Most exciting tech for healthcare according to industry leaders in the U.S. 2026

Most exciting emerging technologies for healthcare according to healthcare leaders in the United States in 2026

Artificial intelligence is by far the most exciting emerging technology for healthcare according to industry leaders in the United States in 2026, named by about 48 percent of senior executives, far ahead of telehealth and remote patient monitoring. Every year, surveys of senior healthcare executives in the United States ask which emerging technology most excites them, and for several years running the answer has been the same, and increasingly emphatic, one, artificial intelligence. On the 2026 figures, artificial intelligence is named by about 48 percent of leaders, telehealth by about 13 percent, remote patient monitoring by about 10 percent and robotic process automation by about 8 percent, with the rest sharing the remainder. The consistency of the answer, year after year, is itself remarkable in a field as fast-moving as healthcare technology, and it reflects a depth of conviction among leaders that no other emerging technology has come close to matching. The survey findings gathered here come from several of the most respected polls of United States healthcare executives, and while their exact numbers differ, the story they tell is strikingly consistent from one to the next.

AI has topped the list for several years running, with about 85 percent of leaders agreeing it should head it. The picture sits within our medtech market worldwide and medical technology industry coverage.

AI leads both: about 48 percent of US healthcare leaders name AI as the most exciting technology and about 42 percent as the most improved, far ahead of telehealth and remote monitoring.

About 65 percent of United States healthcare executives rank AI as their top investment priority for 2026, and about 75 percent already use or plan to use it, themes our biggest companies by market value and global pharmaceutical industry coverage explores.

A note on the data. The figures show the most exciting emerging technologies for healthcare according to healthcare leaders in the United States in 2026, drawn from industry surveys of senior executives. These are opinion figures, not market data. Because these are opinion surveys rather than market measurements, the exact percentages vary between surveys and years, and the figures here are drawn from several respected industry surveys to illustrate the consistent picture they paint. The surveys drawn on here include the Center for Connected Medicine annual survey of health-system leaders and the Emids-ServiceNow State of AI in Healthcare survey, among others, each polling senior United States healthcare executives across providers, payers and health-technology firms of varied size.

Most Exciting Healthcare Technologies

The table shows the share of United States healthcare leaders citing each emerging technology as the most exciting in 2026. It shows artificial intelligence far ahead of every other technology, with telehealth and remote patient monitoring a distant second and third. Reading down the table shows just how lopsided the picture is, with artificial intelligence drawing nearly half of all mentions and no other technology reaching even 15 percent. Because the figures come from opinion surveys with differing methods and samples, they are best read as a consistent qualitative picture, AI far ahead of everything else, rather than as precise and directly comparable percentages. The gap between artificial intelligence and the next technology on the list is wider than the gap between the second and the tenth, a distribution that captures just how singular the enthusiasm for AI has become.

What Is the Most Exciting Healthcare Technology?

Artificial intelligence is the most exciting emerging technology for healthcare, named by about 48 percent of United States healthcare leaders in 2026. Telehealth and virtual care follow on about 13 percent, then remote patient monitoring on about 10 percent. The ranking of exciting technologies is really a story about the towering dominance of a single one, artificial intelligence, which draws more interest than all the other emerging technologies of healthcare put together. Artificial intelligence about 48 percent leads by a wide margin, ahead of telehealth on about 13 percent, remote patient monitoring on about 10 percent, robotic process automation on about 8 percent and interoperability on about 6 percent. What the ranking really measures is the extraordinary gravitational pull of artificial intelligence, which has come to absorb so much of the attention and investment of healthcare leaders that every other technology is now defined partly by its relationship to it.

The dominance of AI reflects the belief that it can improve administration, operations and clinical care all at once, a breadth of promise our artificial intelligence statistics coverage frames.

AI dominates: about 48 percent of US healthcare leaders name artificial intelligence as the most exciting emerging technology in 2026, more than telehealth and remote monitoring combined.

Behind the leaders come robotic process automation, interoperability, wearables, precision medicine and surgical robotics, each named by a smaller share of leaders, showing how far AI stands above the rest of the field. The long tail of technologies behind AI, from wearables to precision medicine to surgical robotics, each commands genuine interest, but none comes close to the dominance of AI, which has reshaped the whole conversation about healthcare innovation. The technologies in the long tail are far from unimportant, and several, from wearables to precision medicine, are reshaping specific corners of care, but none has captured the broad imagination of leaders the way AI has.

Why Do Leaders Choose AI?

Leaders choose AI because they see it solving many problems at once. About 85 percent agree it should head the list of exciting technologies, and more than 80 percent expect meaningful value from generative and agentic AI in clinical and operational work. The reasons leaders give for their excitement about AI reveal a great deal about the pressures facing healthcare, since the problems they most want it to solve, burnout, access and administrative burden, are the very ones straining the system. About 85 percent of leaders agree AI should head the list of exciting technologies, more than 80 percent expect meaningful value from generative and agentic AI, and about 65 percent rank it their top investment priority for 2026. The clarity of the reasons leaders give is striking, since they point not to abstract promise but to concrete relief from the specific pressures, administrative burden and clinician burnout, that most threaten their organisations today.

The enthusiasm reflects real progress, with AI now reading scans, drafting notes and automating administration, a shift our medical devices revenue coverage frames through the devices that increasingly embed it.

Broad enthusiasm: about 85 percent of leaders agree AI should head the list, about 65 percent rank it their top priority, and about 75 percent use or plan to use it.

Leaders point to patient care, patient access and clinician burnout as the problems AI can best help solve, reflecting a health system under strain from staffing shortages and rising demand. The link between the technologies leaders find exciting and the problems they most want solved is direct, since it is precisely AI capacity to ease administrative burden and clinician burnout that explains much of the enthusiasm for it. The clarity with which leaders link AI to their biggest problems, above all burnout and administrative burden, is one of the strongest signals in the survey data of why enthusiasm for the technology has proved so durable. The alignment between the technologies leaders find most exciting and the problems they most need solved is the clearest single explanation for the durability of the enthusiasm for AI across successive years of surveys.

How Many Leaders Are Adopting AI?

Adoption of AI in United States healthcare is widespread but uneven. About 75 percent of health systems use or plan to use AI, and half run three or more applications, yet only about 8 percent report mature programmes delivering measurable returns. The gap between how many leaders are excited about AI and how many have actually deployed it at scale is one of the defining features of healthcare technology in 2026, a story of soaring ambition running ahead of operational reality. About 75 percent of health systems use or plan to use AI, about 50 percent run three or more applications, about 59 percent remain in early or developing stages, and only about 8 percent report mature programmes delivering measurable returns. The picture of adoption is one of a technology racing ahead of the organisations trying to deploy it, with enthusiasm and experimentation far outpacing the slow, hard work of building the data and governance needed to use AI safely at scale. The scale of AI experimentation is genuinely impressive, with half of health systems now running three or more applications, yet the same surveys reveal how few have crossed the far harder threshold from experimentation to measurable, mature results.

The gap between ambition and maturity is the defining feature of AI in healthcare, with about 59 percent of organisations still in the early or developing stages, a gap our AI market size coverage frames.

Mostly early stage: about 59 percent of US healthcare organisations are in the early or developing stages of AI, and only about 8 percent report mature programmes.

The rapid spread of AI, even at an early stage of maturity, reflects the pressure on health systems to do more with less, and the belief that AI offers the best hope of easing that pressure. The uneven maturity of AI adoption, with many systems experimenting but few running mature programmes, suggests the coming years will be defined less by whether health systems adopt AI than by how well they scale and govern it. Looking ahead, the central question for AI in healthcare is no longer one of interest, which is overwhelming, but of execution, and whether health systems can build the data, skills and governance to scale it safely. The coming test for healthcare AI will be whether the small minority of organisations running mature programmes grows into a majority, or whether the gap between the excited many and the accomplished few proves stubborn and lasting.

Telehealth and Virtual Care

Telehealth is the second most exciting technology for healthcare leaders, and its use has soared. About 76 percent of United States hospitals now connect patients with remote clinicians, up from about 35 percent a decade ago. Telehealth occupies a distinctive place in the survey, no longer the surging novelty of the pandemic years but a settled, established technology that leaders continue to value even as their excitement has moved on to AI. About 76 percent of United States hospitals now offer telehealth, up from about 35 percent a decade ago, making it the second most cited exciting technology at about 13 percent of leaders. The story of telehealth is a useful counterpoint to the excitement around AI, showing how a technology can move from breakthrough to backbone, valued and widely used yet no longer the thing that most excites the leaders of the field.

The rise of telehealth was accelerated by the pandemic, when virtual care went from niche to mainstream almost overnight, a shift our US population coverage frames through the patients it reaches.

A decade of growth: about 76 percent of US hospitals now offer telehealth, up from about 35 percent a decade ago, though excitement has cooled since the pandemic.

Although utilisation has fallen from its pandemic peak, leaders value telehealth for patient convenience, fewer missed appointments and better access to specialty care, and it remains a central part of the digital-health picture. The settling of telehealth into an established role, valued but no longer thrilling, is a preview of the path other technologies may follow, from breakthrough excitement to quiet, dependable infrastructure. The maturing of telehealth into dependable infrastructure, rather than exciting novelty, may be the most realistic model for how artificial intelligence too will eventually settle into the everyday practice of medicine.

What Problems Should Tech Solve?

Healthcare leaders see technology as the best way to solve their biggest problems. Patient care, patient access and clinician burnout top the list, followed by data aggregation, staffing and administrative burden. The problems that leaders most want technology to solve are as revealing as the technologies themselves, painting a picture of a health system stretched thin by staffing shortages, administrative burden and rising demand. The problems leaders most want technology to solve read like a diagnosis of the ailments of modern healthcare, a system stretched by staffing shortages, buried in administration and struggling to give patients timely access to care.

The focus on burnout and staffing reflects a health system under real strain, where technology is increasingly seen as a way to ease the load on scarce clinicians, a pressure our medtech industry data coverage frames.

Care and burnout lead: leaders most want technology to solve patient care, patient access and clinician burnout, followed by data and staffing challenges.

The emphasis has shifted in recent years from improving care continuity toward tackling operational challenges such as staffing and administration, reflecting the pressures that have followed the pandemic. The shift in priorities toward operational challenges such as staffing reflects the lasting mark of the pandemic on healthcare, which exposed and deepened the workforce pressures that technology is now expected to help address. The steady shift of leader priorities toward operational problems reflects a hard-won realism, a recognition that technology delivers most value not through headline breakthroughs but through the unglamorous easing of everyday pressures.

The Barriers to Adoption

Leaders also point to real barriers. Misaligned incentives between payers, providers and patients top the list, followed by fragmented data standards, regulatory hurdles and, increasingly, concerns about the security of AI systems themselves. For all their enthusiasm, healthcare leaders are clear-eyed about the obstacles, and the barriers they cite, from misaligned incentives to data fragmentation to security, explain why adoption has lagged so far behind excitement. The barriers leaders cite are a sober counterweight to their enthusiasm, and they explain why, for all the excitement, the gap between what AI promises and what it has so far delivered remains stubbornly wide.

The barrier of misaligned incentives reflects the complexity of the United States healthcare system, where the interests of payers, providers and patients often pull in different directions, a tension our medical technology market coverage frames.

Incentives top the list: misaligned incentives between payers, providers and patients are the biggest barrier, ahead of data standards, regulation and security.

Security has emerged as a growing concern, with leaders warning that many organisations may not be ready for AI-specific threats such as prompt injection, model manipulation and data leakage from large language models. The rise of security as a concern, particularly around AI-specific threats, marks a maturing of the conversation, as leaders move from unbridled enthusiasm toward a more careful weighing of risks alongside rewards. The emergence of AI security as a named barrier is a sign of a maturing field, one increasingly aware that the same technology generating so much excitement also brings genuinely new risks that must be managed with care.

Generative and Agentic AI

Generative and agentic AI are the technologies leaders are most excited about within the wider field of AI. More than 80 percent expect meaningful value from them in clinical and operational work, and adoption is accelerating quickly. Within the broad enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, it is the newest forms, generative and agentic AI, that most excite leaders, promising to ease the administrative burden that weighs so heavily on clinicians. More than 80 percent of United States healthcare executives expect meaningful value from generative and agentic AI, the technologies within the broad field of AI that most excite them in 2026. The particular excitement around generative and agentic AI reflects how quickly the frontier has moved, with technologies barely discussed a few years ago now at the very centre of how leaders imagine the future of care.

The excitement about generative AI reflects its ability to draft notes, summarise records and answer questions in plain language, easing the administrative burden on clinicians, a shift our medtech market by area coverage frames.

High expectations: more than 80 percent of US healthcare leaders expect meaningful value from generative AI, and a growing share are exploring agentic AI.

Agentic AI, which can carry out multi-step tasks on its own, is the newest frontier, and leaders see it automating scheduling, billing and other workflows, though most organisations are only beginning to explore it. The frontier of agentic AI, still barely explored by most organisations, hints at the next phase of the story, in which software moves from assisting clinicians to carrying out whole workflows on its own. The gap between the many leaders exploring agentic AI and the few who have deployed it mirrors the wider story of healthcare AI, a field where imagination and ambition still run well ahead of practical, everyday reality.

How Interest Has Grown

The interest of healthcare leaders in AI has risen steadily. AI has been named the most exciting emerging technology for several years running, and the share of leaders prioritising it has climbed as the technology has matured. The trajectory of leader interest over recent years tells its own story, a steady climb in enthusiasm for AI matched by a fading of interest in technologies such as blockchain that once generated their own excitement. The trajectory of interest over recent years is a study in how quickly the technological imagination of an industry can be captured, with AI rising from one option among many to the overwhelming focus of leaders in the space of a few years. Comparing the surveys across years reveals not just the rise of AI but the changing character of the excitement around it, from broad curiosity a few years ago to a sharp, specific focus on generative and agentic tools today.

The steady rise reflects both real progress in the technology and the mounting pressures on health systems, a combination our medtech M&A coverage frames through the dealmaking it has spurred.

A steady climb: the share of US healthcare leaders prioritising AI has risen year after year, and AI has topped the list of exciting technologies for several years running.

AI pulls further ahead: between 2024 and 2026 the share of leaders naming AI as most exciting rose, while interest in most other technologies held steady or slipped.

As AI has risen, interest in some earlier technologies such as blockchain has faded, while telehealth has settled into a steady, established role rather than the surging excitement of the pandemic years. The fading of once-hyped technologies such as blockchain is a useful reminder that not every exciting technology delivers, and that today enthusiasm for AI, however broad, will ultimately be judged by results rather than promise.

Exciting Healthcare Tech in Numbers

A few numbers capture the picture. About 48 percent of United States healthcare leaders name AI as the most exciting emerging technology in 2026, about 85 percent agree it should head the list, and about 65 percent rank it their top investment priority. These figures together capture a moment of extraordinary consensus in United States healthcare, with leaders united as rarely before around a single technology they believe can reshape the industry. About 48 percent of leaders name AI as the most exciting technology, about 85 percent agree it should head the list, about 65 percent rank it their top investment priority, and about 75 percent use or plan to use it. The degree of consensus captured in these figures is unusual, and it means that the future direction of a vast and complex industry now rests, to a remarkable degree, on the fortunes of a single technology.

The figures matter because the views of healthcare leaders shape where billions of dollars of investment flow, and their enthusiasm for AI signals where the industry is heading, a link our in vitro diagnostics coverage explores through the tests AI now helps read.

Together these figures show a health system captivated by artificial intelligence, adopting it quickly if unevenly, and looking to it to solve its deepest problems, from burnout to access to the rising cost of care. For now, the survey data paint a picture of a United States health system more united around a single technology than at any time in recent memory, and betting heavily on artificial intelligence to shape its future. The survey data, taken together, capture a rare moment of unity in a famously fragmented industry, with leaders across payers, providers and health-tech firms converging on a shared conviction about where the future lies.

Exciting Healthcare Tech: The Big Picture

Taken together, the views of United States healthcare leaders in 2026 map an industry that sees artificial intelligence as the defining technology of its future, a story our medtech market by segment coverage sets in the wider industry context.

Whether AI lives up to the excitement will depend on how quickly health systems move from early experiments to mature programmes, but for now it stands far above every other technology in the eyes of the leaders, alongside the listed firms in our Nasdaq stock market overview.

Frequently Asked Questions: Exciting Healthcare Tech