Recognition reinforces Cognizant’s platform-led strategy and production-grade AI capabilities as healthcare payers face mounting pressure to modernize core operations

March 19, 2026 -- Healthcare payers face intensifying margin pressure from rising medical costs, regulatory complexity, workforce shortages and fragmented legacy systems. As the industry shifts toward intelligent, platform-led operations, providers capable of delivering production-grade AI at scale are increasingly differentiated.

Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) has been named a Leader in the Everest Group Healthcare Payer Intelligent Operations PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2026, earning this distinction among 33 evaluated providers and ranking among only nine global Leaders. The assessment evaluates providers across market impact and vision and capability, spanning claims, provider management, member engagement, care and clinical operations and risk and compliance.

“Being recognized as a Leader by Everest Group in Healthcare Payer Intelligent Operations is a testament to the strategic investments Cognizant has made to shape the future of payer operations. We believe the industry is at an inflection point — one where the convergence of generative AI, agentic automation and platform-native delivery models will help redefine what’s possible for payers navigating margin pressure, regulatory complexity and the imperative for speed. Our vision is to be the transformation partner that helps payers not just adapt to this new era but lead it — with intelligence embedded at the core of every operation.”- Sandeep Bhasin, Global Head of IOA, Cognizant

Cognizant’s positioning is driven by its AI-first strategy and purpose-built payer assets. Together, these assets enable production-grade gen AI use cases across core payer operations, helping health plans move beyond pilots to embedded, enterprise-scale intelligence.

This is complemented by Cognizant’s modular BPaaS delivery model, spanning core administration and functional offerings across claims, quality and provider management. This approach allows payers to modernize end-to-end operations or target specific functions with greater speed, cost efficiency and governance.

“The changing dynamics of healthcare payers - driven by ever-evolving regulatory and quality mandates, volatile medical cost trends, and complex legacy environments - are compressing margins and raising the bar for speed, accuracy and governance across core operations. These pressures are accelerating the move toward platform-led transformation, with outcome-linked constructs and production-grade use of gen and agentic AI solutions.” says Vivek Kumar, Practice Director, Everest Group. “Cognizant is responding to the emerging market needs through investments anchored in its AI strategy to scale a diverse portfolio of payer AI use cases. Moreover, its modular BPaaS model, spanning core administration BPaaS and functional BPaaS offerings across claims, quality and provider management, along with a growing focus on supporting small-and mid-sized payers with intelligent operations, reinforces its Leader position in Everest Group’s Healthcare Payer Intelligent Operations PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2026.”

Referenced buyers highlighted Cognizant’s strong claims accuracy, deep healthcare domain expertise and ability to support complex, multi–line-of-business environments. Cognizant is also expanding its focus on small and mid-sized payers while continuing to invest in AI talent and deployment readiness to support long-term scale.

According to Everest Group, these investments reinforce Cognizant’s Leader position as payer operations evolve toward outcome-driven, platform-native models powered by gen and agentic AI.

For more information on the recognition, read the report.

Licensed extracts taken from Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix® Reports, may be used by licensed third parties for use in their own marketing and promotional activities and collateral. Selected extracts from Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix® reports do not necessarily provide the full context of our research and analysis.  All research and analysis conducted by Everest Group’s analysts and included in Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix® reports is independent and no organization has paid a fee to be featured or to influence their ranking.  To access the complete research and to learn more about our methodology, please visit Everest Group PEAK Matrix® Reports.