New policy and regulatory changes — including the cancellation of research grants, Medicaid and Medicare funding cuts, and potential tariffs — will add pressure to health systems' margins over time. Over 50% of health systems say they are reducing their short-term supply spend in response to these ongoing policy and regulatory changes.⁶

But it’s not just margin pressures that drive med tech purchasing today. Growing market competition, new value-based care initiatives, and emerging innovation also complicate decisions. Faced with pressure from all fronts, health system purchasing committees must balance costs while evaluating how products impact their organizations more holistically.

As purchasing committees evolve their definition of value, three factors are growing in importance:

• Real world evidence: 81% of health systems consider real-world outcomes when evaluating how a product impacts their unique population, up from 48% in 2022.^6,7
• Margin impact: 85% of health systems consider a product's impact on revenue, not just spend, up from 65% in 2022.^6,7
• Vendor relationships: 62% of health systems consider their relationship with manufacturers when evaluating a product, up from 44% in 2022.^6,7

While most health system purchasing committees are moving toward a more holistic definition of value, not all health system purchasing committees will weigh metrics in the same way. Some will prioritize tools that enable market leading outcomes. Others will pursue internal goals related to financials, market share, or operations. Med tech companies can learn how to tailor messaging to different health system purchasing committee archetypes by reading this report. 

Ambulatory care is the fastest growing healthcare sector. Between 2024 and 2029, ambulatory volumes are projected to grow in volume by 8.2%.¹⁰ In comparison, hospital outpatient volumes are expected to grow by 4.6% while inpatient stays are expected to decrease by 1%.¹⁰

Compared to hospitals, ambulatory sites have unique operations, strategies, and financial realities. This means they also have different needs from their med tech partner. For example, they often have more lean supply needs, seek tools that offer faster patient throughput, and value more efficient packaging and supply chains operations to accommodate limited storage space.

Further, diversity in ambulatory site ownership models can dictate med tech purchasing preferences and decision-making.¹¹ For example, independent physicians may prefer vendors that minimize episodic costs and streamline supply chain operations, while management companies prefer those that help improve surgery efficiency and expand the types of procedures they can offer. Meanwhile, health systems want vendors that offer products suitable for a variety of care sites and patient acuities.

Med tech companies must understand and appeal to changing purchaser demands as care shifts to ambulatory settings. Learn more about ASC purchaser archetypes and the best ways to engage with them through this market insights report.

With the boom of generative AI, more AI use cases have opened across life science businesses — most notably to make commercial functions more efficient. In fact, commercial uses of generative AI have the potential to produce between $18 billion and $30 billion in value across the life science industry annually.¹²

Some med tech organizations use generative AI to quickly gain insight into their customers’ strategic investments, top priorities, and financial performance. Others leverage algorithms to help target specific customers likely to have large patient populations that are candidates for specific treatments.

Success won't come from simply investing in AI, however. Med tech must be aware of, and avoid, common pitfalls like gaps in demographic data, a lack of proper training on how to use AI, and ethical concerns. Leaders should also create a culture of innovation by preparing data systems, train staff on proper AI use, and build a governance structure that accurately tracks and holds the organization accountable for AI's success.

¹ Keehan SP, et al. National Health Expenditure Projections 2024-33. Health Affairs. June 25, 2025.

² Jain R, et al. 5 key insights into today's health plan CMO.  June 13, 2025.

³ Pratt M. New Research Finds Commercial Health Plans' Use of Prescriber Requirements Doubled and Use of Step Therapy Increased by More Than 31% for Specialty Drug Coverage. National Pharmaceutical Council. August 22, 2023.

⁴ Shvets E, et al. Survey Finds 58% of Payers Use Outcomes-Based Contracts. Avalere Health. April 5, 2023.

⁵ Beckman S. Site-of-care shifts: The next savings opportunity for health plans? Advisory Board. January 24, 2024.

⁶ Hula N. Survey results: Insights on health system publishing today. Advisory Board. June 5, 2025.

⁷ Hula N. 2022 value analysis and P&T committee survey results. Advisory Board. November 7, 2022.

⁸ Taylor N. FDA authorizes record number of new devices in 2023. Medtech Dive. January 18, 2024.

⁹ Physician Learning Preferences. Doximity. October 24, 2022.

¹⁰ Market Scenario Planner. Advisory Board. Accessed August 15, 2025.

¹¹ Hula N. 4 ASC purchaser archetypes – and how to engage with them. Advisory Board. June 24, 2024.

¹² Shah B, et al. Generative AI in the pharmaceutical industry: Moving from hype to reality. McKinsey & Company. January 9, 2024.