Recently while in Chicago, I joined healthcare leaders from across the country at the Becker’s Healthcare 16th Annual Executive Roundtable to discuss the most pressing challenges facing our industry. I had the privilege of leading a panel, Hidden Frontier: Unlocking Back‑of‑House AI to Power Healthcare’s Next Era of Growth, alongside Zac Hillyard, Principal at SSR, and John Barto, Healthcare Evangelist at Microsoft.  

What followed was an honest, highly engaging discussion around an area that often “operates behind the scenes”—but is increasingly critical to growth. 

The consensus was clear: back‑of‑house systems represent a powerful, untapped lever for operational efficiency, capital flexibility, and improved patient outcomes. When participants were asked to identify the greatest risks to clinical growth, two challenges stood out: 

• Aging facility infrastructure and power reliability 
• Persistent data silos between building systems and clinical IT 

These challenges don’t just strain budgets, they directly threaten resilience, system performance, and continuity of care. 

Participants also self-ranked their organizations along an infrastructure maturity curve, ranging from reactive operations to more autonomous environments capable of anticipating failures before patient care is impacted. While many health systems are still early in this journey, the aspiration to modernize is strong. 

Transforming infrastructure into a true competitive differentiator requires efficient physical assets, smart engineering, and resilient, AI‑based computing working in concert. This transformation won’t happen overnight, but early, intentional steps can unlock significant value—turning buildings into intelligent, data‑yielding platforms that actively support clinical and financial objectives. 

These conversations are explored in greater depth in our joint research with Becker’s Hospital Review, Why health systems can no longer take critical power infrastructure for granted.  

Download the white paper to see how your peers are addressing risk, rethinking infrastructure strategy, and laying the foundation for AI‑enabled growth. The insights may help you answer one critical question: How can my infrastructure improve patient outcomes and long‑term performance today? 

➡️ Download the report to gain new insights 
🎧 Tune in to hear the latest podcast to continue the conversation