Top 10 Healthcare Supply Chain Predictions for 2025

Prediction 1: Healthcare Supply Chain Stakeholders Will Navigate a Fragility Crisis That Demands Resiliency Breakthroughs

Despite progress in operational excellence, strategic decision-making through data analytics, and clinical integration, the healthcare supply chain remains fragile — stretched to its limit and vulnerable to future crises. The financial and operational pressures on both providers and suppliers highlight the urgency to address these vulnerabilities in 2025.

Ongoing challenges include narrow operating margins for hospitals (with non-labor expenses increasing by 10% in 2024) and external threats to suppliers, such as cyberattacks, natural disasters, increasing costs and geopolitical unrestⁱ These factors are forcing stakeholders to reevaluate business continuity plans and make difficult decisions to prepare for both minor and major disruptions.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Reevaluating Business Continuity Plans:
   Providers and suppliers will adopt more robust, flexible continuity strategies to mitigate the risks posed by external threats. This includes addressing the increasing frequency of cyberattacks and natural disasters with proactive measures, such as multi-source procurement strategies and decentralized supply models.
2. Integrating Lessons Learned from Past Crises:
   Stakeholders will focus on applying insights gained from the pandemic to improve resiliency. This involves building stronger partnerships across the supply chain, enhancing collaboration, and adopting technologies that enable greater visibility and responsiveness during disruptions.
3. Advancing Resiliency Through Collaboration:
   Healthcare supply chain stakeholders will align their efforts to strengthen resilience by advancing trends such as AI-driven decision-making, predictive demand forecasting, and ecosystem-wide data sharing. These advancements will help organizations prepare for future crises and ensure continuity of care.

As GHX Chief Strategy Officer Chris Luoma noted, “While we made it through the pandemic thanks to the superhero efforts of providers and suppliers, the question remains: Have we made improvements based on lessons learned or are we inclined to repeat past mistakes?”

If healthcare supply chain leaders continue to advance these trends and collaborate effectively, 2025 could mark a turning point in addressing the fragility crisis, ensuring the sector can survive and thrive in the face of future challenges.

Prediction 2: Digital Transformation Will Shift from Implementation to Value Extraction

Digital transformation in the healthcare supply chain is no longer about the initial move to the cloud — it’s about optimizing these investments to drive measurable value. While the past decade has focused on transitioning core systems like ERP and EHR to cloud platforms, 2025 will mark a significant shift toward extracting tangible returns from these digital foundations.

According to Chris Luoma, the focus will now turn to ensuring that cloud-based systems deliver on their potential by addressing three critical areas: Data quality, advanced analytics and automation. "Supply chain leaders are asking, 'What’s next?' They’ve established the cloud infrastructure, but they are now realizing that without clean, complete, and continuously updated data, the full ROI of these systems will remain out of reach," Luoma stated.

In 2025, Luoma predicts organizations will prioritize building a single source of truth, enabling seamless data integration and enhancing decision-making. He emphasized, “The next level of transformation is about leveraging analytics to make more data-driven decisions and fully understand cost-to-serve, enabling supply chain leaders to operate with greater precision and agility.”

Beyond internal optimizations, providers and suppliers alike will focus on automating and improving external relationships. "We’re seeing growing interest from providers in streamlining procure-to-pay processes with their trading partners, such as manufacturers and distributors," Luoma shared. Simultaneously, suppliers will expand their investments in contract-to-cash automation to better serve provider customers leveraging cloud technologies.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. End-to-End Process Automation:
   Automating the procure-to-pay and contract-to-cash processes to enhance collaboration between providers and suppliers.
2. Analytics-Driven Performance:
   Leveraging advanced analytics tools to drive performance improvements and operational efficiency.
3. Data as the Foundation:
   Establishing a single source of truth with clean and integrated data to inform strategic planning, sourcing and decision-making.

This shift toward value extraction and optimization will redefine how healthcare supply chain leaders leverage their digital investments, marking a pivotal step in the ongoing journey of transformation.

Prediction 3: Artificial Intelligence Will Transition from Experimentation to Execution

In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare supply chain will move beyond experimentation, shifting into actionable execution. While AI encompasses a wide range of capabilities — from machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics to robotic process automation (RPA) and generative AI (GenAI) — the coming year will see healthcare organizations prioritize high-impact use cases that deliver measurable value.

According to GHX Chief Product Officer Archie Mayani, "2025 will be a transformative year for healthcare. AI will move from experimentation to execution, with providers and manufacturers using it to personalize patient care, optimize supply chains and advance precision medicine at scale.”

Mayani emphasized that organizations will sharpen their focus on applying AI to predictive analytics and workflow co-pilots, working closely with providers, suppliers, and technology partners like GHX to bring these innovations to life. She noted, “AI will move from experimentation to execution, tackling persistent challenges such as fragmented data, supply chain bottlenecks and operational blind spots. By addressing these critical barriers, AI will empower healthcare organizations to build more adaptive, efficient and resilient systems, helping solve critical problems that can expose a supply chain to vulnerabilities."

As AI transitions to execution, it will catalyze operational improvements, enable seamless data integration and reshape supply chain demands. By leveraging AI-driven insights, organizations can focus on three key areas.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Predicting and Mitigating Supply Disruptions:
   AI will analyze complex supply chain patterns, flag potential risks and suggest alternatives to maintain continuity. This will enhance resiliency and help ensure critical medical supplies reach the right place at the right time, supporting value-based care by helping to reduce waste and improve patient outcomes.
2. Optimizing Pricing and Transactions:
   In procure-to-pay and contract-to-cash workflows, AI will streamline price management by identifying discrepancies, automating resolutions and providing transparent, efficient transactions that benefit all stakeholders.
3. AI-Powered Exception Management Co-Pilots:
   Intelligent co-pilots will assist supply chain teams by identifying and resolving operational anomalies, such as delayed shipments, mismatched purchase orders or demand spikes. These tools will automate repetitive tasks, provide real-time recommendations, and enable teams to focus on higher-value activities.

Mayani also highlighted AI’s role in turning transactional relationships into strategic partnerships. By harnessing the power of AI to foster deeper collaboration between providers and suppliers, organizations can unlock value and resilience across the healthcare ecosystem.

"Integrating AI and GenAI is key to improving business processes," she stated. "GHX enables seamless data sharing, powering AI-driven solutions that deliver value across our network of providers, distributors and manufacturers."

The journey from AI experimentation to execution will define 2025, transforming how healthcare organizations operate, collaborate and deliver care.

Prediction 4: Innovative Supply Chain Models Will Expand to Support Non-Acute Care Growth

In 2025, the healthcare supply chain will continue to evolve to meet growing patient demands for care access in non-acute settings, such as community-based clinics, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and home-based care. This shift in care delivery will require providers and manufacturers to embrace innovative supply chain models that align inventory with usage in these environments.

“As a result, innovative distribution models are emerging to better align inventory with usage in these non-acute care settings, starting with implantable devices in ambulatory surgery centers,” said GHX Chief Strategy Officer Chris Luoma.

Looking ahead, Luoma predicts that providers and suppliers who have piloted new supply chain models for non-acute care will expand these approaches to enhance resiliency and operational efficiency. "When trading partners find a model that helps ensure clinicians have the supplies they need for patient care — when they need them and with less waste — they are likely to scale it to additional clinics and deploy it with other trading partners," he explained.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Scaling Innovative Distribution Models:
   Healthcare organizations will continue to refine and expand models that ensure consistent supply availability in non-acute settings, improving care delivery efficiency while minimizing waste.
2. Driving Automation in Supply Chain Processes:
   The shift to non-acute care settings will highlight the need for automation in supply chain workflows, such as procure-to-pay processes, helping ensure operational efficiency without increasing costs.
3. Leveraging Data to Measure Performance:
   With healthcare organizations navigating new territory in non-acute expansion, leveraging insights into performance management will be critical. Shared analytics and data-driven decision-making will help identify where models are most effective, driving greater value from these investments.

By focusing on innovation, automation and performance insights, the healthcare supply chain will adapt to support expanded care delivery and strengthen operational resiliency in 2025.

Prediction 5: Healthcare Supply Chains Will Prioritize Workforce Transformation to Attract and Retain Top Talent

As the healthcare supply chain grows more complex — due to advancing technologies and care delivery extending beyond hospitals — organizations must focus on building a workforce equipped for this new age of innovation. Attracting and retaining supply chain leaders with the skills to navigate digital transformation and meet the challenges of care expansion will be critical in 2025 and beyond.

“In 2025, industry transformation will likely require supply chain and procurement personnel to adapt even more to new technologies and be ready to upskill and reskill,” reports KPMGⁱⁱ However, healthcare faces a significant challenge: It is not typically the first choice for graduates of supply chain programs.

“While healthcare is progressing along the supply chain maturity curve, many aspects remain manual, with staff engaged in mundane tasks,” said Chris Luoma. “Top talent wants the opportunity to practice at the top of their licenses and leverage the latest technologies. Healthcare organizations need to provide these opportunities to attract them.”

To create a workforce ready for the challenges of tomorrow, healthcare leaders must focus on the following areas:

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Advancing Supply Chain Maturity:
   Organizations must adopt technologies that streamline operations, reducing reliance on manual processes. By leveraging innovations proven effective in other industries, healthcare can signal to emerging leaders that supply chain roles are dynamic and technology-forward.
2. Fostering Opportunities for Professional Growth:
   New graduates and professionals seek roles where they can build expertise in areas like data analysis, machine learning and cybersecurity. Healthcare organizations must offer these growth opportunities to position themselves as competitive and rewarding places to work.
3. Reskilling and Upskilling the Workforce:
   Supply chain teams will need to continuously develop new skills to stay ahead of industry transformation. Investing in training and professional development will empower teams to move from tactical tasks to strategic roles, enabling them to focus on high-value activities that drive innovation and efficiency.

"By advancing your supply chain operations along the maturity curve and embracing technologies successfully applied in other industries, you can demonstrate to emerging leaders that a career in healthcare supply chain is both dynamic and advantageous," Luoma explained.

In 2025, healthcare organizations will need to position themselves as attractive employers by embracing technology, fostering innovation, and creating meaningful opportunities for their workforce to thrive.

Prediction 6: End-to-End Visibility Will Drive Smarter Supply Chain Decisions and Build Resiliency

In 2025, end-to-end visibility will emerge as a cornerstone of smarter supply chain decisions, enabling healthcare organizations to achieve a balance between supply availability and financial sustainability. Post-pandemic, the industry shifted from just-in-time (JIT) inventory management to stockpiling in response to supply shortages. However, this approach proved financially unsustainable, leading many organizations to seek a middle ground: Matching supply with demand to maintain continuity while avoiding excessive costs and waste.

“Now, we are seeing some swing back, not all the way to JIT, but to a place of matching supply with demand,” said Chris Luoma.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Prioritizing Predictive Demand Forecasting:
   Healthcare supply chain leaders are leveraging their digital infrastructures, including cloud ERP and EHR systems, to break down barriers to clinical usage data. By using predictive analytics based on past usage patterns, organizations can better anticipate demand and align inventory levels with patient needs.
2. Building Resilience Against Supply Chain Disruptions:
   Providers and suppliers are working toward an integrated ecosystem where upstream and downstream visibility ensures resiliency. Providers want visibility not only into their on-hand supply but also into upstream buffers held by distributors and manufacturers, safeguarding against shortages and stockouts. Suppliers, in turn, seek demand signals from providers to improve forecasting and production planning.
3. Extending Visibility Beyond Hospitals:
   As care delivery expands to ASCs, clinics and other non-acute settings, supply chain leaders are focused on ensuring visibility into supply usage at these sites. For example, leveraging demographic data can help predict increased demand for procedures like hip and knee replacements, aligning inventory with localized patient needs.

The healthcare industry will continue to focus on improving resiliency in 2025 by fostering collaboration across the supply chain. Digital infrastructure will play a critical role in enabling seamless sharing of insights, such as backorder statuses or real-time substitution recommendations during disruptions.

As Luoma explained, “Healthcare supply chain participants need to operate as an integrated ecosystem rather than in silos to improve resiliency.”

By enhancing visibility across the ecosystem, providers and suppliers can connect the dots between procedural supply utilization, ordering patterns, and inventory management, ensuring smarter decisions and stronger operational continuity.

Prediction 7: Healthcare Will Tackle Deeper Layers of Cost with a Focus on Complex Supply Chains

In 2025, healthcare organizations and their suppliers will turn their attention to deeper layers of cost within the supply chain, particularly in areas traditionally viewed as too complex to address. Having made significant progress in automating and optimizing the procurement and management of high-volume, low-cost supplies, many organizations are now ready to tackle more intricate challenges, such as the implantable device supply chain.

“Costs have stemmed from the vast amount of clinical and supply chain staff resources required to manage implantable devices manually, as well as the overstocking of implants that expire before being used,” said Chris Luoma.

To address these challenges, healthcare providers and suppliers are beginning to share data, integrate their processes, and leverage advanced technologies. This collaboration opens the door to solving problems once considered unsolvable and enables organizations to reduce costs while enhancing care quality.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Enhancing Demand Signal Accuracy:
   Hospitals with visibility into case schedules in procedural areas are now able to generate more accurate demand signals for their implantable device suppliers. This ensures better alignment between supply availability and clinical needs, reducing waste and preventing overstocking.
2. Leveraging Clinically Integrated Data:
   Supply chain teams are increasingly using implant usage and patient outcomes data to inform supplier and product standardization initiatives. These efforts not only help reduce costs but also enhance patient care quality by aligning purchasing decisions with clinical efficacy.
3. Applying AI Analytics to Implantable Device Data:
   Foundational data captured through supply chain automation is serving as a critical input for AI-driven analytics. Healthcare providers are using these tools to surface insights on implantable device usage trends, costs and patient outcomes, while suppliers gain a clearer understanding of usage patterns among their provider customers to inform strategic decisions.

“In 2025, we predict that both healthcare providers and suppliers will increasingly apply AI analytics to this foundational data source,” Luoma stated. “By doing so, they will uncover insights they can leverage to further optimize this complex area of supply procurement and management.”

Through these advancements, healthcare organizations and their suppliers will transform the implantable device supply chain into a model of efficiency, demonstrating the potential to address even the most challenging and costly areas of spend.

Prediction 8: Cybersecurity Threats Will Drive New Safeguards and Reshape Healthcare Risk Management in 2025

In 2025, escalating cybersecurity threats will force healthcare organizations to adopt stronger internal safeguards, deepen third-party risk management practices, and navigate an increasingly challenging cyber insurance landscape. With 92% of U.S. healthcare organizations experiencing a cyberattack in the past year and supply chains emerging as a critical vulnerability, the industry will move beyond reactive measures to implement proactive, system-wide protectionsⁱⁱⁱ

According to GHX Chief Information Security Officer Thien La, several key trends will shape these changes.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. AI-Driven Social Engineering Attacks Will Redefine Security Protocols:
   The accessibility of AI is enabling more sophisticated social engineering attacks, such as deep fake scams. In 2025, healthcare organizations will implement stricter multi-factor verification protocols and employee training to counteract these manipulative techniques. For example, training employees to recognize deep fakes and requiring additional confirmations for sensitive transactions will become standard practice. “The message being, don’t trust anyone—even on video—without confirmation,” said La.
2. Third-Party Risk Management Will Continue to be a Strategic Imperative:
   Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting vendors with weaker security measures. By 2025, healthcare organizations will establish more rigorous vendor vetting processes, including comprehensive security audits. Bain & Company reports that cybersecurity concerns are already shaping IT investment decisions, a trend that will intensify as providers and payers prioritize vendors with robust security programs to protect sensitive data and supply chain operations^iv
3. Cyber Insurance Challenges Will Accelerate Adoption of Safeguards:
   With attacks growing in frequency and severity, securing cyber insurance will become increasingly challenging in 2025. However, this challenge will drive organizations to adopt more stringent internal controls to meet insurer requirements. Companies unable to secure coverage may face barriers to business partnerships, as many healthcare providers now require cyber insurance as a prerequisite for vendor relationships. “This is serving as a forcing function for organizations to build stronger cyber programs,” said La.

What This Means for Healthcare in 2025:

• Proactive Risk Mitigation: Healthcare organizations will shift from reactive responses to proactive measures, such as leveraging AI to detect anomalies in supply chain operations and implementing zero-trust architectures to secure systems.
• Collaborative Security Models: Providers, payers and suppliers will strengthen partnerships by standardizing third-party security expectations and sharing insights to enhance collective resiliency.
• Increased Investment in Cyber Resiliency: Spending on cybersecurity will grow as organizations adopt advanced technologies and practices to safeguard sensitive patient and supply chain data, helping ensure operational continuity and compliance.

These actions reflect the industry’s response to growing cyber threats, transforming healthcare’s approach to cybersecurity and risk management in the year ahead.

Prediction 9: Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures Will Continue Shaping Healthcare Supply Chain Transformation in 2025

Consolidation in the healthcare industry is set to accelerate in 2025, impacting providers and suppliers alike. According to PNC, mergers and acquisitions are trending upward, with organizations seeking to expand capabilities, enhance market positions, and drive efficiency. At the same time, divestitures are rising, as some organizations move away from loss-leading services, such as sole primary care clinics, to focus on more profitable areas^v

“Whether a healthcare provider or supplier is acquiring or merging with another entity or divesting itself of an organization, service line, or product line, the impacts on supply chain operations are substantial,” said GHX Chief Strategy Officer Chris Luoma.

Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures (MA&D) bring significant supply chain challenges, including the integration or separation of core systems (ERP, EHR), the reconciliation of contracts and pricing, and the alignment or disentanglement of critical processes such as procurement and accounts payable (AP). However, these transactions also present opportunities to modernize operations and drive long-term success.

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Building a Digital Foundation Through Standardization:
   MA&D transactions provide a unique opportunity to standardize enterprise-wide systems, replace outdated legacy technology, and establish a foundation for digital transformation. Organizations that leverage these transactions to integrate reliable data sources, automate data management, and enforce robust data governance will position themselves for future success.
2. Enhancing Efficiency with Automation:
   Automating supply chain processes such as ordering, invoicing and payments will streamline workflows and eliminate inefficiencies during post-transaction integration. Cloud-based solutions that connect seamlessly with acquired or merged entities' systems will enhance operational agility and reduce errors.
3. Managing Trading Partner Relationships:
   The operational changes resulting from MA&D must be carefully managed across trading partner networks to prevent supply chain disruptions. Effective collaboration and communication with suppliers and distributors during transitions are critical to maintaining business continuity and aligning expectations.

“In 2025, the healthcare industry will increasingly view mergers, acquisitions and divestitures as strategic opportunities to modernize operations and unlock new potential,” said Luoma.

By addressing challenges with clear strategies and leveraging these transactions to drive digital transformation, organizations can position themselves for sustained growth and success.

Prediction 10: Healthcare Suppliers Will Continue Streamlining Operations to Improve Cost Efficiency in 2025

In 2025, healthcare suppliers will prioritize operational cost improvements, focusing on simplifying supply chain processes and leveraging technology to work smarter. According to Deloitte’s 2025 life sciences outlook, nearly 60% of surveyed executives identified optimizing the operating model as a priority, with 27% categorizing it as “very important.”^vi

“Healthcare suppliers have been telling me they lost not only talent during the pandemic due to layoffs but also the institutional knowledge of those individuals,” said GHX Vice President of Supplier Sales Denise Odenkirk. “The resulting complexity has increased costs for these organizations. Therefore, a key focus for 2025 is working smarter, not harder, with less reliance on manual intervention.”

Key Areas of Focus for 2025:

1. Simplifying Supply Chain Processes:
   Many suppliers are “getting back to basics” by streamlining workflows that have become increasingly complex over time. This simplification is critical to reducing unnecessary costs and enhancing operational efficiency.
2. Leveraging AI and Digital Transformation:
   Digital transformation and investments in technologies like generative AI (GenAI) are foundational to achieving these goals. Deloitte research indicates that AI implementation could lead to cost savings of up to 12% of total revenue for some MedTech companies within the next two to three years^vii Suppliers are focusing on intelligent automation to reduce reliance on manual processes, improve data accuracy, and streamline tasks such as payment and order management.
3. Improving Collaboration and Decision-Making:
   Strategies that turn data into actionable insights, reduce paperwork, and foster collaboration with provider customers are helping suppliers optimize their operations. By working more efficiently, suppliers can better serve clinicians and patients while helping improve financial outcomes.

By adopting these strategies, healthcare suppliers in 2025 will be well-positioned to enhance cost efficiency, navigate industry challenges, and strengthen relationships with provider customers.