Healthcare organisations are investing more in artificial intelligence, but the conditions needed to apply it broadly and effectively are often still missing. That is one of the findings of the Innovatiemonitor voor de Zorg 2026, the first study into the innovative capacity of Dutch healthcare organisations, carried out by Amsterdam UMC, the University of Amsterdam and SEO Economisch Onderzoek on behalf of ARCHEM.
On average, respondents estimate that 37.7 percent of employees within their organisation use AI. That share varies sharply by role and institution: staff and support functions report the highest use (53.3 percent), compared with 29.6 percent among healthcare professionals themselves. Averages across institutions range from around 22 to 49 percent.
Even so, healthcare organisations lag behind the wider business sector in AI maturity, particularly when it comes to the readiness of data and technology. Organisational and staff capabilities, such as the knowledge and skills needed to apply AI effectively, also score only around the middle of the scale. This suggests that using AI in healthcare depends not just on technology, but equally on training and organisational embedding.
The monitor also shows that AI mainly plays a supporting role in practice. Just over half of respondents recognise that AI is used to support existing tasks, while around seven in ten disagree that AI is already replacing tasks. AI is helping healthcare staff with their work, in other words, but is barely taking it over yet.
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