Where AI Is Winning in Healthcare—and What Startups Need to Know

Almost overnight, AI has evolved from futuristic promise to everyday reality—offering unprecedented opportunities for faster discovery, more efficient care delivery, and better patient experiences in health care. Yet between the excitement and the execution lies a widening gap: some organizations are advancing quickly, while others are struggling to gain traction.

At Cure, we hear both sides of that story. Founders and clinicians are seeing real wins with AI—faster diagnoses, leaner operations, smarter research pipelines. Yet many others admit the barriers still outweigh the utility. This divergence between innovation and implementation prompted us to take a closer look: what’s allowing some teams to succeed while others continue to face obstacles?

This report, based on the Deerfield Intelligence Survey, offers a clear snapshot of where AI is truly delivering in healthcare today—and where it’s still finding its footing. While more than half of healthcare executives have implemented AI or machine learning in their workflows, only one in four pilots advances to full-scale deployment. The barriers are consistent: lack of dedicated budgets, data privacy and security concerns, and limited internal expertise. Many hospitals describe themselves as “interested but under-resourced.”

At Cure, we see this not as a limitation but as an inflection point. Biology itself is big data—every molecule, image, and patient interaction holds insights waiting to be unlocked. When applied responsibly, AI can turn that complexity into clarity and shorten the path from concept to cure.

The organizations that will lead this transformation are those building capability now: investing in people, developing AI literacy, and designing solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing systems while upholding the highest standards of safety, trust, and ethics. Cure exists to accelerate that journey by connecting scientists, founders, and healthcare leaders committed to responsible innovation.

The future of healthcare won’t be defined by technology alone, but by those who learn to use it wisely—and begin that learning today.

Seema Kumar CEO, Cure