AI in healthcare is moving fast, and for CIOs, the reality is neither pure hype nor unbridled enthusiasm, but something more complex.
Technology leaders describe a landscape crowded with vendors, saturated with promises and noise, yet simultaneously producing real, measurable gains inside clinical and operational workflows.
Across the country, CIOs say that despite the overheated market surrounding AI, its impact on daily work is already tangible. Many see the moment as a mix of intense pressure, rapid experimentation and genuine transformation, a technology wave that is still early, uneven and evolving, but undeniably changing how care is delivered.
“AI in healthcare is not a bubble. It is a fundamental shift,” Jordan Ruch, CIO at Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare, told Becker’s. “Unlike the dot-com era, today’s investments are anchored in clear clinical and operational outcomes: improving workflows, reducing administrative burden and enhancing patient engagement.”
He pointed to measurable, present-day returns.
“We are seeing 40 percent less time spent on documentation, freeing clinicians to focus on care instead of paperwork. That is not theory. It is measurable improvement,” he said.
For Mr. Ruch and others, the question now is not whether AI will endure, but how it can scale responsibly with the right guardrails.
“This is genuine transformation. AI is becoming a foundational layer of healthcare delivery rather than a passing trend,” he said.
Darrell Bodnar, CIO of Whitefield, N.H.-based North Country Healthcare, echoed that assessment and said the technology’s staying power is already clear.
“What excites me most is that the potential here goes far beyond financial gains, AI is fundamentally changing how we deliver care, improve safety, and reduce burden,” he told Becker’s.
While the influx of vendors resembles early technology boom cycles, he sees consolidation, not disruption, ahead.
“The real value will ultimately come from the few who deliver measurable outcomes. This is less of a bubble and more of a lasting transformation that is still in its early chapters,” Mr. Bodnar said.
Other CIOs describe a similar duality: the market feels overheated, but the operational and clinical benefits are increasingly undeniable.
“The market is overheated, but the clinical and operational transformation is real, durable and already embedded in care,” Omer Awan, CIO of Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, told Becker’s.
Oncology workflows, from imaging to pathology to trial matching, already rely on AI augmentation, he said, and pressures such as data overload and workforce shortages make the technology “necessary, not optional.”
At the same time, Mr. Awan said, the noise and proliferation of point solutions make it harder for health systems to adopt safely and effectively.
“Valuations and hype are outpacing health systems’ ability to adopt safely. The bubble will pop. The transformation will stay,” he said.
Tom Bartiromo, CIO at West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health, sees a similar dynamic: transformative technology set against swelling expectations.
“I do think we are in a bubble, maybe one built on truth,” he told Becker’s. “The technology is transformative, but valuations and vendor promises have outpaced operational reality.”
He believes a correction will separate durable tools from overpromised ones.
“A correction will mark its maturity,” Mr. Bartiromo said, leaving behind the systems that integrated AI “quietly, safely and measurably.”
Some leaders compare the moment to earlier technology cycles that burned hot before settling into long-term value and widespread adoption.
“AI feels unstoppable, but so did the dot-com boom,” Edward Maule, CIO at Marlton N.J.-based Advocare, told Becker’s.
He noted that many products being marketed today “do not deliver on their promises,” yet he cautioned against stepping back from experimentation.
“Those that stop chasing AI because of that will regret it. In the words of Ethan Mollick, this is the worst AI you will ever work with. They might not be worth the money now, but they will be very shortly, and you want to be in a position to take advantage of it when it is,” Mr. Maule said.
Other CIOs stressed that the hype is what is inflated, not the underlying technology.
“AI in healthcare is not a bubble, but the hype around it is,” Rick Leesmann, CIO at Klamath Falls, Ore.-based Sky Lakes Medical Center, told Becker’s.
He said the real differentiator is whether organizations use AI to solve concrete problems rather than simply to signal innovation.
“The organizations that will win are the ones embedding AI into workflows that genuinely make life easier for clinicians and care safer for patients,” he said. Deploying AI simply to check a box, he warned, is where “the bubble bursts.”
Some CIOs say inflated expectations stem from a mix of mislabeling and overpromising, which can obscure the technology’s real capabilities.
“The marketing surrounding AI has significantly exaggerated its true market,” John McFarland, CIO at Tampa, Fla.-based Shriners Children’s, told Becker’s.
He noted that many so-called AI products are “merely rebranded robotic process automation.” Still, he does not foresee dramatic disruption. Instead, he expects a steady shift in how the workforce operates.
“We are on the brink of the next industrial revolution,” he said, one where staff move into “higher cognitive roles,” much like workers who once transitioned from manual assembly work to managing robotic processes.
Veteran CIOs say the moment resembles earlier eras of overexuberance but with critical differences that suggest the technology will outlast the noise.
Tom Gordon, CIO at Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health, sees parallels to the dot-com boom, when breakthroughs and inflated expectations collided.
“Some AI solutions are being marketed before they are fully validated,” he told Becker’s.
But he also points to a more mature digital infrastructure and a more knowledgeable set of buyers who are demanding evidence.
“In my view, AI in healthcare is not a bubble in the traditional sense,” Mr. Gordon said. While some startups will falter, “the underlying transformation is real and lasting.”
He believes the organizations that thrive will be those that match governance with ambition.
“If we approach this wave with both ambition and discipline, we are building something enduring, far beyond the fate of any single bubble,” he said.
