Adapting to Disruption: Three Strategies Hospitals Are Using to Stay Financially Resilient in 2025

Health Systems Fast-Track Change to Navigate Disruption and Regain Balance

CHICAGO, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare systems make swift changes to adapt to the disruption in 2025 as market conditions present unique solutions. Executive leaders from Q-Centrix, an MRO company, share three key observations for how hospitals and health systems are responding to the market and what we can expect for the rest of the year.  

The healthcare industry continues to face widespread disruption in 2025—from shifting regulations and AI-driven transformation to changes in research funding and workforce dynamics. As a result, healthcare leaders are moving quickly to stabilize operations and position their organizations for resilience.

One critical area under review is clinical data. No longer viewed as a back-office function, clinical data management is emerging as a strategic lever for navigating disruption and driving system-wide improvements.

"Healthcare leaders are recognizing that rethinking how clinical data is managed isn't just about improving workflows—it's essential to staying adaptable in a rapidly changing environment," said Raghu Bukkapatnam, Chief Growth Officer at Q-Centrix. "With health systems investing tens of millions annually, there's growing urgency to evaluate return on those investments and identify opportunities to strengthen stability and reduce volatility."  In fact, a Q-Centrix white paper found that a hospital participating in six registries, the U.S. average, could need up to 15 full-time staff members to keep up with its registry case load.

In response, Q-Centrix executives have identified three key strategies hospital and health system leaders are pursuing in 2025 to maintain stability and lead through disruption.

Health system executives are inundated with AI vendor outreach daily and they've quickly learned to distinguish what delivers real value. The most effective healthcare AI solutions rely on a rare combination of deep technical and clinical expertise—both of which are increasingly difficult to source in today's market.

As AI adoption grows, health system leaders are becoming more selective, realizing technical skill alone isn't enough. Evan Estola, Vice President of AI at Q-Centrix, notes that the most effective solutions come from vendors that truly understand how hospitals operate. With ongoing labor shortages and limited capacity, finding the right blend of clinical insight and technical knowledge is increasingly crucial.

"AI solutions that work well in theory can still fail in clinical settings," said Estola. "What matters most is choosing solutions developed with clinical and technical expertise, designed to handle complexity, and built with safeguards from the start."

As AI becomes central to the strategic and financial agendas of hospitals and health systems, new leadership roles are emerging at a rapid pace—reshaping the executive landscape and redefining what it takes to compete. The growing importance of healthcare IT and data science is driving hospitals to invest in in-house expertise, including the addition of senior-level AI officers to lead innovation and operational transformation.

These new roles are emerging not just to evaluate tools but to shape the systems and strategies that support them. From identifying practical use cases to strengthening coordination across departments, senior AI officers play a critical role in building the healthcare IT capabilities needed to ensure long-term value from AI investments.

"Success with AI isn't just about adoption—it's about building the structure to make it work," said Brian Foy, Chief Product Officer at Q-Centrix. "The right AI leader sets the direction, knows how to evaluate suppliers effectively, and understands how AI tools should support clinical and operational goals."

While AI dominates strategic conversations and drives new executive priorities, hospitals are also navigating disruption on another critical front: research funding. With recent shifts in NIH support, patients may begin to see reduced access to novel therapeutics if supplementary dollars aren't available to sustain research personnel, equipment, and other essential resources.

"Research departments, more than other parts of hospitals and health systems, are often dependent on distinct funding streams to support their budgets," noted Senior Vice President of Data and Research Victor Wang.

With traditional funding sources becoming less reliable, exploring industry partnerships and sponsor-supported studies will become increasingly important for sustaining operations and bringing new treatments to patient communities. Wang notes that leveraging clinical registry data—which often overlaps with the data sets needed for research—for sponsored research opportunities will be a valuable strategy that allows hospitals to unlock new funding streams from research sponsors while supporting long-term research growth.

The common denominator in all these predictions is clinical data—and having the resources and readiness to fully understand how to leverage it in healthcare innovation. Hospitals and health systems must focus on this aspect in the backhalf of 2025 or run the risk of being left behind in 2026.

View an extended version of our experts' full predictions here.

About Q-Centrix
Q-Centrix sees clinical data differently—as curated data sets with infinite possibilities.

As the pioneer of the industry's first Enterprise Clinical Data Management (eCDM™) platform, Q-Centrix integrates proprietary technology, the largest and most diverse team of clinical data experts, data, and insights derived from 1,200 healthcare partners to improve patient outcomes, enhance performance, support strategic growth, and boost operational efficiency.

From baseline data sets for health systems' clinical data management needs, to fit-for-purpose data sets designed for clinical research, Q-Centrix provides unparalleled versatility to meet an evolving clinical data landscape.

Discover more about how Q-Centrix empowers organizations to transform healthcare at www.q-centrix.com. Q-Centrix is an MRO company, the leading clinical data exchange company in healthcare.

Media Contact:
Cheri Hoffman
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE Q-Centrix