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AI Proof-of-Return, Heidi, and OpenEvidence Exits Europe
April 30, 2026
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Together with
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“In healthcare, intentional deployment beats theoretical perfection every time.”
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Providence SVP Adar Palis
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Healthcare is going all-in on generative AI, and a new report from McKinsey suggests the focus is already shifting from proof-of-concepts to proof-of-returns.
McKinsey has been tracking GenAI adoption across the industry since late 2023, and the latest installment was its biggest update yet.
- The survey spanned 150 industry leaders spanning payors, providers, and healthcare services and technology groups – mostly from orgs with $10B+ in revenue.
Adoption has crossed the chasm. 85% of respondents said they were exploring or had already adopted GenAI capabilities, and for the first time, more organizations are in the implementation stage than the proof-of-concept stage.
- HST groups led the pack with a 57% implementation rate, while payors and providers both cleared 40%.
- Admin efficiency and clinical productivity were the most-cited high-value use cases, although member engagement and IT/infrastructure weren’t far behind.
Money talks. 64% of organizations that have already deployed GenAI reported anticipated or already-quantified positive ROI – a strong signal that early bets have been paying off.
- That confidence has leaders looking to scale early wins to additional use cases instead of starting fresh pilots from scratch.
Teamwork makes the dream work. A majority of payors and providers (61%) plan to collaborate with third parties on their GenAI capabilities, compared to ~20% planning to build in-house, and ~19% expecting to buy off-the-shelf.
- That’s a major tailwind for healthcare’s fresh crop of AI startups, although risk and liability concerns remain the biggest barrier to new collaborations.
- Chief among them: AI security, model inaccuracies/biases, and regulatory compliance.
The Takeaway
Healthcare may have started slow on GenAI, but the adoption gap with other industries is closing fast. The conversation has officially shifted from whether to adopt to how to scale safely.
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Evidence, in the Flow of Care
Heidi brings trusted guidelines and peer-reviewed research directly into clinical workflows so decisions don’t stall care. Clinicians get clear, evidence-based answers without leaving the conversation. No ads, no limits, and no outside interests getting in the way of care. Find out how with Heidi Evidence.
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Shape Health AI at DHAI 2026
Mark your calendars. The Digital Health & AI Innovation Summit is bringing together AI leaders from across the industry for a live event in Boston on June 8-9th. This year’s agenda is packed with 150+ speakers and content curated specifically for the pioneers shaping health AI. Reserve your spot for DHAI 2026 today.
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- OpenEvidence Exits Europe: Many physicians across Europe had a harder time accessing medical evidence than they were expecting on Tuesday after OpenEvidence abruptly pulled its app from the E.U. and U.K. The apology message that took over OE’s entire home page cited “mounting regulatory uncertainty” as the primary driver behind the exit, particularly concerns around the E.U. Artificial Intelligence Act that’s set to take full effect later this year. The scope and duration of the withdrawal aren’t exactly clear, but this could end up being just the first domino to fall if other clinical AI companies end up following OE’s lead.
- Heidi + BILH: Beth Israel Lahey Health is rolling out Heidi enterprise-wide to ensure none of its clinicians have to work in their PJs. During a six-month pilot where a majority of the 1k providers adopted Heidi, 90% said they felt more present with their patients and 3 in 4 reported a reduction in time spent outside of work hours. The results inspired BILH to bring those same ambient AI capabilities to all 6,000 of its clinicians across 14 hospitals and 175 primary care practices.
- Employers Consider Switching Vendors: A new report from the Purchaser Business Group on Health shows that rising healthcare costs are pushing employers to the switching point with their vendors. PGHB represents 40 of the largest employers in the U.S. and over $350B in combined spend annually on health services for their workers. This year, 37% of those employers have issued an RFP for medical benefits (up from just 12% in 2024), and 23% have put one out for pharmacy benefits (up from 20%). The cost of health benefits is expected to climb another 6-8% this year, and the numbers don’t seem to be adding up for a growing slice of PBGH members.
- Availity Abrasion Index: Availity dropped its inaugural Abrasion Index to size up the current level of payor-provider dysfunction across six processes – eligibility, prior auth, claims, attachments, denials, and payment integrity. Denials topped both sides’ lists as the biggest pain point — and the report found roughly 70% of them eventually get overturned, meaning huge dollars are spent fighting over claims that could’ve been paid the first time. Physicians are still burning 13 hours/week on prior auth, and 80%+ say slow responses delay care.
- Halle’s Healthcare AI Roundup: Halle Tecco published a great companion to her tech-enabled services playbook, profiling 8 healthcare services companies that have actually moved the needle with AI. Highlights include Honor matching caregiver scheduling preferences against revealed behavior in an industry where annual turnover hits 85%, Everlywell’s AI companion Eva resolving 70% of inquiries on first contact (on par with humans), and Aledade’s EHR Overlay surfacing AI-enriched insights for PCPs. Her broader thesis: services companies that own the full stack are uniquely positioned to compound AI gains and finally rewrite the thin-margin narrative that’s plagued the category.
- Edelman Trust Barometer: The fifth annual Edelman Trust Barometer was a sobering read for healthcare. The survey of 16k adults across 16 countries showed that 70% believe at least one of six divisive health claims to be true — including that fluoride in water is harmful (32%) or that vaccines are used for population control (25%). Confidence in making informed health decisions dropped 10 percentage points year-over-year to 51%, and 64% of consumers now think someone fluent with AI can match or beat a doctor on health tasks. That sentiment runs strongest among younger generations.
- Tom Debuts Native Audio: Lumeris rolled out Native Audio for Tom, its AI-powered Primary Care as a Service platform. The new capability uses Google Gemini’s native audio to enable real-time, speech-to-speech conversations between Tom and patients — skipping the clunky speech-to-text-to-speech loop that’s plagued earlier voice AI. Tom integrates across phone and mobile, and the rollout extends Lumeris’ broader Rural Health Transformation push to support clinicians in underserved communities.
- Providence’s Project Pixel: Providence flipped the switch on 12 AI use cases in Epic following its April upgrade as part of an internal initiative dubbed Project Pixel. The 51-hospital system pulled together clinical and revenue cycle apps, informatics, and healthcare intelligence teams to deploy AI across inpatient, ambulatory, and revenue cycle workflows. Highlights include AI Text Assistant (rewriting communications in patient-friendly language), Inpatient Insights (auto-generating admission overviews), and Draft Hospital Course (drafting discharge summaries).
- Virtual Visits Hold Up in Neurology: A new study in Neurology found that for new neurology patients, being seen virtually vs. in-person made no difference in downstream care needs. University of Michigan researchers analyzed 16,000+ matched patient visits during the COVID-19 pandemic and found ~25% of patients had a follow-up appointment within 90 days regardless of visit type — and ED visits and hospitalizations within 90 days didn’t differ either. The authors said the findings suggest virtual visits are generally appropriate for a first neurological exam.
- Spotlight on Community Health Workers: The New York Times published a well-deserved spotlight on community health workers, which have been quietly closing care gaps for older Americans through home visits, screenings, and help with food, housing, and advance directives. The economics are compelling: in Oregon’s Connected Care for Older Adults program, the cost per patient runs $1,500 for a 90-day stretch, while ED visits cost thousands and hospitalizations tens of thousands. The program led to substantial decreases in both that more than offset its cost, and a Stanford-led VA trial found similar savings for older patients with advanced cancer.
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Abridge Named #1 Best in KLAS – Again
KLAS just named Abridge #1 Best in KLAS for Ambient AI for the second year in a row. The recognition was based on direct customer feedback from the nation’s largest and most complex health systems, which gave Abridge the highest overall satisfaction score and A+ ratings across Culture, Loyalty, Relationship, and Value. Discover why Abridge is the market-leading AI platform for clinical conversations.
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Privia Accelerates VBC Success With Navina
How do you give physicians new AI tools to accelerate VBC without slowing them down? Privia Health found its answer with Navina. They co-designed an under-one-hour training program that onboarded 800+ clinicians in the first year, driving 87% weekly active usage while providing clearer visibility into their patient panels. Read the full case study to see what it takes to make adoption stick and outcomes follow.
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- State of Payor Enrollment and Credentialing: Over half of provider orgs are losing revenue due to credentialing delays – with many missing out on over $1M annually. Medallion’s new report unpacks the forces quietly undermining operational and financial performance, and how leaders across the industry are addressing them. Head over to the full report to get insights tailored to your role and org type.
- Improving GLP-1 Treatment for the Long Term: Looking to make GLP-1 prescribing safer and more effective long term? Explore Withings’ suite of remote patient monitoring devices, designed to deliver the continuous, clinically relevant insights that care teams need to proactively monitor patients, identify risks early, and intervene with confidence.
- Better Health Through Virtual-First Primary Care: For patients, positive health outcomes are driven by strong relationships built on trust with health systems and providers. Hear how Ovatient’s fully EHR-integrated, virtual-first care approach is helping primary care patients like Tito Santiago reach their care goals and build a stronger relationship with The MetroHealth System.
- Evidence, in the Flow of Care: Heidi brings trusted guidelines and peer-reviewed research directly into clinical workflows so decisions don’t stall care. Clinicians get clear, evidence-based answers without leaving the conversation. No ads, no limits, and no outside interests getting in the way of care. Find out how with Heidi Evidence.
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