Resource Regions: Asia Pacific

A New Era of AI-Driven Healthcare in Asia Pacific

Asia/Pacific’s healthcare sector is entering a revolutionary era – driven by a surge in clinical data powered by AI and GenAI, and more recently, Agentic AI. This era will be shaped by the need to balance dual priorities of efficiency and effectiveness across workflows and workforce productivity.

To meet these demands, healthcare provider organizations are now focusing their investments on four immediate priorities.

Workflow automation to increase workflow efficiency for enhanced care outcomes
Patient-centric care delivery models to ensure care accessibility and convenience
GenAI solutions to augment clinician efficiency while creating a hyper-personalized patient experience (PX)
Cybersecurity to maintain cyber-resilience as emerging technologies become the imperative for modernized healthcare

AI-Driven Workflow Automation: Scaling Efficiency and Outcomes

As healthcare providers across the Asia-Pacific region pursue greater operational efficiency, improved quality of care, and scalability, AI and automation are becoming a top priority. Repetitive and data-intensive processes are placing a heavy burden on healthcare providers, draining valuable time and resources. By automating these tasks, organizations can relieve this strain, optimize internal resources, and significantly reduce administrative overload.

At the same time, there is growing pressure from rapidly aging populations—particularly in super-aged nations like Japan and South Korea. This, along with the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), is increasing demand for more efficient healthcare delivery.

To address these shifts, healthcare providers have identified healthcare-specific use cases for automation in the next two years: clinical workflows, operational workflows, and administrative workflows.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform, with its tools and functionalities, serves as a robust foundation for automation investments. One-third of healthcare providers have already invested in CDSS (Clinical Decision Support Systems), while more than half plan to invest within the next two years.

IDC data shows that almost half (47%) of healthcare organizations consider health data platforms as the topmost investment potential, owing to the need for large-scale data integration, data leveraging, and real-time analytics for “Intelligent Automation.”*

New Patient-Centric Care Models: From Telemedicine to Hospital-at-Home

Innovations in patient-centric care delivery solutions continue to accelerate. This is also driven by the rising consumerization of care and supported by a maturing health tech ecosystem.

For example, telemedicine is transforming into comprehensive Telehealth platforms. What began as basic virtual consultations has now expanded to include integrated access to electronic medical records, e-prescriptions, lab results, and patient education—all within a single interface. This empowers patients to make informed decisions and take greater ownership of their health.

In another case, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is progressing into full-fledged “Hospital-at-Home” (H@H) models. Over half of regional care providers are investing in H@H technologies. For example, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), under the National University Health System (NUHS), have launched the Mobile Inpatient Care@Home (MIC@Home) program. Spearheaded by the MoH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT), the program supports patients with general medical conditions such as skin infections, urinary tract infections, and congestive heart failure. Following a successful pilot, the initiative has expanded to four more hospitals: Changi General Hospital (CGH), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), Sengkang General Hospital (SKH), and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). Similarly, in Australia, 44 hospitals in Victoria are now offering Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) services. To scale these models effectively, healthcare providers are increasingly reshaping their investments through Digital Front Door (DFD) strategies. By leveraging the broader healthtech ecosystem and adopting innovative, patient-focused delivery models, they aim to create more efficient, scalable, and responsive healthcare systems across the region.

IDC predicts that by 2027, driven by the demand for enhanced care collaboration, expanded clinician and consumer access, and enhanced digital literacy, 80% of patients in APeJ (Asia/Pacific except Japan) will utilize Hybrid Care.*

Augmenting Clinician Efficiency and Hyper-Personalized Patient Experience with GenAI and Agentic AI

GenAI and Agentic AI.are poised to make healthcare more accessible to underserved populations. Recognizing its potential, over half of the region’s healthcare providers plan to invest in GenAI solutions within the next two years.

Healthcare organizations are set to transition from early experimentation to developing comprehensive, enterprise-wide AI strategies. CIOs from both multi-specialty and super-specialty hospitals are already exploring targeted GenAI use cases, not only to optimize resource alignment but also to identify the prerequisites necessary to become truly GenAI-ready.

IDC predicts that, by 2026 healthcare GenAI investments are expected to double in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ), driven by the rapid deployment of use cases, more curated clinical data, and increased organizational buy-in.

In the context of GenAI, hospital chains across the region have begun integrating data across their networks to effectively deploy large language models (LLMs). For example, Apollo Hospitals in India has developed a Clinical Intelligence Engine (CIE) powered by LLMs, which leverages extensive clinical datasets from its hospital network to deliver faster, more informed patient responses. In Singapore, Synapxe, the national healthtech agency, has implemented a GenAI tool called “Russel GPT”, designed to generate rapid summaries from patient data to boost clinician efficiency and enhance the overall patient experience. As Agentic AI adoption among care providers emerges, the primary focus is on enhancing productivity far beyond that provided by GenAI. This focus will demand for almost a third of the GenAI investments in Agentic AI in 2026. Encouraged by the potential of these use cases, healthcare providers across the region are specifically seeking partners with strong AI security capabilities, cloud ecosystems integrated with AI services, a commitment to responsible AI practices, and robust data governance frameworks to ensure safe and effective deployment of GenAI solutions.

AI-Powered Cybersecurity: Core to  Healthcare Resilience and Patient Data Safety

The healthcare sector in the Asia-Pacific region remains highly vulnerable, as the frequency and severity of cyberattacks on major hospitals continue to increase. In India, a recent ransomware attack on AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) forced operations into manual mode, disrupting critical services. Similarly, in Australia, a cyberattack led to a significant data breach at St. Vincent’s Health. Considering such incidents, healthcare CIOs across the region are not only prioritizing investments in cybersecurity but are also focusing on cyber-resilience. This translates into proactively detecting and responding to threats earlier through AI-driven security solutions that enhance threat intelligence, response, and recovery.

IDC reports that by 2026, growing cybersecurity risks will prompt 40% of healthcare organizations in APeJ to adopt AI-based threat intelligence solutions to ensure care continuity and safeguard patients.*

A targeted attack on an AI system could compromise its output, potentially endangering patients, such as altered radiation dosages in cancer treatment plans. These threats underscore the critical need for robust security measures to safeguard the integrity and accuracy of AI-driven healthcare applications.

To address these risks, hospitals in the region are heavily exploring AI-specific cybersecurity strategies, including advanced encryption methods to secure data transmission, real-time threat detection systems to identify anomalies, and stringent access controls to prevent unauthorized use.

The current landscape of the Asia/Pacific healthcare sector limits organizations’ ability to enhance their IT security capabilities. IDC data indicate that regional healthcare providers prioritize managing internal and external security risks, achieving greater visibility into the threat landscape, and having proactive threat detection, response, and remediation capabilities. Security service providers need to align their capabilities with these priority areas for initial pitching and successful engagement. CISOs and CIOs of regional healthcare providers have indicated to IDC that real-time threat intelligence and predictive analytics for identifying potential security risks are the most valuable functionalities they seek in AI-powered security tools, reflecting a strong focus on proactive and efficient threat detection and response.

Defining the path ahead to secure the future

To truly unlock the potential of GenAI and Agentic AI, healthcare providers must take a thoughtful and strategic path forward. It starts with building a strong foundation by establishing a data governance framework led by a team of clinicians, data scientists, legal experts, and patient safety officers to guide responsible use. One of the most impactful steps is integrating GenAI into EHR workflows, especially for automating documentation, something IDC identifies as a top priority for care providers. Just as important is strengthening the data architecture behind these systems, ensuring they are secure, scalable, and ready to support the future of AI-powered healthcare.

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*SOURCE: IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Healthcare Industry 2025 Predictions — Asia Pacific (Excluding Japan) Implications

As geopolitical disruptions, tariff uncertainties, and economic slowdowns prompt organizations to reevaluate budgets, one area that remains non-negotiable is cybersecurity, risk, and compliance. Across Asia/Pacific, this domain has proven remarkably resilient to budget contractions, emerging as a critical enabler of AI-driven innovation, trust, and long-term business viability.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Security Spending Guide, Asia/Pacific enterprises are expected to invest USD $44.4 billion in cybersecurity in 2025, with spending projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.6%, reaching USD $60.6 billion by 2028. This upward trajectory underscores a critical shift: cybersecurity is no longer viewed as a discretionary cost, but as a strategic imperative that is deeply embedded into digital transformation, regulatory readiness, and AI adoption initiatives across the region.

While Asia/Pacific is home to four of the world’s top ten digital economies, it is also at the epicenter of a dual inflection: the aggressive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into enterprise workflows and the intensifying complexity of the cybersecurity threat landscape. Enterprises across sectors, from banking and healthcare to manufacturing and public utilities, are experiencing the push and pull of this convergence. The accelerated adoption of GenAI, the rise of autonomous decision-making systems, and increased reliance on sensitive data have reshaped the risk surface.

This confluence of AI acceleration and security pressure is driving a new breed of enterprise questions:

How can we ensure our GenAI deployments are compliant, transparent, and ethically aligned?

How can AI be used to counter AI-driven threats while ensuring explainability and trust?

What does an integrated approach to AI risk governance, security operations, and regulatory compliance look like?

According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Security Study, 2024, 76.5% of regional enterprises admit they are not confident in their ability to detect and respond to AI-powered attacks. The most pressing threats include AI-driven vulnerability scans, zero-day exploits, ransomware with adaptive extortion tactics, and highly personalized social engineering attacks. These risks are particularly acute in regulated industries such as financial services, telecom, and healthcare.

Despite the urgency, organizations in Asia/Pacific face several barriers in building AI-resilient security postures. These include:

1. Integration and cost complexities

AI holds immense promise for security automation, but its adoption is hindered by poor integration with legacy environments and high costs. IDC predicts that by 2027, only 25% of consumer-facing companies in Asia/Pacific will adopt AI-powered identity and access management (IAM) systems, citing operational complexity and financial constraints as core reasons. This growing trust gap makes consumer authentication and identity protection increasingly vulnerable.

2. Regulatory fragmentation and governance gaps

While countries like Singapore and Australia have advanced AI governance policies, the broader region remains fragmented. China’s regulations prioritize algorithmic transparency and national security. Japan emphasizes Responsible AI under self-regulation. India, meanwhile, is still shaping its framework under the Digital India mission. This patchwork of mandates creates compliance confusion, especially for multinational enterprises. A major shift ahead is the expected rise of AI Bills of Materials (AI BoM). By 2028, IDC expects 70% of data products will be accompanied by BoMs detailing consent trails, model training inputs, and risk assessments i.e. a new layer of accountability for enterprise AI deployments.

3. GenAI growth without guardrails

As organizations race to scale GenAI solutions beyond proof-of-concept, risk governance is often left behind. IDC forecasts that in 2025, one in five APJ enterprises will move to production with GenAI without a comprehensive risk-based trust assessment. This opens the door to data leakage, algorithmic bias, reputational damage, and hefty regulatory penalties. In the absence of structured governance, enterprises risk building innovation on a fragile security foundation.

A blueprint for AI-resilient security

Building a future-ready posture

Cybersecurity in Asia/Pacific is moving from reactive to predictive. It is no longer about responding to known threats but is about anticipating emerging risks in a world where AI shapes both offense and defense. Enterprises must future-proof their security architecture by investing not only in technologies but also in governance, skills, and regulatory alignment.

Organizations that embed trust into the core of their AI strategies will be the ones that lead in both innovation and resilience. AI-powered businesses must ensure that privacy, explainability, and compliance are not afterthoughts, but integral components of the design and delivery process. In this new era, cybersecurity is inseparable from AI transformation and trust is its ultimate currency.

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