Generative AI is reshaping healthcare—but a new report by NTT DATA shows that many organisations are not ready to fully capitalise on its promise. The global study highlights gaps in strategy alignment, skills, and data infrastructure that threaten to undermine GenAI’s potential to improve patient outcomes and streamline clinical operations.
Titled GenAI: The Care Plan for Powering Positive Health Outcomes, the report draws on insights from 425 healthcare decision-makers across 33 countries.
It reveals that while more than 80% of leaders report they have a well-defined GenAI strategy, only 40% believe it is strongly aligned with their overall business goals. Just 54% rate their organisation’s GenAI capabilities as high performing.
The findings point to a clear need for strategic integration, workforce upskilling, and effective governance. Notably, 94% of respondents believe GenAI accelerates research and development, enabling faster access to new treatments, improved diagnostics, predictive analytics, and task automation.
Meanwhile, 95% consider cloud-based solutions the most practical and cost-effective foundation for GenAI deployment.
Yet significant challenges remain. Three in four respondents acknowledge a lack of internal expertise to use GenAI effectively, and 93% are having to reassess employee roles and responsibilities in light of the technology’s impact.
“To unlock GenAI’s full potential in healthcare, organisations must ensure that technology is aligned with their business strategies, develop robust workforce training, and implement multilayered governance that keeps humans in the loop,” said Sundar Srinivasan, Head of Healthcare at NTT DATA North America. “It is crucial to transparently demonstrate how GenAI benefits patients by complementing human workers.”
Human-centred GenAI solutions enable clinicians and administrative staff to work more efficiently without compromising patient safety. For example, GenAI can predict chronic diseases to allow early intervention and reduce prior authorisation inquiry times.
NTT DATA is also collaborating with Duke Health to develop an advanced interactive GenAI model for home care, aimed at improving patient outcomes while reducing workloads and stress for clinicians and hospitals.
Current investments in GenAI are yielding improvements in compliance and process adherence. However, concerns remain high: 91% of healthcare executives worry about privacy violations and misuse of Protected Health Information (PHI), and only 42% strongly agree that existing cybersecurity measures adequately protect their GenAI applications.
Despite these fears, 87% believe the benefits and long-term potential of GenAI outweigh the security and legal risks, with 59% planning significant GenAI investments over the next two years.
Another major barrier to GenAI adoption is outdated infrastructure. 91% of organisations say legacy systems hinder GenAI deployment, while only 44% believe they’ve adequately invested in data storage and processing capabilities. Moreover, less than half (48%) have assessed their data and platform readiness for GenAI workloads.
“In addition to clearly supporting operational goals, AI systems must align with regulatory and clinical guidelines,” Srinivasan added. “Success depends on high-quality data and establishing collaborative decision-making teams.”
