KPMG must continue delivering health outcomes, not just tech fixes

Life expectancy worldwide is generally rising (except in the US). However, quality of life is declining due to the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, limitations on access to care, and increasing cost of care. Governments and healthcare enterprises remain committed to a legacy paradigm that fails to deliver positive results.

Healthcare supplier organizations have the potential to innovate and drive change. Governments and providers must form a new relationship construct—an equal partnership—to leverage technologies, overcome process gaps, and learn from global successes. KPMG is taking the lead in helping drive this modernization.

Trust will remain a critical component

One can live without a penny but not without their health. Nothing is more personal than our health. The healthcare ecosystem requires the highest levels of trust between the patient, the caregiver, the funder, the enablers, and other participants. Governments and healthcare enterprises must overcome their paternalistic approach to healthcare and embrace suppliers with the right combination of capabilities and attitudes to jointly address the polymathic challenges of healthcare.

In this context, KPMG’s stated ambition to become the most trusted and trustworthy professional services firm could enable it to address the market differently. The aspiration of trust is reflected in KPMG’s client relationships, including its lengthy engagements with some of the world’s largest healthcare enterprises and pharmaceutical companies. Here are a few key examples:

• KPMG developed and manages the risk programs for a large global pharmaceutical company, drives deal strategies in innovative medicine and med tech, and runs innovative data and analytics programs. It also developed and is executing its global precision medicine strategy, enabling the company to go from a non-factor to a major player in three years.
• KPMG collaborates with a provider to manage cybersecurity for a large European national health system. In 2017, the system recovered from severe ransomware attacks, including WannaCry.
• Another standout example is KPMG’s relationship with one of the world’s largest healthcare enterprises to reset and re-platform ServiceNow to enhance operations and reduce integration complexities.

Enterprises typically have a supplier ecosystem that operates at different organizational levels, underpinned by varying levels of trust. Such trusted relationships at an operational level tend to impact administrative and cost-centric metrics. However, when those trusted relationships are forged at the leadership level, they can solve holistic and complex challenges, resulting in outcomes significantly more beneficial to human health. In a hyper-competitive market, KPMG must lean into this latter category.

Global learning can be a catalyst

There is no gold standard for healthcare systems worldwide, given the diversity of populations, government types, funding abilities, clinical expertise, and numerous other factors. Some countries embrace healthy lifestyles that include food choices (non-GMO) and activities (cycling to work), while others place more emphasis on clinical care. Elements of both can enable effective healthcare systems that others should aspire to emulate. Learning and cross-pollinating what works in one part of the world to others can deliver positive outcomes.

KPMG has numerous examples that could drive cross-pollination and scale possibilities across its global healthcare footprint and trusted relationships. Among them is Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi (KSM), the research and innovation center of Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services, which uses big data and AI technology in partnerships with academic institutions, pharmaceutical and tech companies, and startups to make research and medical breakthroughs such as research on naturally acquired COVID-19 immunity. Another example is the 144 Aboriginal Controlled Community Organizations (ACCO) in Australia, which deliver holistic, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate care to more than 400,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

By working together, healthcare enterprises and suppliers can leverage solutions worldwide, scale rapidly, and deliver outcomes that exceed the usual IT fixes and meaningfully affect human lives.

What you do with technology can define your value proposition

Government and healthcare enterprises must avoid implementing technology for technology’s sake. They must consistently embrace keeping human health outcomes as the centerpiece of the value they seek from suppliers. Understanding that family and friends may not receive care (timely diagnosis) or that care could be delayed (postponed surgeries or infusions) because of technology or process gaps must be the change driver, not the hype of a new toy in the market.

Focus was the driving force for a KPMG team responsible for cybersecurity at a large European national health system. In addressing the challenges at a tactical and strategic level, KPMG collaborated with its alliance partners and the client leaders in an inclusive effort reflected in their collective approach to care delivery. The value created was not just the speed to a solution, which is essential, but rather the impact reflected in a note from the family that their four-year-old was able to have his operation. The technology architecture must be inclusive (see Exhibit 1) of all stakeholders in a seamless and transparent model.

Exhibit 1: Inclusivity must be the core sentiment to deliver better human health outcomes

Source: KPMG Healthcare Horizons, 2025

The Bottom Line: Healthcare leaders must stop treating service providers as IT fixers and start holding them accountable for real human health outcomes.

Healthcare has a higher tech debt than other industries in the US and most parts of the world. This is a function of healthcare’s conservative nature, regulations, and the soft business case for addressing tech debt. That’s why replacing and upgrading technology is a tempting low-hanging fruit. KPMG has a long list of successful technology implementations for various healthcare enterprises, which is not dissimilar from its competitors that lead with technology. However, KPMG must remain determined to continue leveraging its progress impacting human health outcomes to differentiate and expand its value proposition.