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A new survey of hospital and health system C-suite leaders shows virtual care and digital health to be top strategic initiatives for the next two years. But when it comes to virtual care, the report revealed that fewer than 30% of those surveyed said their organizations had earned significant return on investment from the services they offer.
WHY IT MATTERS
The new research, from consultancy Sage Growth Partners, found C-suite leaders recognizing that better integration with electronic health records and IT systems could improve use and efficacy.
And most respondents (78%) said they anticipate potential further investment in changes to their core platform or investing in a new one to enable virtual care in the next one to three years.
The data also showed that new digital care opportunities are emerging, and that artificial intelligence will continue to have an evolving role in enhancing clinical and administrative experiences.
This year's annual survey gauged the opinions of more than 101 hospital and health system leaders across integrated delivery networks, academic medical centers and independent hospitals during the second quarter of 2025.
The report, "Strategic Shift: Why Patient Experience Is Now Healthcare's Top C-Suite Priority," is the second in a three-part series and focuses on the evolving role of AI.
Sage Growth Partners said it looked specifically at healthcare leaders sentiments on patient experience, virtual care services, digital health priorities and the persistent challenge of demonstrating ROI.
Over the past five years, "patient experience has been on a steady climb up the C-suite agenda, and it's now firmly at the top," said Dan D'Orazio, the company's CEO, in a statement.
"Healthcare executives are caught between competing pressures," added Stephanie Kovalick, Sage's chief strategy officer. "They understand that investing in digital health and virtual care is critical for improving patient experience, but demonstrating ROI remains elusive."
The new report found that half of the healthcare leaders cited potential investments in telehealth platforms, while 47% of them indicated an interest in incorporating remote patient monitoring. They also said improving ease-of-use and incorporating AI into digital health tools were top priorities.
Among other key findings:
- 49% of C-suite executives ranked patient experience as their organization’s top strategic initiative for 2025–2027—a sharp rise from just 14% in 2020.
- 72% said integrating virtual care services is critical to their care delivery model.
- 50% said telehealth and 47% say remote patient monitoring are among their C-suites’ top five digital health priorities for the next two years.
- 81% believe AI will have a meaningful impact on expanding remote monitoring and improving the overall patient experience.
The research could also help executives better understand how their peers are navigating this intersection of patient experience, virtual care and digital transformation. It looks at emerging opportunities, such as in emergency department triage and reducing burdens on after-hours care.
"We’ve seen solid gains in patient engagement – our telehealth platform boosted appointment adherence by 15%," one chief information officer of an independent hospital said in the report.
"We’ve saved about $1.2 million annually by diverting non-emergency cases from urgent care," this CIO added. "Our remote monitoring tools for diabetes and hypertension have reduced readmissions by 10%, which is huge for value-based care metrics and [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid] reimbursements."
About 60% of the healthcare leaders told Sage that their organizations offered virtual primary care visits and RPM, while more than 50% offered telestroke care and more than 40% regularly scheduled inpatient virtual consults with specialists.
"Healthcare leaders recognize that to remain competitive, meeting consumer expectations for digital engagement is no longer optional, it is a top priority," said D'Orazio.
THE LARGER TREND
RPM and virtual care technologies have created a paradigm shift for healthcare. And, like any massive change to the care delivery's modus operandi, they're seeing successes and hurdles.
But long-term success in this critical sector also depends in great part on government policies and the regulatory climate.
In Q2, healthcare leaders may have been bullish and full of optimism on the fate of telehealth and virtual care. However, the government shutdown has effectively thrown down a red flag and could potentially halt long-term progress if the government fails to progress on key aspects of virtual care delivery payments and rules.
Lawmakers failing to extend and make permanent pandemic-era waivers for virtual care delivery that expired on September 30 and a continuing government shutdown that began on October 1 has resulted in many providers either not able to deliver telehealth, issuing advance notices of non-coverage and experiencing the chaos of trying to reschedule Medicare patients care to in-person appointments.
"Every day that goes by, it's worse," Kyle Zebley, senior vice president, public policy, at the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of ATA Action, told Healthcare IT News about the ongoing shutdown this week.
ON THE RECORD
"The organizations that succeed will be those that can best balance strategic investment with operational efficiency, and that includes properly leveraging AI to drive both clinical and administrative improvements," said Kovalick of Sage Growth Partners in a statement about its new report.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
