News: Providers, payers prefer to buy rather than build AI, study finds

Providers and payers are increasingly purchasing artificial intelligence (AI) technology over building it themselves, citing return on investment (ROI), change management, and workflow integration posing challenges. The new survey from venture capital firm Define Ventures shows that AI implementation is an immediate priority for most providers (75%) and payers (69%).

There has been a jump in AI budgets across payers, with 31% saying their budgets would increase significantly, up from 6% in 2024. Providers’ AI budgets have also increased, with 35% saying their budgets will increase, up from 31% in 2024.

With these increases, providers and payers still favor buying new AI technology instead of building it in most cases. Among payers, 54% said they would buy AI technology in most cases, an increase from 31% in 2024. Meanwhile, 46% plan to build AI tools internally at least half of the time in 2026.

The majority (71%) expect to buy AI technology most or all the time, a slight decrease from 78% in 2024. The share of leaders who said they would buy the technology every time declined from 26% in 2024 to 15% in 2026. About 29% still plan to build their tools in half or more cases this year.

Concerns about AI integration remain in both groups. Change management is a key integration challenge, with 50% of payer respondents citing it as a concern this year compared to only 6% in 2024. Meanwhile, 48% of provider respondents also noted it as a challenge in 2026, up from 24% in 2024.

Among providers, concerns around integrating AI into workflows soared from 31% in 2024 to 82% in 2026. Still, both providers (96%) and payers (92%) are open to redesigning workflows around AI.

As providers and payers emphasize buying their AI technologies, the report shows that return on investment has emerged as the driving factor in vendor selection. Most payers (83%) and providers (65%) want measurable ROI within a year, but the ROI metrics differ between the groups. For example, 69% of payers want cost savings from their AI tools, while 56% of providers want AI that drives revenue.

The pressure to demonstrate ROI is also influencing vendor pricing models. More than half of payers (62%) expect performance-based pricing to be dominant within the next year or so. Another 38% expect enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) models, which depend on recurring subscriptions to access software in the cloud, to be the most common pricing model.

Most providers (85%) indicate that enterprise SaaS models will be the primary pricing model in one or two years, and 42% expect performance-based models to dominate.

Editor’s note: To read the full survey report, click here. To read additional coverage from TechTarget, click here.