Health plan executives have made up their minds about AI, it’s critical to network strategy. What’s still an open question is why. It’s not cost. This year’s survey ranks cost reduction fourth of five priorities for AI investment, behind accuracy, compliance, and member satisfaction. The real driver is knowledge and trust, wanting to know the network data is right before worrying about what it costs to get there.

Building on last year’s finding that payers were already flagging a data quality gap behind their most important decisions, this year’s survey of 103 payer executives digs into exactly where that gap lives. Quest Analytics’ Bob Tavernier unveil the results live, and get into what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what it actually takes to turn AI from a talking point into a tool that improves competitiveness, network optimization, and member access.