Black Book Research Q4 flash survey shows health plans shifting from effort-based sourcing to KPI-backed operating models, tightening third- and fourth-party controls while accelerating platform and cloud contract rationalization.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / December 24, 2025 / Black Book Research today released early 2026 findings from a December 2025 flash survey of 264 healthcare payer organization executives evaluating technology software, IT managed services, and outsourcing/tech services strategies. The results indicate payer organizations are entering 2026 with a materially different sourcing posture: re-allocating operational accountability into KPI-backed vendor contracts, hardening governance for production-grade AI, and accelerating platform rationalization under heightened security and regulatory scrutiny.

"Payers are not entering 2026 looking for 'more vendors' or 'more tools,'" said Douglas Brown, Black Book Research. "They are looking for fewer partners with sharper accountability, and they're increasingly treating third-party risk, AI governance, and audit readiness as enforceable commercial requirements-not compliance afterthoughts."

Respondent Profile and Survey Scope (n=264)

Black Book Research surveyed leaders across five major healthcare payer organization types:

• National / multi-state commercial health insurers - 20.1% (53)

• Regional commercial & Blue plans - 23.1% (61)

• Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) - 20.8% (55)

• Medicare Advantage-focused payers - 18.9% (50)

• Provider-sponsored / integrated payer-provider plans - 17.0% (45)

Top 10 2026 Payer IT and Outsourcing Signals

1) Outcome-Based Managed Services Replace Labor-Based Outsourcing Models

A majority of payers report moving away from staff augmentation and generic managed services toward contracts that obligate vendors to measurable operational outcomes and defensible controls.

• 64% say they will rewrite at least one major managed services agreement in 2026 to include operational KPIs with financial downside (169/264).

• 49% expect claims/UM/service vendors to contract against quality, timeliness, and rework reduction rather than volume metrics (129/264).

• 41% anticipate vendor-driven operating-model redesign will become a board-level discussion in 2026 (108/264).

2026 takeaway: Outcome-based pricing and accountability are expanding beyond niche arrangements; vendors still selling "effort" will face contracting pressure and commoditization risk.

2) GenAI Advances Toward Production as Governance-First Vendor Selection Becomes Standard

Payers are advancing beyond pilots, but the gating question is shifting from "What can it do?" to "Can we prove it is controlled in regulated workflows?"

• 72% say AI governance maturity will be a formal gating factor in vendor selection by end of 2026 (190/264).

• 58% plan to deploy AI-enabled support in at least one of: service, appeals/grievances, UM documentation, knowledge management, or claims triage in 2026 (153/264).

• Only 22% believe their current IT services ecosystem is "fully ready" to meet governance expectations for AI in regulated workflows (58/264).

2026 takeaway: The competitive advantage will shift to vendors that can demonstrate production controls-model governance, monitoring, audit trails, security, and defensible human-in-the-loop workflows.

3) Third- and Fourth-Party Risk Controls Become Contract and Renewal Requirements

Security posture, fourth-party exposure, and incident transparency are becoming commercial-not just technical-requirements.

• 77% expect third-party risk requirements to tighten materially in 2026, including subcontractor disclosure and audit rights (203/264).

• 56% anticipate they will terminate or materially downscope at least one vendor relationship in 2026 primarily due to risk posture or control gaps (148/264).

• 44% say they will require near-real-time incident disclosure language in renewed contracts, not just annual attestations (116/264).

2026 takeaway: Renewal decisions will increasingly depend on operational controls and transparency; vendors with strong delivery but weak security governance will be structurally disadvantaged.

4) Application and Vendor Rationalization Accelerates to Fund 2026 Priorities

Payers are "modernizing by subtraction": consolidating platforms, reducing tool sprawl, and renegotiating licensing tied to utilization.

• 69% report a planned application/vendor consolidation initiative in 2026 (182/264).

• 52% say they will target double-digit reductions in overlapping tools across analytics, CRM/service, workflow, and integration layers (137/264).

• 46% expect consolidation to be "politically harder than implementation," citing resistance from business owners and prior commitments (121/264).

2026 takeaway: Vendors may see revenue risk less from direct competition and more from being categorized as redundant during rationalization.

5) Cloud Operating Models Diverge: Elastic Scale vs. Cost/Control Discipline (FinOps + Resilience)

Cloud adoption continues, but payers are applying sharper scrutiny to cost predictability, shared responsibility, and managed service value.

• 59% plan to re-baseline cloud managed services contracts in 2026 due to cost governance and performance accountability concerns (156/264).

• 47% say they are treating cloud spend as a unit economics problem (cost per claim, per member, per authorization) rather than a technical line item (124/264).

• 33% report they will repatriate or re-architect at least one workload in 2026 to improve cost control, resilience, or compliance posture (87/264).

2026 takeaway: "Cloud-first" is evolving toward "cloud with enforceable economics and controls," elevating FinOps, security engineering, and resilience engineering as sourcing criteria.

6) Prior Authorization Workflow Orchestration Becomes a Major Modernization Workstream

Payers anticipate significant 2026 investment in orchestration, clinical documentation, and automation, driven by scrutiny, provider abrasion, and administrative cost.

• 63% plan to invest in prior auth workflow orchestration and integration across UM, portals, contact centers, and clinical review tools (166/264).

• 54% say reducing provider abrasion in UM will be a top-three operational priority influencing IT spend (143/264).

• 38% expect prior auth modernization to require new vendor mixes (software + services + operations) rather than a single platform purchase (100/264).

2026 takeaway: Prior auth modernization will prioritize workflow orchestration and integration outcomes: turnaround time, rework reduction, and provider experience over standalone tool deployment.

7) Interoperability Priorities Shift to Workflow-Embedded Data Utility and Reduced Rework

Executives describe fatigue with connectivity that does not change operational throughput.

• 67% prioritize interoperability investments that measurably reduce manual reconciliation and downstream rework (177/264).

• 48% expect "workflow-embedded external data" (claims/UM/service screens) to outperform standalone data lakes for near-term ROI (127/264).

2026 takeaway: Integration strategies that cannot prove workflow impact will be deprioritized; "embedded usability" will outrank "connected data" in near-term sourcing decisions.

8) Tech-Enabled Operations-as-a-Service Gains Traction Across Core Administrative Functions

Staffing constraints and accountability pressure are increasing appetite for partners who provide technology plus operational execution.

• 60% are evaluating hybrid models combining software + managed operations for at least one domain (158/264).

• 36% say they will consider end-to-end service lines (e.g., appeals, enrollment, provider data, benefits configuration) if the vendor accepts outcome accountability (95/264).

2026 takeaway: Market demand is shifting toward integrated accountability, technology plus managed execution, especially where operational performance is measurable and auditable.

9) Vendor KPIs Expand to Member/Provider Friction, Experience, and Avoidable Contact Drivers

IT sourcing decisions are increasingly tied to friction: denials, call drivers, directory errors, digital drop-off, and complaint volume.

• 71% expect experience and abrasion metrics to influence IT sourcing decisions in 2026 (187/264).

• 45% say they will include member/provider friction KPIs in at least one vendor SOW or renewal (119/264).

2026 takeaway: Vendors will be evaluated not only on delivery performance but on measurable reductions in avoidable friction and operational noise.

10) Governance Modernization Targets Transformation Debt, Vendor Proliferation, and Delivery Throughput

Payers are signaling fewer initiatives, tighter vendor rosters, and shorter proof cycles.

• 62% plan to reduce the number of strategic vendors while increasing performance obligations for the remaining partners (164/264).

• 53% say their organization is actively redesigning governance to eliminate slow approvals, unclear ownership, and multi-year program drift (140/264).

2026 takeaway: Governance maturity and delivery throughput will increasingly separate winning partners from incumbent vendors with complex operating models.

What This Means in Practical Terms

For Health Plan CEOs/COOs

2026 technology sourcing will increasingly be about operating-model accountability and audit defensibility, not simply IT modernization. The highest-impact risk is not adoption speed; it is control failure, vendor opacity, and irreversible platform sprawl.

For CIOs/CTOs and IT Executives

Governance becomes a primary differentiator: AI controls, third-party risk enforcement, unit economics discipline, and workflow-measurable impact. Expect heightened pressure to show not only delivery completion, but reduced rework, reduced abrasion, and improved resilience.

For Vendors (Software, MSPs, Outsourcing, Tech Services)

Payers are shifting from inputs to outcomes: vendors must be able to contract for results and stand behind controls, transparency, and auditability. "Tool-only" offerings will face consolidation headwinds unless embedded in workflows with measurable operational impact.

Methodology

Black Book Research conducted a December 2025 flash survey of 1,103 payer executives, receiving 264 completed responses (23.9% response rate). At the 95% confidence level, the results have a maximum margin of sampling error of ±5.3 percentage points for findings based on n=264, using a finite population correction relative to the 1,103 surveyed participants (margin highest at proportions near 50%). Percentages are rounded.

About Black Book Research

Black Book Research provides independent market research, benchmarking, and performance satisfaction studies across healthcare technology, payer services, and digital transformation initiatives. Complimentary industry research reports are available at https://www.blackbookmarketresearch.com or by email at research@blackbookmarketresearch.com. Black Book's founder Doug Brown is also the author of the Q1 2026 forthcoming "The Black Book of Reshoring: Americ'a Next Manufacturing Revolution" (Wiley Publishers), and the WSJ bestselling "The Black Book of Outsourcing" (2005, 2009 Wiley).

SOURCE: Black Book Research