Survey of U.S. healthcare leaders reveals that AI adoption is accelerating, but unapproved deployments and fragmented identity security strategies create governance challenges

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imprivata, a leading provider of access management solutions for healthcare and other mission-critical industries, today released new research revealing a growing trust gap around agentic AI in healthcare. While healthcare leaders are confident they will be able to govern AI agents, the rapid spread of AI across the enterprise is testing whether existing identity, access, and oversight models can keep pace to manage agentic AI responsibly.

The report, The Agentic AI Trust Gap: Why Healthcare Needs Identity-Led Governance, is based on a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Imprivata of 250 U.S. healthcare leaders responsible for identity security and/or AI strategy at their organization. It found that 83% of organizations have already deployed AI across multiple departments or use cases, yet 72% report AI tools or agents are deployed without formal IT approval, highlighting a clear challenge with “shadow AI.”

"For many healthcare organizations, the conversation about agentic AI is focused on where it can have the greatest impact and how it can scale across the organization," said Dr. Sean Kelly, Chief Medical and Growth Officer and Sr. VP, Customer Strategy, Healthcare at Imprivata. "As AI agents act on behalf of clinicians and staff, organizations need to understand what those systems can access, what they're authorized to do, and how their activity can be monitored and reviewed. Enabling this framework is essential for adopting these technologies responsibly."

The survey findings reflect a broader shift taking place across healthcare, with the industry reaching a critical inflection point for agentic AI adoption and governance:

  • 28% of organizations report having agentic AI in production today and another 44% are piloting or conducting proof-of-concept projects.
  • Nearly four in five organizations (79%) expect agentic AI to have a transformative or significant impact on clinical workflows.
  • 88% of respondents expect AI agents to operate with at least some degree of autonomy across clinical and operational workflows.
  • Only 17% believe existing identity approaches are sufficient without adaptation.


The Imprivata survey aligns with the findings from the 2025 KLAS Research Healthcare AI report, which concludes “Healthcare organizations commonly worry about being behind in the use of AI, but the reality is that most organizations are still early in developing their AI strategy, figuring out which AI solutions to use, and building governance around the AI tools they are implementing” and that “the priority for most is establishing strong AI governance structures so they can appropriately balance innovation with regulatory compliance and vendor capabilities.”

Imprivata is helping healthcare organizations prepare for agentic AI by advancing identity-led governance for AI agents as they become part of clinical and operational workflows.

“KLAS Research is hearing from healthcare CISOs that agentic AI is creating a new identity problem. As these agents start accessing systems and taking action, healthcare organizations need to know what they can access, what they’re allowed to do, and how they’re being monitored. That’s going to become a much bigger part of the security conversation,” said Jaren Day, Group Director of Cybersecurity, KLAS Research.

Interested parties can find more information on our website about this rapidly evolving identity challenge, which includes resources on securing AI agent access, applying least privilege, protecting credentials, and maintaining auditability.

To download The Agentic AI Trust Gap: Why Healthcare Needs Identity-Led Governance, visit our website, here.

Survey Methodology
Vanson Bourne conducted the research for Imprivata among 250 healthcare leaders with responsibility for identity security and/or AI strategy at U.S. public and private healthcare organizations. Respondents represented health systems and hospital systems, integrated delivery networks, single hospitals, academic medical centers, and specialty hospitals.

About Imprivata
Imprivata delivers simple and secure access management solutions for healthcare and other mission-critical industries to ensure every second of crucial work is both frictionless and secure. Imprivata’s platform of innovative, interoperable access management and privileged access security solutions enable organizations to fully manage and secure all enterprise and third-party identities to facilitate seamless user access, protect against internal and external security threats, and reduce total cost of ownership. For more information, visit www.imprivata.com.

Media Contact
press@imprivata.com