Advancements in Digital Care Delivery: OnPage’s Perspective Inspired by the 2025 Gartner® Hype Cycle™

Each year, Gartner’s Hype Cycle provides a powerful lens through which to view the evolving landscape of healthcare technology. The 2025  Gartner^® Hype Cycle™ for Digital Care Delivery is no exception, spotlighting innovations that promise to transform clinical care and address some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges, from clinician burnout to workforce shortages and escalating costs.

At OnPage, we’ve been closely following these trends, and the insights from Gartner’s latest report have inspired us to share our perspective on the future of digital care delivery. Having attended HIMSS 2025 in March, where we saw firsthand a surge in innovative solutions, especially around ambient digital scribe technology, interoperable clinical communications and AI clinical assistants, we’re excited to weigh in on what’s happening now and what’s coming next.

Key Highlights from This Year’s Hype Cycle According to OnPage

Gartner’s report underscores a few critical innovations that we believe will shape healthcare delivery in the coming years:

AI Clinical Assistants and Ambient Digital Scribes
The report highlights how AI clinical assistants are evolving from narrow, point solutions to comprehensive tools that reduce administrative burden and enhance clinical workflows. This was crystal clear at HIMSS, where the explosion of vendors showcasing ambient digital scribe solutions and integrations demonstrated the fast-growing maturity of this market. From startups to large EHR vendors, the race is on to embed these tools deeply into clinical workflows, helping to combat clinician burnout by automating documentation and streamlining tasks.

Enterprise Virtual Care Platforms
Beyond pandemic-driven telehealth, significant strides have been made in regards to virtual care platforms. The Gartner Hype Cycle points to the rise of higher-acuity services like virtual nursing and hospital-at-home programs, trends we also observed at HIMSS. These platforms are evolving to better integrate with existing clinical systems and to leverage ambient intelligence and generative AI to personalize care delivery.

Digital Front Door (DFD)
Fragmented patient experiences remain a persistent problem for healthcare organizations. Gartner’s emphasis on the Digital Front Door as a multichannel platform that unifies patient interactions across different digital touchpoints echoes conversations we had at HIMSS, where providers stressed the need for seamless journeys that span scheduling, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up — all personalized and digitally connected.

Trends We See Accelerating

Surge in Ambient Digital Scribe Solutions
It’s no surprise that ambient digital scribe technology continues to gain traction across the industry. If this year’s HIMSS conference was any indication, the excitement around AI-powered clinical documentation tools is real. I noticed a marked surge in vendors offering ambient scribe capabilities, some as standalone tools, others integrated into broader AI clinical assistant platforms. Major EHR players are also getting in on the action through direct integrations or strategic partnerships.

Gartner’s data backs up what we’re seeing on the ground. According to the 2025 Gartner Healthcare Provider Generative AI Survey, nearly half of healthcare provider respondents have already deployed ambient digital scribes, and another 26% are currently piloting the technology. That’s a leading indicator that this technology is moving beyond the hype and becoming a foundational piece of modern clinical workflows.

We agree with Gartner’s projection that the ambient scribe market is quickly evolving into more sophisticated AI clinical assistants. But what’s even more striking is how ambient scribes are reshaping provider expectations when it comes to workflow efficiency. The appeal lies in their ability to alleviate documentation burdens, reduce burnout and let clinicians refocus on patient care, something that became a recurring theme at HIMSS as well. While the technology is not without risks, those challenges can be effectively managed with strong human oversight and robust governance. 

Integration of AI and Generative Models
Generative AI is becoming more than a buzzword; it’s powering richer clinical decision support and automated workflows. The seamless integration of AI tools into virtual care and communication platforms will be a key driver of efficiency and clinician satisfaction.

Rising Demand for Virtual Care and Personalized Experiences
Patient expectations, particularly among millennials and Gen Z, are shifting toward digital-first healthcare interactions. This drives investment in virtual care platforms that go beyond video visits to include remote patient monitoring, digital therapeutics, and hospital-at-home models, all backed by sophisticated backend integrations.

A Closer Look at Communication, Collaboration, and Coordination (CC&C)

One of the standout insights from Gartner’s Hype Cycle is the positioning of CC&C technologies on the Slope of Enlightenment, with a high benefit rating and less than two years to mainstream adoption. This matches what we witnessed at HIMSS: healthcare providers are urgently seeking unified communication platforms that break down silos and improve care team collaboration in real time.

Fragmented communications have long been a source of clinical errors, delays, and burnout. As digital care delivery advances, the need for CC&C solutions that seamlessly integrate with virtual care and AI assistants will become critical. These platforms enable care teams to mobilize quickly, coordinate complex workflows, and ensure the right expertise is engaged at the right time.

To future-proof your digital care strategy, we echo Gartner’s recommendation to prioritize CC&C tools that offer open APIs and strong interoperability capabilities. Tools like OnPage support this approach by enabling seamless integration across EHRs, virtual care platforms, and AI-powered clinical tools, helping create a more connected and efficient care environment.

OnPage’s Predictions for the Next 3 to 5 Years

AI Clinical Assistants Become Mainstream
We anticipate AI clinical assistants will move from pilots to everyday clinical tools, integrated directly into EHRs and workflows. Improved data sets, algorithm transparency, and clearer regulatory frameworks will accelerate adoption, making these assistants indispensable for reducing documentation burdens and improving care quality.

Ambient Digital Scribes Expand Globally
Driven by the momentum we saw at HIMSS and the rapid advancements in natural language processing, ambient digital scribes will grow beyond the U.S. market. Vendors will consolidate, offering more comprehensive, integrated solutions that become standard in clinical settings worldwide.

Virtual Care Gets Smarter and More Complex
The trend toward hospital-at-home and virtual nursing will become mainstream care models, supported by enterprise virtual care platforms that integrate AI, ambient intelligence, and existing clinical systems to deliver personalized care at scale.

Digital Front Door Becomes a Healthcare Imperative
Healthcare organizations will increasingly invest in Digital Front Door platforms to deliver seamless, personalized, and multichannel patient journeys — bridging digital and in-person care and driving improved patient satisfaction and outcomes.

CC&C Solutions Become Critical Infrastructure
We agree with Gartner’s view that CC&C solutions have moved beyond nice-to-have status to become foundational elements of modern healthcare infrastructure. With digital health investments surging, organizations are realizing that care quality hinges on how well teams communicate across departments, time zones and care settings. 

That’s why we’ve designed OnPage to integrate with nearly any clinical system, from EHRs and nurse call systems to lab systems and scheduling platforms, ensuring communication doesn’t just happen, but happens in context. By championing open API standards, we help providers maintain flexibility and avoid vendor lock-in, a key consideration in this era of interoperability. 

Whether it’s automating message escalation to the on-call team or delivering secure alerts in seconds, OnPage enables the kind of cohesive workflows that reduce care delays and improve patient outcomes. As CC&C platforms become mission-critical, we believe that investing in solutions with strong interoperability, real-time communication, and proven reliability is no longer optional—it’s essential.

Conclusion

Gartner’s 2025 Hype Cycle for Digital Care Delivery provides a clear and compelling roadmap for healthcare technology innovation. At OnPage, we’re energized by the progress we see, particularly the explosion of AI-powered clinical assistants, the evolution of virtual care, and the urgent need for better communication and collaboration platforms.

Our experience at HIMSS 2025 confirmed that these trends are not just on papers, they are happening now. We are proud to be part of this transformation, helping healthcare teams communicate and coordinate more effectively to improve patient care and reduce burnout.

The future of digital care delivery will be defined by technologies that empower clinicians and patients alike through seamless, intelligent, and integrated digital experiences. OnPage is committed to advancing these innovations as we partner with healthcare providers on this journey.

Gartner, Hype Cycle for Digital Care Delivery, By Veronica Walk, 17 June 2025.

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