This year's insights reveal growing opportunities in clinical communication, alongside key challenges in implementation, budgets, and workforce well-being

Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK) and a global leader in healthcare communications, released the results of its 15th annual survey assessing how clinical communication is handled in U.S. healthcare organizations, along with the trends and challenges shaping this critical capability. With input from executives, physicians, nurses, IT personnel, contact center representatives, and others, this year’s report reveals a steady evolution of healthcare communication opportunities as well as various setbacks and obstacles to successful solution implementation and capability advancement.

“Healthcare systems today are feeling pressure as they attempt to adopt new communication solutions to enhance patient care and provider collaboration, while also navigating an evolving and complex regulatory landscape,” said Vincent D. Kelly, chief executive officer of Spok Holdings, Inc. “Understanding which technology investments to pursue and prioritize intensifies that pressure, something that our annual survey aims to alleviate. Every year, we connect with top industry professionals to dissect the current issues impacting healthcare teams, and, more importantly, gather insights that help leaders understand how they can advance their communication capabilities to support their teams for near- and long-term success.”

The 2025 survey unveiled five major takeaways:

1. IT expertise advances while effective implementation trails: For the fourth consecutive year, budget constraints remain the most significant obstacle to advancing communication capabilities, increasing 15% year-over-year. Yet, there are fewer concerns around gaps in IT knowledge when adopting new solutions. This signals that health systems possess the IT expertise to implement effective communication systems, but financial constraints and fragmented decision-making continue to prevent them from adopting enterprise-wide solutions.
2. Secure platforms are valued, but too many devices may undermine optimization: The perceived value of secure messaging apps has intensified, and while most health systems use two secure messaging platforms, a growing number are using more than four. Adopting too many platforms and devices can cause confusion and may undermine the workflow optimization and workforce confidence health systems seek.
3. High burnout rates have reemerged: Health system staff who experienced a great deal of burnout increased by 89% from last year, a shift from the prior year's optimistic results. The most significant increase in technology-driven burnout is from the burdensome or increased workload of new tools.
4. Both practical communication devices and modern solutions offer advantages: Pagers continue to hold strong, with 82% of hospitals using pagers due to their ability to communicate with specific employee groups or departments and cost savings compared to other devices. Smartwatches are also gaining significant traction, tripling in use year-over-year.
5. AI is highly desired, but hospitals must first overcome implementation complexities: Health systems are starting to see the value of various AI use cases, with 80% prioritizing AI adoption for enhanced communication, but they're also realizing the challenges involved with expanding AI's utility, particularly the ever-evolving regulatory landscape surrounding AI in healthcare settings.

“Insights from this year’s survey highlight the paradoxical position in which many healthcare systems find themselves. That is that they have technical expertise and recognize the strategic importance of advanced communication solutions, but they are overwhelmed by fragmented implementation strategies, workforce burnout, and regulatory complexity,” continued Kelly. “Looking ahead, leaders must focus on laying a cohesive, sustainable pathway to adopting and scaling communication solutions for their teams without inadvertently compounding the problems these platforms and tools are designed to solve.”

The 2025 survey includes specific insights into healthcare communication challenges, the evolution of mobile devices, priorities for clinical communication and collaboration platforms, and how health system professionals perceive the future of healthcare.

See more information from the 15th Annual Spok Healthcare Communications Report here.

About Spok

Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Plano, Texas, is proud to be a global leader in healthcare communications. We deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most to improve patient outcomes. Top hospitals rely on the Spok Care Connect® platform to enhance workflows for clinicians and support administrative compliance. Our customers send over 70 million messages each month through their Spok® solutions. Spok enables smarter, faster clinical communication.

Spok is a trademark of Spok Holdings, Inc. Spok Mobile and Spok Care Connect are trademarks of Spok, Inc.

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