Managed Services Evolve From IT Fix to Core Healthcare Strategy

MADISON, WI – April 22, 2026 – Application managed services (AMS) in healthcare have officially moved out of the server closet and into the boardroom. Once viewed primarily as a temporary staffing fix or backup support for overburdened IT departments, outsourced services are now considered a central pillar of health IT strategy, according to a new survey from global consulting firm Nordic.

The research, which polled healthcare CIOs and IT leaders using Epic Application Management Services, reveals a significant market maturation. A striking 61% of respondents now say outsourced managed services are a core part of their IT strategy, not a supplemental one. This evolution reflects a fundamental rethinking of IT operating models as health systems grapple with the mounting complexity of electronic health records (EHRs), tightening financial margins, and relentless pressure to modernize and innovate.

A Strategic Imperative in a Complex Landscape

The shift from tactical support to strategic partnership is being driven by a confluence of powerful forces. As platforms like Epic become more sophisticated, the internal resources required to manage, maintain, and optimize them have grown exponentially. This challenge is compounded by a competitive market for specialized IT talent and persistent budget constraints, leaving many organizations struggling to keep pace.

According to Nordic, this has led to a meaningful change in leadership mindset. Rather than simply outsourcing to fill staffing gaps, health systems are strategically leveraging AMS to build more sustainable and resilient operating models. By entrusting foundational IT management to a specialized partner, organizations can preserve governance, ensure data stability, and, most importantly, free up their internal teams to focus on higher-value initiatives.

"Healthcare organizations are realizing they cannot do everything at once," said Steve Eckert, Chief Growth Officer at Nordic, in the company's announcement. "The story is no longer about outsourcing to support a health IT team that is short-staffed. It is about creating the capacity to focus on priorities that will define the next phase of healthcare performance."

This sentiment is echoed by broader market trends. Industry analysts note that as healthcare undergoes a profound digital transformation, the role of IT has expanded from a support function to a primary driver of clinical and operational improvement. Managed services are increasingly seen as the vehicle to handle the essential, everyday tasks, allowing health systems to direct their energy toward strategic goals like improving interoperability, deploying advanced analytics, and enhancing the patient experience.

Two Paths Forward: The Urban-Rural Divide in IT Adoption

While the adoption of managed services is growing across the board, the survey uncovered a critical distinction in how different types of health systems are approaching this trend. A significant divide exists between large, urban health systems and their smaller, rural counterparts, revealing two distinct paths toward IT modernization.

Among urban organizations, an overwhelming 70% of leaders view managed services as central to their strategy. For these systems, AMS is a strategic lever to accelerate transformation. Their focus is less on whether a vendor can simply handle support tickets and more on whether a partner can help optimize their platform, deliver advanced analytics, manage complex integrations, and drive innovation. They are looking for a collaborator to help them push the boundaries of their technology investment.

In stark contrast, only 43% of leaders at rural organizations view AMS in the same strategic light. For them, managed services are more often framed in operational terms, serving as a critical tool for resilience and continuity. Their top priorities center on faster response times, better system documentation, stable assigned resources, and access to after-hours support and training. In these settings, AMS acts as a dependable extension of the internal team, helping to bridge crucial workforce gaps and ensure that essential services remain uninterrupted.

"Health systems are no longer evaluating AMS through the same lens," noted Tabitha Lieberman, SVP of Global Application & Data Analytics Delivery for Nordic. "For some organizations, it is a strategic lever to accelerate transformation. For others, it is a way to build resilience and bridge workforce gaps in day-to-day operations."

Beyond the Contract: Demanding Accountability and Trust

Despite the different motivations between urban and rural providers, the survey identified a powerful, unifying theme: a demand for partnership models built on trust, transparency, and accountability. Unlike in many other industries, the stakes of IT performance in healthcare are directly tied to provider efficiency and patient care, making a hands-off, black-box approach to outsourcing untenable.

Across all segments, healthcare leaders expect strong oversight into how outsourced services are managed. The survey comments highlighted common expectations for open communication, real-time transparency on performance metrics, proactive support that anticipates issues before they arise, and clearly defined boundaries of ownership. This reflects a growing understanding that the partner is not just managing software, but is an integral part of the care delivery ecosystem.

"While different organizations may seek different solutions, the common thread is that leaders want a model that strengthens performance without sacrificing visibility, accountability, or trust," Lieberman added.

This demand for a higher standard of partnership is reshaping the provider-vendor relationship. Health systems are moving away from purely transactional agreements and toward integrated partnerships where the managed services provider functions as a trusted advisor, deeply invested in the organization's clinical and operational success.

Paving the Way for Healthcare's Next Frontier

The strategic integration of managed services is more than just an IT trend; it is a foundational element enabling the future of healthcare. By offloading the immense burden of day-to-day system management, health systems are unlocking the internal capacity needed to tackle the next wave of transformation.

This newfound bandwidth is critical for pursuing initiatives that will define the next decade of care delivery. This includes preparing for the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, modernizing data infrastructure to support predictive analytics, and redesigning clinical workflows to be more efficient and user-friendly. Recent industry analyses have shown that while many healthcare leaders are optimistic about AI, they recognize the need for substantial improvements to their underlying data and technology infrastructure—a gap that strategic AMS partnerships are well-positioned to fill.

As the healthcare managed services market continues to mature, its value is no longer being judged by the number of tickets closed or servers maintained. Instead, it is being evaluated as a core component of the strategic IT operating model itself—a critical enabler of innovation, resilience, and long-term transformation in an increasingly complex industry.