AI-PROCARE

Responsible AI Procurement in Healthcare

Category: Okategoriserade

Project status October 2026: Insights from 68 Interviews Across Four Countries

9 October 2026 /

Procuring AI-systems in Healthcare: More Than a Technology Contract  

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being introduced into healthcare, often with promises of improved efficiency, decision support, and reduced administrative burden. Yet purchasing AI is not simply a matter of selecting the best technology. It involves balancing clinical needs, patient safety, work environment considerations, legal requirements, organizational priorities, and economic constraints. 

As part of the AI-PROCARE project, we have so far conducted 68 interviews with stakeholders involved in AI procurement across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden.  

A diverse set of voices 
To understand AI procurement from different perspectives, we interviewed: 

  • Clinicians and healthcare managers 
  • Procurement officials and advisors 
  • National and regional regulatory actors 
  • Vendors and system management representatives 
  • Trade union representatives 

This has helped us go beyond viewing procurement as a purely administrative process and instead explore how different actors contribute to decisions about introducing AI into healthcare practice. 

A broad variety of AI applications 
The interviews covered a wide range of AI technologies, including: 

  • Image analysis tools such as mammography and radiology algorithms,  
  • Documentation support such as transcription, summarising and translation solutions 
  • Decision support such as triage systems, fracture detection tools and stroke detection 

This diversity provided valuable opportunities to compare procurement challenges across different types of AI solutions. 

What happens next? 
We aim to conduct a total of 100 interviews and are currently recruiting the remaining participants. The ongoing analysis focuses on how different stakeholders perceive and navigate tensions between: 

  • Efficiency and work environment 
  • Clinical value and economic value 
  • User influence and managerial decision-making 
  • Standard procurement procedures and the unique characteristics of AI 
  • Innovation and regulation 

The next work package will involve in-depth case studies of successful AI procurement initiatives, with a particular focus on the experiences and perspectives of end-users. By examining procurement as a socio-technical process rather than merely a purchasing activity, the project seeks to generate knowledge that can support more sustainable work envrionment and human-centered implementation of AI in healthcare. 

Written by Maral Babapour Chafi

Usability is not taken sufficiently into account when procuring medical systems and services. Why is it so?

30 September 2026 /

Johanna Viitanen, Professor, Co-Principal Investigator AI-Procare


Usability is often overlooked in procurement due to a lack of methods that are adjusted to the procurement context and produce comparable, measurable data. Limited resources also push to prioritize other quality attributes. Additionally, there is insufficient evidence about how usability assessments affect procurement decisions and how poor usability impacts healthcare professionals’ work and efficiency after implementation.

AI-PROCARE at the NordForsk kick-off in Lund

30 September 2026 /

This week, Marta Lárusdóttir, Johanna Viitanen and Åsa Cajander represented AI-PROCARE at the NordForsk kick-off for the Nordic-Baltic initiative on Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Lund.

The kick-off brought together the projects funded within the programme, giving us a chance to hear what the other research teams are working on and to discuss our fantastic AI-PROCARE project with researchers from across the Nordic and Baltic countries.

The presentations showed just how broad the question of responsible AI is. The projects approach AI from different perspectives and application areas, raising questions about responsibility, ethics, human involvement, governance and how AI is introduced and used in practice.

It was particularly interesting to see the connections between the projects. Although we study AI in different contexts, many of us are grappling with similar questions about what responsible AI actually means when technologies move from principles and policies into organisations and everyday work.

Lots of interesting discussions, new connections and ideas to bring back home from Lund!

Why is AI-PROCARE an important project?

18 September 2026 /

Åsa Cajander, professor, Principal Investigator AI-PROCARE

Society needs practical recommendations and guidelines for buying AI systems that support a good work environment in healthcare. The timing of AI-PROCARE is exactly right, as this knowledge is urgently needed while AI is rapidly being introduced.

NordiCHI 2026 Workshop – Empowering Users in Public Procurement 

16 September 2026 /

In the AI-Procare project we will be organizing a workshop at the NordiCHI 2026 in Wasa Finland on Saturday 3rd October from 14:00 – 17:30.

In the workshop we will explore how human-computer interaction (HCI) perspectives can be more effectively integrated into public IT procurement processes to empower users and extend employees´ wellbeing. We will focus particularly on procurement of AI and healthcare systems.

We invite researchers and practitioners in the area to the workshop. It is open to everyone, so participants do not need to write position papers to be involved, but participants have to register on the NordiCHI website to pay the fee for attending that day.

Further information on the workshop: https://empoweringusersinpublicprocurement.com/

Why procurement matters for responsible AI in healthcare

13 March 2026 /

Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of innovation, efficiency, and technical performance. But if we want AI to be introduced in responsible ways in healthcare, we need to look beyond the technology itself.

One important starting point is procurement.

Procurement shapes which AI systems enter healthcare, but also how work is organised, what demands are placed on professionals, and how much support they have in their daily work. In that sense, procurement is not only an administrative process. It also helps shape the work environment.

In AI-PROCARE, we study how procurement of AI in healthcare can better support sustainable and responsible work environments. Our starting point is that responsible AI does not begin when a system is switched on. It begins much earlier, in the decisions about what is procured, why, and on whose terms.