A majority of healthcare organizations plan to maintain or increase their spending on health IT professional services in 2025, even as policy shifts and margin pressures create widespread financial uncertainty, according to a Nov. 12 KLAS Research report.
KLAS surveyed 105 CIOs between February and August 2025, representing organizations of varying sizes and types, including standalone hospitals, academic medical centers, ambulatory care organizations and small and large health systems.
Here are seven key findings from the report:
- More than 80% of CIOs said they expect spending on professional services to hold steady or grow over the next 12 months. Of 101 CIOs who provided projections, 33% said they plan to moderately increase spending and 19% expect significant increases. Thirty-seven percent anticipate flat budgets, while 12% plan to reduce spending.
- EHR services remain the top area of investment, driven by ongoing optimization, upgrades and implementation work. CIOs emphasized the EHR’s role in operational and financial efficiency. Cybersecurity continues to be a major priority, though urgency has eased since the peak following the 2024 Change Healthcare incident. AI and automation are emerging growth areas as organizations pursue governance and advisory support for expanding use cases.
- CIOs interviewed after the introduction of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in May 2025 expressed slightly more conservative outlooks. Before May 20, 44% of respondents expected to increase spending; after the bill, that share rose to 57%, but with more respondents shifting toward moderate rather than significant increases.
- Impact Advisors leads CIO mindshare as the firm most frequently named as best positioned to meet organizations’ needs across priority areas. Other commonly cited firms include Huron, Nordic, Chartis and Epic.
- Organizations planning to decrease spending said they are shifting from consulting-heavy project phases into operational modes following large initiatives such as EHR implementations. Some noted that consultant spending for short-term work often equals or exceeds the salary of a full-time employee, prompting reallocation toward internal teams.
- Staff augmentation remains a widely used strategy, particularly for high-intensity or short-term projects. Many CIOs said workforce shortages and competition for technical talent make it difficult to support all priorities with internal staff alone.
- Smaller health systems were more likely to report flat spending expectations. Many said they must balance constrained budgets with essential IT initiatives and are prioritizing projects with clearer ROI or direct patient-care impact.
