Looking to 2025, we are all talking about artificial intelligence (AI)—grappling with how to harness AI and its applications to operationalize our data in the most responsible and meaningful ways. However, AI is just one element of the seismically shifting healthcare landscape. To prepare you for 2025 and beyond, we asked several Lightbeam leaders to weigh in with their predictions and projections. So, here is what you need to know—Part I of two posts:
Integration of AI Across the Enterprise
AI is everywhere, and adoption is expanding exponentially. AI is infiltrating our systems, our media, our imaginations, and our fears. In considering how to integrate AI effectively in high-consequence business environments like healthcare, Lightbeam Chief Data Scientist, Soy Chen, explains that it is essential we first recognize the distinctions and definitions of AI—its purpose, application, use, and type as we move into 2025. Not all AI is created equally, nor is its application, and the confusion can exacerbate our skepticism and uncertainty.
“You want the right tool for the right job,” cautions Chen. “For example, Chat GPT, the generative AI product that has captured the world’s attention, is based on an open large language model. Predictive AI for clinical applications is vastly different, as it is data driven.” She adds that the distinction is significant because predictive AI works within hard guardrails and does not “hallucinate” results, as generative AI models are known to do. “We are not incorporating language models into our data-driven products,” Chen says, “which have a tighter tolerance because we adhere to the highest performance standards. They are patient-facing, and the stakes are high.”
“I predict the market will be inundated with AI start-ups in 2025 that will address a wide range of specialty business niches, so be sure to check security protocols first on any AI solution you consider,” says Lightbeam Chief Technology Officer, Mike Hoxter. “AI tools are easy to build. Security is not, and it’s the highest priority for the Lightbeam platform and Lightbeam AI. We are HITRUST compliant, the global standard for information protection.”
The transformational power of AI is its ability to operationalize your data at scale—aggregating a variety of internal and external sources to produce actionable insights that will transform your organization and patient lives.
Accelerating AI Adoption
Looking ahead, we predict that healthcare providers will accelerate the implementation of both generative and predictive/prescriptive AI-powered solutions to meet patients where they are and reduce disparities in access and compliance. With the increasing acceptance and integration of embedded AI and special purpose-built AI models, providers will automate workflows with tools like Lightbeam AI to personalize care in real time and identify rising risk patients for early intervention.
Investment in prescriptive AI will improve patient engagement, optimize customer experience interactions, increase operating efficiencies, and minimize costs. Lightbeam AI is a market differentiator—leading the way in synthesizing data from EHRs, claims, the Health Information Exchange, and health systems information, as well as external demographic/socio-economic warehouses to minimize staff burnout, maximize savings, and optimize patient outcomes.
Soy Chen, Chief Data Scientist, Lightbeam Health Solutions
Mike Hoxter, Chief Technology Officer, Lightbeam Health Solutions
Rapid Growth of Care Customization
The continuing expansion of personalized care management will require that health organizations engage in proactive outreach and education—eliminating barriers to health with tailored, wraparound services that go beyond traditional clinical care. To meet these and other value-based care (VBC) requirements, providers will increasingly integrate data-driven, purpose-built solutions) to automate risk identification, prevention customization, and care management workflows.
Hyper-Personalized Care
Platforms like Lightbeam AI will help ACOs and providers minimize avoidable admissions and maximize reimbursement value by synthesizing demographic, socio-economic, genetic, clinical, and lifestyle data to inform clinician decision-making. When implemented with solutions like CareSignal Deviceless Remote Patient Monitoring® (RPM) or wearable technologies, these real-time actionable data insights will systematically reduce preventable condition escalations, emergency department readmissions, and injuries/falls at home.
Care Orchestration at Home
As home care, including meals and various forms of behavioral and physical therapy, increasingly becomes the preferred treatment option, medical professionals will monitor and engage patients through validated apps, wearables, and connected devices. CareSignal RPM’s risk-assessment tool can also aggregate macro data and trends over time to mitigate patient risk in any setting and deliver the right care at the right time with the right resource—even as patient risk levels, social determinants of health (SDOH) criteria, or clinical issues change.
Prevention Focus
As prevention continues to be a top priority in 2025, providers may take a more proactive approach to preventative care and intervention, which are key components of VBC models. In addition, population health management and risk stratification are becoming more critical—requiring improved efficiencies in chronic condition management. The expansion of collaborative care models will encourage healthcare providers to work together more effectively to deliver comprehensive, coordinated, and customized care.
Briana Rodriguez, BSN, RN Director of Clinical Programs, Care Management, Lightbeam Health Solutions
Increasing Focus on ROI of Digital Transformation
Sophisticated healthcare organizations, especially Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) and health plans, will carefully assess their current infrastructure investments as they seek to modernize legacy technology stacks with innovative solutions. Scrutinizing all dollars spent for incumbent solutions, healthcare buyers will place greater emphasis on eliminating stagnant solutions, reducing the total number of vendors, and demonstrating ROI. They will instead look for trusted partnerships that can consolidate currently disjointed capabilities, points of failure, and mitigate cybersecurity risk.
Putting AI to Work
A key element of digital optimization is the strategic and methodical integration of AI tools. Woven into almost every healthcare projection for 2025, AI is an integral component of improving healthcare delivery at all levels. The current financial and labor challenges plaguing the healthcare industry will accelerate adoption across use cases. We have already seen the rapid adoption of AI for ambient listening to significantly reduce clinical documentation burden. This is just a “toe in the water” that will serve as a catalyst to overcome market skepticism about AI. As a result, leaders will view AI as a “must have” in their portfolios to ease the weight of increasing costs, labor shortages, and attrition.
Data Management and Health Equity Programs
Health equity will be a top priority for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2025. While many healthcare organizations have heeded the call to collect patient information regarding SDOH, very few have scaled downstream activities that proactively address and manage these social needs. Therefore, given the increasing emphasis on data analysis, the CMMI is likely to introduce additional requirements that shift from plan development and implementation to measuring quality and cost outcomes within the most socially vulnerable patient cohorts. Eventually, we could see social drivers of health diagnoses (Z-codes) weighted as contributory to the Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF).
Patrick Burton, Senior Vice President, Lightbeam Health Solutions
Watch for Part II. We have more trends and projections to come. It’s going to be a complex year.