hybrid cloud model. No COO should be forced to choose between paying their SaaS provider and buying a life-saving medical device.
2025 Healthcare IT Trends: Shaping the Future, Together
As we step into 2025, the opportunities and challenges facing healthcare IT are both exciting and complex. From navigating policy shifts and advancing AI adoption to reimagining virtual care and cloud strategies, the decisions we make today will shape the future of patient-centered care. Together with our clients and partners, we remain committed to building innovative, sustainable solutions that empower healthcare providers across the continuum of care. Here’s to a year of progress, collaboration, and impact. Connection’s healthcare IT experts are here to help you find, customize, and implement the right technology to achieve your organization’s goals. Learn more about our Healthcare Solutions and Services or contact your Connection Account Team today.
Jennifer Johnson
Jennifer Johnson, Director Healthcare Strategy and Business Development, joined Connection in 2010 starting in field sales and joined the healthcare practice in 2015. Jennifer has more than 20 years in IT, including prior roles in distribution and manufacturing. Jennifer holds her Certified Digital Health Leader designation from the CHIME organization and is a member of HIMSS, where Connection is a diamond sponsor. Jen was named CRN Women of the Channel in 2023 and 2024 and holds certifications from NVIDIA (AI Advisor- Sales) and Dell Technologies (AI Champion- Partner Sales).
