Across the globe, healthcare IT (HIT) investment and maturity vary from region to region. KLAS’ latest Global HIT Trends report—our third annual report on this topic—provides a comprehensive overview of the HIT investment landscape in multiple regions of the world (the US excluded). The report draws insights from over 170 organizations across nearly 40 countries, highlighting the most current trends impacting healthcare IT in 2025. It covers key areas such as investment priorities, exciting new technologies, cloud adoption status, and plans for HIT consulting engagements.
AI: The Dominating Force
AI has emerged as a standout IT priority for organizations in 2025, with many respondents mentioning it as one of their top-three areas for investment. In fact, AI is now a higher priority than EHRs and digitalization, which had held the top spot for the previous two years. The shift is not surprising given the fact that organizations in many regions have now moved off paper systems and fully digitalized and given the growing hype, relevance, and development of AI in healthcare.
Specifically, healthcare organizations globally report high interest in ambient speech technology, a perspective shared by organizations in the US. Organizations value the technology’s potential to ease the documentation burden and increase clinician satisfaction, leading many global organizations to deem it the technology they are most excited about.
Additionally, imaging continues to be a central use case for AI, particularly in radiology, pathology, and diagnostic imaging. Organizations who mention AI imaging are focusing on expanding AI applications across multiple imaging use cases, especially diagnostics and radiology.
As KLAS continues to track global HIT trends, we hope to provide more granular information on global interest in AI and, specifically, ambient speech technology. (For more information on the performance of ambient speech vendors in the US, read KLAS’ Ambient Speech 2025 report.)
EHRs & Digitalization: Still Crucial
While AI has taken the lead in investment priorities, EHRs and digitalization remain crucial areas of focus for healthcare organizations, especially in regions like Asia, Canada, and Latin America. Organizations are heavily focused on implementing, optimizing, and modernizing their EHRs. Digital transformation initiatives are gaining momentum to streamline operations and improve patient care. Across global regions, key trends include migration to cloud-based solutions, interoperability enhancement, and paperless digitalization strategies.
Digital Health & Patient Engagement
Digital health remains a key focus for organizations, though fewer respondents this year list it as one of their top-three standalone investment priorities. In many regions, digital health is increasingly being redefined and advanced through generative AI applications, which are enhancing virtual care, patient engagement, and data access. This evolution is especially pronounced in the Middle East, where digital health—often in tandem with generative AI—is a top investment priority.
Cybersecurity: A Surprisingly Flat Trend
Despite the rising number of ransomware attacks and heightened regulatory requirements, investment in cybersecurity has remained virtually unchanged compared to last year. Still, cybersecurity remains a critical concern for healthcare organizations globally, especially in Asia, where organizations are focusing on regulatory compliance, hospital-specific security, and outcome-based security contracting. In Canada, the focus is on expanding cybersecurity measures, especially concerning AI governance and regulatory alignment. European respondents emphasize strategies like threat assessment, edge security, identity and access management, and multifactor authentication. In the Middle East and Africa, the focus is on infrastructure upscaling and network security. We anticipate cybersecurity to increase in importance for many, as organizations continue to respond to high-level cyberattacks and build security for cloud and AI programs.
Cloud Strategies & Future Trends
Cloud deployment strategies have continued to mature for global healthcare organizations over time. Cloud adoption is steadily progressing, with many organizations actively planning their cloud strategies or being in early adoption stages. Cloud adoption is seen as essential for leveraging AI and other emerging technologies. In various regions, organizations are prioritizing cloud solutions for critical systems, data analytics, and disaster recovery. Challenges such as privacy legislation, cybersecurity concerns, and cost are influencing the pace of adoption. Still, the trend toward hybrid models and cloud-readiness for future scalability is evident across the globe. As healthcare organizations mature in their cloud deployment strategies, KLAS plans to provide more granular information on where organizations stand with the cloud.
Read the Report
This year’s Global HIT Trends report offers valuable insights into the current and future trends in healthcare IT. As healthcare organizations and HIT vendors continue to innovate and adapt, these trends will undoubtedly shape the future of healthcare IT. Looking ahead, AI will continue to be a dominating force for organizations in the next few years as technology develops and organizations mature. As technology continues to evolve, KLAS plans to publish more granular, comprehensive data to better capture the current state and future priorities of global healthcare organizations. Read the report for more specifics on how priorities differ from region to region, which cloud providers are top of mind, and which types of consulting engagements and firms are being considered.
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