Most US healthcare providers yet to deploy agentic AI despite growing confidence in its potential
Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds just 3% of organisations have moved AI agents into live workflows
Only 3% of US healthcare provider organisations have deployed agentic AI in live workflows, according to research published in the January issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, conducted by Microsoft, the technology group, and The Health Management Academy, a peer learning network for large health system executives, assessed how providers are progressing along what the authors describe as an agentic AI maturity curve.
Agentic AI refers to systems capable of pursuing goals and executing multi-step tasks with a degree of autonomy, rather than simply responding to individual prompts.
The research drew on surveys and in-depth interviews with senior healthcare executives and found that 43% of respondents are piloting or testing such tools.
Despite limited deployment, confidence in the technology's longer-term impact was notably high.
Sixty percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that agentic AI will meaningfully improve or disrupt the provider-patient experience, while 57% anticipated productivity gains.
Nearly half expected deeper collaboration between humans and AI systems within three to five years.
The findings also highlighted significant operational concerns among those surveyed.
Seventy-seven percent said they expected AI agents to improve backend productivity, but 60% cited reskilling and upskilling the workforce as a top challenge as agent ecosystems expand.
Qualitative interviews suggested that leaders view agentic AI not as an incremental upgrade but as a strategic end state, one that depends on workforce readiness, governance frameworks and robust data infrastructure.
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Microsoft said organisations must invest deliberately across those areas to move from experimentation to sustained value.
The gap between testing and deployment underlines a familiar pattern in healthcare technology adoption, where regulatory caution, legacy systems and workforce constraints often slow the path from pilot to practice.
The Recap
- Research assesses healthcare progress on agentic AI maturity curve.
- 43% piloting agentic AI; 3% deployed in live workflows.
- Leaders call for governance, data foundations, and workforce training.
