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Google Cloud's new report on the ROI of AI in healthcare offers one of the clearest looks yet at how AI is performing in real organizations. The research was done by National Research Group, with insights from 605 leaders across payers, providers, and life sciences. The focus of the study is straightforward: where AI is delivering measurable returns today, and where leaders plan to invest next.
What stands out is how well the findings line up with the results we're seeing at Productive Edge and Boost Health AI. And the momentum is shared by both sides of the industry.
AI Is Producing Real ROI Across the Healthcare Landscape
The report shows that AI is no longer an experiment. Organizations are using it to improve productivity, reduce cycle times, and streamline high-volume workflows. These gains are coming not from large platform overhauls, but from targeted application of AI in areas that have been overloaded for years.
Leaders report clear ROI from AI, with productivity improvements leading the way.
For payers, the biggest impacts are showing up in claims, prior authorization, member support, care management, and provider operations. For providers, gains are coming from documentation support, scheduling and intake, patient communications, clinical workflows, and administrative tasks that eat up staff time.
Both sides of the industry share the same problem: too much manual work. AI is starting to change that.
AI Agents Are Emerging as the Strongest Source of ROI
One of the biggest signals in the report is the rise of agentic AI. Many organizations already have agents in production, and almost half plan to allocate more than half of their future AI budgets to agentic systems.
Agents mark a shift from insight to action. They pull information from multiple sources, apply rules, complete steps, and loop in humans only when needed. They reduce the time spent hunting for information or navigating fragmented systems.
- 44 percent of organizations surveyed are already using AI agents.
- 46 percent expect to invest the majority of their future AI budget in agents.
At Productive Edge and Boost Health AI, this shift mirrors everything we're seeing. Our agent accelerators help payers automate prior authorization, claims, care management workflows, and provider directories. On the provider side, we're helping teams remove friction from documentation, scheduling, care coordination, intake and registration, and patient communications.
The ROI shows up quickly because the agents take work off people's plates rather than creating more dashboards or inboxes to manage.
The Strongest Returns Are in Operations, Not Clinical AI
The study highlights five areas where AI is already delivering impact: productivity, patient and member experience, business growth, marketing, and security. The common thread across all of them: administrative work.
For payers, this includes claims, prior authorization, member services, care coordination, downstream clinical documentation, and provider data management.
For providers, it includes documentation, scheduling, call center support, intake, discharge coordination, revenue cycle tasks, and follow-up workflows.
These are the places where both groups spend the most time, and where small gains compound into large savings.
This is the logic behind our approach: focus on the work that happens thousands of times a day, not the edge cases.
Organizations Are Moving Faster Than Ever
A major takeaway from the report is the speed of deployment. Most organizations now expect AI projects to go live within three to six months. This is a meaningful change for both payers and providers, who have traditionally worked on multi-year timelines.
The new normal for AI deployment is measured in months, not years.
This lines up with how we deliver value. Rather than asking organizations to replace core systems or undertake a massive digital overhaul, we help them "surround" existing systems with AI agents that slot into current processes. Boost reinforces this with a step-by-step framework for identifying the right workflows, defining ROI, and rolling out agents safely.
The result is faster value, less disruption, and a clear path to scale.
Governance Is Becoming the Backbone of ROI
The report also makes it clear that governance and safety matter just as much as speed. Data privacy, security, and responsible use are the top concerns for healthcare leaders.
Payers and providers are facing the same pressure: protect data, ensure transparency, follow regulations, and maintain trust.
This is why our work always includes governance from day one. We give organizations a structure for oversight, model evaluation, risk controls, and safe deployment across sensitive operational workflows. Good governance doesn't slow you down - it keeps scaling from stalling later.
A Shared Path Forward for Payers and Providers
Google Cloud's report captures a turning point. AI is no longer about potential. It's about impact. Both payers and providers are seeing real ROI from reducing administrative friction and eliminating repetitive work. And they're moving toward AI agents as the next major investment area.
At Productive Edge and Boost Health, we see the same trend every day. The organizations that move fastest - and gain the most - follow a simple path:
- Start with the workflows that slow people down.
- Surround existing systems with AI instead of rebuilding everything.
- Use agents to clear out routine tasks.
- Build governance early so you can grow safely.
- Show value fast and expand from there.
This is the most practical way to reduce costs, improve experiences, and make work better for care teams, operations teams, and members and patients across the healthcare ecosystem.
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