Hospitals and clinics are expecting a slightly better 2024 compared to last year thanks to a return to mostly in-person care, patients resuming preventive visits and the gradual easing of labor costs and shortages. Still, the evaporation of pandemic-related emergency funding will deal a blow to resource-strained health systems, and leaders say theyll ramp up tech investments, including in artificial intelligence-based tools.

Health care providers financial performance isnt uniform and varies widely by setting, like rural or urban, as well as size and range of services offered. But they already showed signs of gradual improvement in 2023, leaving more funds available for technology investments, analysts told STAT.

HCA Healthcare, a for-profit health system spanning more than 180 hospitals and 2,000 sites across the country, brought in nearly $48 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, compared to about $45 billion in that same period in 2022. Highmark Health, which operates both a health insurance business and a 14-hospital network in Pennsylvania and New York, took in about $20 billion in revenue in that same period, up 4% from 2022.

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2024 health tech budgets to be driven by AI tools, automation - STAT