From pilot to scale: Bringing structure to AI chaos
Blog | November 4, 2025
Reading time: 4 mins
Editor’s note: We’re entering a new era of healthcare AI, one where models don’t just predict but act autonomously, automate and augment. As this technology accelerates, health systems need the confidence to take calculated risks, grounded in strong fundamentals.
The Vizient AI Maturity Assessment helps organizations replace ad-hoc experimentation with intentional progress. It creates a shared language for leadership teams to discuss AI investment, a lens to evaluate readiness and a roadmap to move from isolated wins to enterprise transformation.
In the coming weeks — as part of a collaboration between experts from the Vizient Data & Digital business unit and Kaufman Hall — we’ll unpack each pillar in detail, sharing lessons from our work with leading health systems and practical steps to build maturity across every stage of the AI journey.
Health systems are inundated with hundreds of AI-enabled tools promising to transform care delivery and operations. In fact, one in four healthcare venture capital dollars now goes to companies leveraging AI, which is the highest proportion ever recorded in U.S. healthcare investment.
That explosion of funding has fueled a marketplace overflowing with new products, pilots and promises. Healthcare leaders are faced with an overwhelming array of vendors touting transformative results, but few solutions are ready to integrate within the realities of complex health systems.
Despite the investment, only one in four organizations are finding real, measurable value from AI. The challenge isn’t technology; rather it’s the operating environment around it. According to BCG’s AI Radar 2025 survey, organizations that have generated value from AI follow the 10-20-70 principle: 10% of success comes from algorithms, 20% from technology, and 70% from people and processes. Yet two in three companies still struggle to reimagine workflows, align incentives and upskill their workforce to make AI operational.
In healthcare, that gap is particularly stark. Two-thirds of hospitals surveyed across Vizient Member Networks report that their current AI strategy remains in either the “piloting” or “exploring” phase, with only a small fraction having scaled implementations enterprise-wide. Many hospitals rush to pilot the latest technology, often without a defined business problem or measurable outcome, only to discover their infrastructure, governance and workforce readiness can’t support it at scale. The result is a cycle of experimentation without execution, where innovation outpaces readiness and investments fail to translate into measurable outcomes.
Leaders must break that cycle by turning AI exploration into structured, scalable progress. True success isn’t about deploying the next shiny tool — it’s about building the infrastructure and discipline that let innovation scale and deliver measurable impact.
A framework for confidence and clarity
To guide health systems in developing the capabilities, governance and cultural alignment needed to scale AI responsibly and sustainably, we developed the Vizient AI Maturity Assessment: a structured approach to help health systems evaluate where they are today, identify the next step forward and measure progress over time. It’s a playbook for turning AI from a buzzword into a strategic capability woven into the fabric of a health system.
The framework spans six interconnected domains:
- Strategy: Aligning AI initiatives to core organizational priorities and defining a clear roadmap for value creation.
- Culture and talent: Empowering clinicians, data scientists and administrators to work together in a digitally fluent, AI-aware organization.
- Technology and data: Building scalable, interoperable systems that support responsible AI deployment.
- Governance: Establishing guardrails for safety, ethics and accountability.
- Adoption and scaling: Moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide integration with structured change management.
- ROI monitoring: Measuring financial and non-financial outcomes to ensure continuous learning and reinvestment.
Each pillar represents a critical capability that supports the others. When developed in concert, they form the backbone of a health system ready to capture the benefits of AI at scale.
That’s especially important as early results from the assessment reveal that most systems are still in the early stages of maturity — with an opportunity to harness real, tangible results moving forward. The question is: Are you ready to move from pilot to scale?
Take our mini AI Maturity Assessment to benchmark your current readiness across the six domains. In just a few minutes, you’ll gain a snapshot of your organization’s AI maturity and see where Vizient can help you advance from AI ambition to measurable performance.