AI in Healthcare Workplaces: What Leaders Need to Know
While AI has huge potential in healthcare, the risks are more significant than for any other sector. But cautious advances are starting to take hold.
In healthcare, AI has the potential to improve patient care and fast-track medical research and developments that can save lives. But those benefits also come with serious risks, so it’s no surprise healthcare leaders are approaching it with caution.
"Right now, healthcare leaders are asking themselves which tasks can safely be automated or augmented by AI versus those that still require human judgment and empathy," says Liz Bickley, senior client partner and COO at Korn Ferry Healthcare. "That's why the vast majority of AI use in healthcare today is focused on removing administrative burden."
Identifying where else AI can be used safely and effectively in healthcare is being widely discussed. And in some organizations, it’s already helping healthcare teams by:
- Analyzing scans faster
- Flagging abnormalities earlier
- Prioritizing urgent cases
- Speeding up diagnostic workflows
- Taking on administrative tasks
at a glance
However, healthcare leaders are still understandably cautious about how and when they’re adopting AI in the workplace. The risks of getting it wrong can literally be a matter of life and death.
In radiology, for example, humans previously had to read and interpret every scan. Now, AI can handle much of the initial labor-intensive analysis, with medical teams providing oversight.
Clinical notes are another area where AI is having an impact. With patient consent, AI can listen during a chat they have with their doctor or nurse, then it can rapidly turn the conversation into notes. That frees up the medical team to spend more time on care.
It also assists with tasks for the administrative teams, such as scheduling, coding, claims processing, and billing.
That probably explains why only 8% of healthcare leaders say their organization is rolling out AI across the business, compared with 50% in tech.*
“A bad output in another sector might be an inconvenience, but in healthcare, you risk undermining patient trust or creating a safety risk,” says Bickley.
Beyond workflow fit, there's also the training gap that keeps healthcare teams from using AI effectively, even when the tools are already available.
The healthcare organizations seeing the most success with AI adoption take a bottom-up approach:
- Involve the people who'll use the tools, such as clinicians and nurses to admin, HR, and finance teams.
- Identify the pain points AI could help them solve, such as patient scheduling or billing.
- Redesign existing workflows around AI tools to fit their needs.
- Put guardrails in place to validate accuracy, protect patient data, keep humans involved in oversight, and monitor risks after deployment.
- Assign clear ownership for decisions, exceptions, and errors, so teams know who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
- Invest in training teams to use AI tools effectively.
Read on for a closer look at how leading healthcare organizations are putting AI to work, and what it takes to do it well.
Scaling AI Pilots to Drive Performance
A strong pilot is one thing. Scaling AI across the business is a lot harder.
You can’t just layer AI onto existing structures and ways of working. That’s where many organizations get stuck.
Real impact comes when AI becomes part of how the business operates. That means redesigning work and reshaping the organization around new ways of working.
How to Assess Your AI Readiness
Getting AI to work across your business takes more than one change.
Our AI Readiness Diagnostic helps you understand where you are in your AI journey and what may be holding progress back.
It focuses on the areas that help AI move beyond pilots and into everyday work, including:
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Strategy & Vision
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Leadership
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Organization Design
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Workforce Skills
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Culture
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Movement Making
Your results show where you’re ready to scale AI and what to focus on next.
AI Leadership
Leaders set the tone for everything. If they’re unsure about AI, everyone else will be too.
AI-ready leaders bring confidence and clarity from the start. They move fast without being reckless, and they look beyond short pilots to build impact that lasts.
When the work gets difficult, they hold the vision steady.
That means learning as they go and creating an environment where others can do the same.
Organization
“The real ‘aha’ moment is realizing that AI is a way to transform work itself, not simply do the same work faster.”
Shanda Mints, VP, AI Strategy & Transformation, Korn Ferry
Organizations don’t become AI-ready by accident.
It starts with how work is designed. Jobs, roles, and decisions all need to reflect how people and technology come together.
With the right systems and data in place, AI can scale across the organization.
Get the design right, and AI becomes part of how the business runs. Get it wrong, and even the best technology sits unused.
Workforce
An AI-ready workforce has the skills and confidence to use AI in daily work.
People understand when AI removes friction and speeds up work. And they know when human judgment should lead.
They also have clarity on how their roles are changing and where they can grow.
That understanding helps people use AI in ways that improve the work itself.
Culture
“AI transformation moves faster when people and communities learn together.”
Mirka Kowalczuk, AI Strategy & Transformation Leader, Korn Ferry
Culture shapes whether people use AI or avoid it.
In AI-ready cultures, people feel safe to experiment and learn without worrying about getting it wrong. Curiosity is encouraged, and trust builds overtime.
AI becomes something teams use together, rather than something imposed on them.
Movement Making
AI transformation needs momentum. People need to see what’s changing and why it matters. They also need to see how to start using AI in their own work.
Movement Making is Korn Ferry’s approach to helping organizations build that momentum. It brings together clear communication, visible leadership, and practical support so AI becomes part of everyday work.
That’s how change starts to stick.
Why Korn Ferry for Healthcare?
Korn Ferry helps healthcare organizations find the right people and develop the workforce strategies needed for long-term growth.
With a dedicated healthcare practice and deep industry knowledge, we work across the full talent journey, from leadership strategy to workforce planning to total rewards.
We serve organizations across the healthcare continuum, including hospitals, health systems, payers, pharmaceutical companies, specialty care practices, and medical device companies.
Our healthcare specialists bring both industry depth and cross-industry perspective to every engagement, working closely with clients to solve complex people challenges.
We work with 10 of the top 10 academic medical centers, 10 of the top 10 managed care and health insurance firms, 20 of the top 20 hospitals, and four of the top five children’s hospitals.
What's Next for AI Adoption in Healthcare?
AI adoption still comes with real risks in healthcare. But delaying adoption can also mean missing out on major benefits that could have a real impact on patients and medical staff.
The healthcare organizations moving forward are actively testing practical use cases and treating AI fluency as a core workforce capability. They're training teams to understand where AI best fits in and how to use it safely in their day-to-day work to increase productivity.
“Organizations leading the way are thinking about AI as an operating model change, not just another software procurement,” says Bickley. “They're being very deliberate about what they expect to happen and how they'll measure it."
Get in Touch
Find out how Korn Ferry’s Healthcare team can help you build an AI adoption strategy that helps your organization perform better.
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