As 2025 comes to an end, Health IT Answers asked experts to weigh in on challenges, trends, and opportunities the healthcare industry faces in the coming year. Read Verato CEO Clay Ritchey’s insights below and see the full articles on Health IT Answers.
On workforce shortages and AI
“The most effective use of AI will be to strengthen the healthcare workforce, enabling every role to practice at the top of their license. Across hospitals and health plans, staff burnout often stems from fragmented data and the constant need to verify or re-enter information.
When accurate, connected identity data support AI, it can streamline those workflows and eliminate the manual data chasing that pulls clinicians away from patients and undermines efficiency. Trusted data, therefore, will become a genuine source of support for the people who deliver care every day.”
On the business and finance on healthcare in 2026
“The health IT market will continue to consolidate as buyers simplify their technology stacks. Stand-alone tools may be phased out as health systems and payers turn to platforms that connect member, patient, provider, and partner data within a single ecosystem. Successful vendors will need to prove they can interoperate across systems of record, engagement and insight requiring accurate identity intelligence to unify data across an ever increasingly complex data ecosystem.
Procurement decisions will center on real-world interoperability, strong security, and the ability to use trusted identity to power AI and all strategic data initiatives safely across the enterprise.”
On realizing ROI for patient experience investments in 2026
“Exceptional experiences will be measured by patient acquisition, retention, and expanded lifetime value, not clicks, as patients remain loyal to systems that make every micro-moment personal and every connection meaningful and in context.
In 2026, digital health investments will start to deliver real returns, but only for organizations that address the data foundations beneath them. Many health systems adopted virtual and digital tools before unifying patient identity, leaving experiences fragmented and outcomes difficult to track. Next year will show that sustainable ROI comes when trusted identity connects the entire patient journey.”
On scaling value-based care models in 2026
“The CMS TEAM model signals real progress toward its 2030 vision for value-based care by making coordination and accountability mandatory. But organizations will only keep pace with these requirements if they have a trusted identity framework that links every record to the right individual. Without that foundation, the promise of value-based care slips further from reach. With it, healthcare can finally achieve the continuity, transparency, and shared accountability the value-based model is designed to deliver.”