Five Challenges Facing Healthcare in 2027
What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Healthcare in 2027?
Financial pressure, workforce strain, AI implementation, cybersecurity and access are shaping healthcare priorities for the year ahead.
Healthcare leaders are heading into 2027 under pressure to improve performance while managing rising costs, workforce constraints and rapid technological change.
Artificial intelligence is moving from pilots into everyday workflows. Cybersecurity threats continue to put healthcare operations and patient data at risk. At the same time, affordability and access remain persistent concerns for patients and the organizations that serve them.
These five challenges are likely to shape healthcare strategy in 2027 and influence where leaders focus their attention, resources and investments.
1. Financial Pressure Is Raising the Bar for Healthcare Investment
Rising labor, drug and supply costs are forcing organizations to scrutinize where they invest and what those investments deliver.
Financial challenges remain the top concern among hospital CEOs surveyed by the American College of Healthcare Executives. The cost of delivering care helps explain why. The American Hospital Association’s 2026 Costs of Caring report found that total hospital expenses grew 7.5% in 2025, more than twice the growth in hospital prices. Workforce costs increased 5.6%, supply expenses rose 9.9% and drug expenses climbed 13.6%.
Administrative burden adds to those costs. Hospitals spent an estimated $43 billion in 2025 trying to collect payments from insurers for care already delivered, according to the AHA. Healthcare organizations are making investment decisions against that backdrop. Cybersecurity, AI, workforce technology, infrastructure and new care models all require funding, increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable value.
For leaders, the standard for investment is becoming clearer: What problem does it solve, what does implementation require and what clinical, operational or financial result should the organization expect?
2. Workforce Pressure Is Forcing Healthcare to Rethink How Work Gets Done
Recruitment and retention remain important, but healthcare organizations are also redesigning roles, workflows and care models.
Workforce challenges rank second among hospital CEOs’ top concerns, with shortages, burnout and retention continuing to put pressure on healthcare organizations.
The response is expanding beyond recruitment. The AHA’s 2026 workforce analysis points to health systems redesigning care models, upskilling employees and using technology to reduce administrative burden and give clinicians more time for direct patient care.
AI is becoming part of that work. Ambient documentation, virtual nursing, AI-assisted scheduling and workflow automation can reduce repetitive tasks or redistribute work across care teams. Their value depends on how well they fit clinical workflows and whether they actually save time.
Nurses and other clinicians need a meaningful role in those decisions. They can identify where workflows create unnecessary burden, where automation could help and where technology may introduce new safety or usability concerns.
This is already changing nursing practice. AI’s impact on nursing and the healthcare workforce extends from documentation and staffing to the digital skills clinicians will need as these technologies become more common.
3. Healthcare AI Has Entered Its Execution Phase
The challenge is shifting from finding AI use cases to governing, integrating and proving the value of the technology.
AI is no longer a future consideration for healthcare organizations. It is being incorporated into documentation, revenue cycle operations, clinical decision support, patient communication and other workflows.
Organizations now have to determine which applications are ready to scale, how AI fits existing systems and workflows, who is accountable for its performance and whether an implementation is producing enough value to justify the investment.
Governance is central to that work. Healthcare organizations need processes for evaluating accuracy, bias, privacy, security and appropriate human oversight. They also need a way to monitor AI after deployment as models, data and workflows change.
Measuring return on investment presents another challenge. An August 2026 Deloitte survey of healthcare CFOs found that only 18% of respondents at organizations scaling AI consistently measure its financial impact on revenue growth or cost savings.
For healthcare leaders, 2027 is likely to be less about proving that AI can do something and more about proving that it should be part of the workflow.
For a closer look at the issue, read The CEO’s Guide to AI Governance in Healthcare.
4. Cybersecurity Threats Continue to Put Healthcare Operations at Risk
More connected healthcare environments create more systems, devices and data that organizations need to protect.
A cyberattack can disrupt clinical operations, expose protected health information and limit access to systems clinicians rely on to deliver care. Healthcare’s expanding digital environment makes that risk harder to manage. Cloud platforms, connected medical devices, third-party applications and AI tools create new capabilities while increasing the number of endpoints, vendors and data flows that security teams need to understand.
Recent enforcement activity shows that ransomware remains an active concern. In July 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its 21st ransomware enforcement action following an investigation involving a healthcare system. The priority for leaders is resilience. Organizations need a clear understanding of their vulnerabilities, strong access controls, third-party risk management, tested incident-response plans and a workforce prepared to recognize and respond to threats.
Cybersecurity also has to evolve alongside AI and other digital investments. Every new connection or application changes the organization’s risk environment, making security part of technology strategy rather than a separate consideration.
5. Access and Affordability Remain Difficult to Solve
New care models and digital tools can expand access, but cost, geography and technology still shape who can benefit.
Healthcare access remains a significant leadership concern, encompassing issues such as behavioral health, rural care, primary care capacity and the ability of patients to afford the care they need. Digital health can remove some barriers. Telehealth, remote monitoring, patient portals and virtual care can make it easier for patients to connect with clinicians without traveling to a facility. The AHA reports that telehealth adoption has grown from 61% to 75% of hospitals. Those options do not reach every patient equally. Broadband access, digital literacy, device availability, language, accessibility and affordability can all determine whether a patient can use a digital service.
The financial side is becoming harder to separate from the access conversation. Deloitte’s 2026 healthcare CFO survey found the largest leadership-readiness gap around patient experience, access and consumer affordability: 74% of respondents were expected to participate in those decisions, while only 41% felt well equipped to do so.
Technology can create new ways to deliver care, but expanding the number of available tools does not automatically expand access. Healthcare organizations still have to understand which barriers patients face and design care models that work for the populations they serve.
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