NVIDIA 2025 Healthcare AI Report (Spoiler Alert: AI Adoption Is Soaring)

More than 80% of healthcare and life sciences professionals say AI has helped boost revenue at their organizations, and many (45%) saw those gains in less than a year, according to NVIDIA’s State of AI in Healthcare and Life Sciences: 2025 Trends survey.

The findings come from a survey conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, which included more than 600 professionals across pharma, biotech, medtech, digital health, and provider organizations. About 40% of respondents work at companies with more than 1,000 employees, and roles range from executives to clinicians and researchers.

The survey backs up what healthcare leaders have seen since ChatGPT went mainstream in late 2022. AI is being adopted across the board to help reduce costs, streamline workflows, and speed up development cycles, with a full 63% of respondents saying they’re actively using the technology.

Healthcare AI enters the paperwork arena

One of the most common applications is documentation, especially tools that can generate or summarize clinical notes. Among organizations using generative AI, more than half (55%) cited this as a top use case. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants followed closely at 53%. Providers are growing especially reliant on these tools to simplify administrative tasks and optimize workflows.

This application of generative AI is part of a bigger trend: healthcare workers want AI that helps them complete their daily tasks. Paperwork has always been healthcare’s biggest headache, and AI is finally taking some of that burden off doctors and nurses. In fact, 45% of organizations actively using generative AI said they saw a return on investment in less than 12 months.

From administration to innovation

Bigger breakthroughs are happening as companies move beyond basic AI tools. In pharma and biotech, 66% of respondents said they’re investing in generative AI as part of their efforts to accelerate research and drug discovery, such as analyzing chemical interactions and identifying novel protein structures. Medtech companies are using AI to enhance diagnostics, with 71% focused on imaging tools that support faster, more accurate interpretations.

Even less traditional applications are gaining traction. Respondents pointed to emerging use cases in genomics, personalized medicine, and AI-supported training and education. These tools aren’t everywhere yet, but they show a growing focus on AI built specifically for medical work.

Still, as AI adoption grows, so do the challenges. Thirty-three percent of respondents cited data privacy and sovereignty as their top challenge, especially at larger organizations. Companies with fewer than 1,000 employees were more likely to name budget constraints as their biggest hurdle.

Different healthcare sectors, different AI priorities

Diving deeper into the study’s findings shows that different parts of the healthcare industry are using AI in their own ways. While 63% of all respondents say they’re actively using AI, adoption rates rise even higher in digital health (71%) and pharma and biotech (69%). Among larger companies, 37% are investing in six or more use cases. In contrast, small and midsize firms, often limited by funding, tend to focus on three to five.

The most widely used workloads across the board are data analytics (58%), generative AI (54%), and large language models (53%). But priorities vary. Payers and providers rely most on conversational AI, while medtech companies rank data processing among their top three workloads.

How companies use AI reflects what matters most to them. Medical imaging and diagnostics lead in medtech (71%), drug discovery tops the list for pharma and biotech (59%), and clinical decision support ranks highest in digital healthcare (54%). Providers are prioritizing workflow optimization and AI for administrative support.

Respondents’ goals also vary by segment. For pharma and biotech companies, speeding up research and development is the main goal. In fact, 54% said that’s their top priority. Medtech companies are focused on improving accuracy and getting better insights, while hospitals and insurance companies look to run smoother operations and improve patient care.

Overall, the top three AI goals cited were speeding up R&D (24%), improving client outcomes (22%), and delivering better insights for doctors and researchers (22%).

No dip in sight for healthcare AI investment

Most organizations expect to increase their investment in AI going forward. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said their AI budgets will grow in 2025, and more than a third expect increases of over 10%. Most plan to expand their AI use (47%), improve workflows (34%), or hire more AI experts (26%).

Eighty-six percent of respondents believe AI is essential to their organization’s future, and 83% expect it to transform healthcare and life sciences in the next three to five years. To maintain the growing momentum of healthcare AI, the industry must overcome its budget and regulatory challenges.