Capturing artificial intelligence applications’ value proposition in healthcare - a qualitative research study

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications pave the way for innovations in the healthcare (HC) industry. However, their adoption in HC organizations is still nascent as organizations often face a fragmented and incomplete picture of how they can capture the value of AI applications on a managerial level. To overcome adoption hurdles, HC organizations would benefit from understanding how they can capture AI applications’ potential. We conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review and 11 semi-structured expert interviews to identify, systematize, and describe 15 business objectives that translate into six value propositions of AI applications in HC. Our results demonstrate that AI applications can have several business objectives converging into risk-reduced patient care, advanced patient care, self-management, process acceleration, resource optimization, and knowledge discovery. We contribute to the literature by extending research on value creation mechanisms of AI to the HC context and guiding HC organizations in evaluating their AI applications or those of the competition on a managerial level, to assess AI investment decisions, and to align their AI application portfolio towards an overarching strategy.