IKS Health’s core focus is anchored in a single, pragmatic goal: to leverage technology to amplify human potential in healthcare.
At the recent IKS Health Spring Vitalize, an invitation-only gathering of senior healthcare executives, Sachin K. Gupta, Founder and Global CEO, delivered a keynote acknowledging how the industry stands at a critical crossroads. While headlines insist that AI will easily “fix” healthcare, the reality is far more complex.
The industry is currently facing a paradox. Gupta noted that while consulting firm McKinsey estimates AI’s potential in healthcare at $1 trillion, the current reality is sobering: 70% of AI projects fail to integrate into clinical workflows, and over half yield zero or negative ROI.
Meanwhile, healthcare systems are under unprecedented financial stress, with costs rising over the last two decades while inflation-adjusted revenues have actually declined. This stress isn’t just financial but deeply human, resulting in national appointment wait times averaging 38 days leading to clinical burnout rates of 63%.
To address these challenges, the industry doesn’t just need more AI. Gupta believes healthcare organizations must find ways to unlock “margin to care.”
The dimensions of margin
As Gupta outlined, the concept of “margin to care” is grounded in a framework of four interconnected dimensions of margin, enabled by AI with human-in-the-loop oversight.
1. Operational margin
From complex scheduling and fragmented data to the overwhelming process of revenue cycle management, the modern patient journey is weighed down by friction. However, “green shoots” of AI success are emerging. IKS Health’s behavior-based patient engagement actively uses AI to reduce patient no-show rates by 15%, while AI can triage and route 70% of inbox messages away from overburdened physicians.
2. Technological margin
Healthcare also suffers from vendor fatigue due to the fragmented landscape of point solutions. While the industry has invested $45 billion into healthcare IT, this investment has mostly created a messy web of disconnected systems. True technological margin is achieved by unifying disparate systems to remove operational friction while securing clinical trust through a seamless blend of technology and human-in-the-loop oversight.
Now, by integrating IKS Health’s proprietary AI domain intelligence for clinical decision support, the company can deliver transparent, explainable, and traceable results for regulators and healthcare organizations, seamlessly bridging the gap between data and actionable insights.
3. Clinical margin
Clinical margin is unlocked by fixing operations and technology. When administrative burdens are eliminated, the joy and purpose of practicing medicine return. Gupta said that at IKS Health, they have seen this structural shift lead to a 55% improvement in clinical judgment, freeing up an average of 45 minutes per physician per day. This shifts the dynamic from transactional patient relationships to actual relational care, netting higher patient satisfaction and better clinical outcomes.
4. Financial margin
Finally, when IT vendors generate more value for themselves than for the providers they support, the system fails. Moving toward accountable financial partnerships corrects this imbalance by demanding shared responsibility and performance-based alignment. IKS Health advocates for a performance-based model built on shared accountability, where technology providers align their fees closely with performance and link a significant portion of payment directly to delivered outcomes. While industry revenues have actually declined by 1% to 4% on an inflation-adjusted basis, an IKS Health pilot partnership program achieved a remarkable 9.6% increase in revenue.
A new operating system for healthcare
Technology is the bridge for organizations to truly achieve “margin to care,” but the solution to healthcare’s systemic challenges isn’t another standalone app. Instead, Gupta proposes a unified “system of action” that leverages technology to orchestrate operational, clinical, and financial tasks within a single, interconnected system.
Today, there is a significant gap between the System of Record (the EHR), fragmented point solutions, and a true System of Action (unifying platform).
Systems of Record, like EHRs, were architected for billing, not for autonomous AI workflows. Trying to force AI into these legacy systems through standard APIs creates constant friction.
Likewise, instead of solving problems, the endless influx of highly specific point solutions has created a state of point solution fatigue. Providers are left managing 10 to 15 different vendors, each claiming to solve a single task like clinical documentation or prior authorizations. Ultimately, these solutions inject more operational friction into the patient journey than they remove.
As Gupta noted, a few visionary partners are moving beyond fragmented workflows to create a true “Platform System of Action.” These unified platforms, like IKS Health, orchestrate complex operational, clinical, and financial tasks within a single system, consistently delivering proven cost savings, higher quality, and an improved patient care experience across both fee-for-service and value-based care models.
By seamlessly bridging the “System of Record” with a powerful “System of Action,” organizations can finally enable both systems to work cohesively for the provider and the patient. This highly integrated approach eliminates operational friction at every touchpoint, ultimately driving superior operational, technological, financial, and clinical outcomes across the care journey.
From theory to reality: Proving the model
“Margin to Care” in action means moving from transactional patient relationships to deeply relational care. To truly move the needle, care enablement partners must be willing to share in the responsibility for outcomes. That is why IKS Health is so deeply committed to providing a fully integrated system.
Partnering with a financially distressed physician group in San Diego, IKS Health structured the relationship around shared performance goals. The results of this partnership after just six months demonstrate what is possible when operational innovation, technology, and aligned incentives converge:
9.6%
increase in revenue performance
2.6%
reduction in costs
45 min
per day physician time freed on an average
Choosing integration as a path forward
The future of healthcare requires a fundamental departure from the status quo. Gupta emphasized that achieving true “margin to care” is an absolute necessity for every healthcare organization today. When operational functions are optimized to remove friction and expand technological margin through unified systems, the outcomes healthcare deserves are unlocked. Clinical margin restores relational care, while sustainable financial margin drives shared accountability.
By leveraging advanced AI alongside human-in-the-loop oversight, organizations can successfully operationalize this interconnected approach. IKS Health is building that system today–ensuring that technology finally serves the healthcare ecosystem.
