Deloitte LLP has released new research showing a growing divide in health care between early adopters of agentic AI and more cautious organizations. The report indicates that 85% of health care leaders plan to increase investment in agentic AI over the next two to three years, with 61% already building or implementing initiatives.
Adoption Challenges Easing
Long-standing barriers to AI adoption are beginning to ease. Forty percent of surveyed leaders say technical talent is no longer a major challenge, while resistance to change and leadership buy-in have also declined. This shift is enabling organizations to move beyond pilots and experimentation toward scaled deployment.
The AI Divide
Early adopters are scaling investment rapidly and expect significant returns, with 59% projecting cost savings of more than 20% within two to three years. In contrast, only 13% of cautious “watchers” anticipate similar savings. This divergence suggests that organizations embedding agentic AI into core operating models are positioned to capture disproportionate productivity gains.
Transforming Care Models
Agentic AI is evolving from passive data repositories to active participants in care delivery and operations. By orchestrating complex tasks, AI agents can break down data silos, provide longitudinal patient views, and reduce errors. Multi-agent solutions are being prioritized by 82% of early adopters, coordinating work across consumer engagement, care delivery, back-office operations, and payment processing.
Leadership Perspective
Jay Bhatt, DO, MPH, MP, managing director at Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, emphasized that agentic AI can reclaim time for physicians by automating routine administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on complex decision-making and patient care. Bill Fera, MD, Deloitte’s AI Health Care leader, noted that adoption challenges are easing and the market is shifting from “if” to “how fast,” marking a strategic inflection point for the industry.
Investment Perspective
For investors, Deloitte’s findings highlight a clear opportunity in health care AI. Organizations that move decisively toward enterprise-wide adoption are positioned to achieve structural cost savings and productivity gains. As agentic AI becomes a catalyst for end-to-end transformation, companies providing scalable AI solutions may benefit from accelerating demand across the health care ecosystem.
Conclusion
The Deloitte report underscores that agentic AI is no longer a peripheral technology but a strategic lever for health care transformation. Early adopters are poised to widen performance gaps, reinvest savings, and drive innovation, while cautious organizations risk falling behind.
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Deloitte LLP Deloitte provides audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to many of the world’s leading brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 9,000 U.S.-based private companies. With approximately 470,000 professionals across more than 150 countries, Deloitte is part of the largest global professional services network, focused on delivering impact that matters.
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