ASTP/ONC to Prioritize Interoperability in 2026
The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) announced that interoperability will be its top priority in 2026, with a series of final rules aimed at strengthening health information exchange. Dr. Thomas Keane, HHS’s assistant secretary for technology policy, detailed the agency’s roadmap for issuing and finalizing these regulations. The initiative seeks to eliminate data silos, standardize electronic health record (EHR) communications, and accelerate value‑based care models. Stakeholders can expect clearer compliance timelines and new incentive structures tied to measurable data sharing outcomes.
Demystifying the Smart Hospital at HIMSS26
Cleveland Clinic CIO Sarah Hatchett will lead a HIMSS26 panel that offers a practical roadmap for building new IT infrastructure and retrofitting existing hospital spaces to accommodate emerging technologies. The session targets health‑system leaders seeking concrete steps to transition toward...
Looking Beyond AI Implementation at HIMSS26
HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf announced that the AI track at HIMSS26 will move beyond pure deployment discussions. The conference will spotlight AI governance frameworks, the impact on clinical and administrative workflows, and concrete methods for calculating return on investment. By...
Evernorth Confirms Full Ownership of CarepathRx
Evernorth, Cigna’s health‑services arm, has confirmed it now fully owns CarepathRx after completing the acquisition last year. CarepathRx provides home and ambulatory infusion solutions to roughly 10% of U.S. hospitals, strengthening Evernorth’s specialty pharmacy footprint. The deal builds on a...
Model Context Protocols Can Serve as Healthcare AI Guardrails
FDB’s Virginia Halsey introduced Model Context Protocols, a set of contractual guardrails for healthcare AI. The protocols require AI models to achieve a predefined confidence threshold before influencing clinical decisions and restrict their behavior to approved use‑cases. By embedding these...
How $50 Billion Can Help Transform Rural Healthcare
CMS has launched a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program aimed at overhauling care delivery in underserved areas. Founder Michael Dalton of Ovatient argues the initiative will only succeed if the funding fuels new value‑based, virtual‑first models that leverage telehealth and...
Geisinger Names Humana Executive as President of Health Plan
Geisinger announced Jeremy Gaskill, a veteran Humana executive, as the new president of Geisinger Health Plan and executive vice president of insurance operations, effective Feb. 23. Gaskill succeeds Karen Murphy, who stabilized the plan and cut operating losses since March 2025. He...
HIMSS26 Speaker Imagines Healthcare in 2035
General Catalyst’s Dr. Stephen Klasko will headline HIMSS26’s Smart Health Transformation Forum, delivering a keynote that imagines a personalized‑care landscape by 2035. Drawing inspiration from Taylor Swift’s storytelling, he will link today’s AI, genomics, and data‑exchange advances to future patient‑centric models....
Breath and Barking Present a Breakthrough in Cancer Diagnosis
SpotitEarly, led by CEO Shlomi Madar, has unveiled a diagnostic platform that pairs trained detection dogs with electronic sensors and artificial intelligence to analyze patients' breath for early signs of cancer. The system can identify lung, prostate, colorectal and breast...
To Streamline Workflows, Listen to Clinicians
Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Michael Zappa of Cape Fear Valley Health, also a physician advisor at Juno Health, urges healthcare leaders to directly ask clinicians which administrative duties pull them away from patient care. He recommends mapping these tasks and...
Deploying AI 'Allows Doctors to Be Doctors' Again
Innovaccer released the whitepaper "Autonomous Healthcare" outlining AI’s role in alleviating clinicians’ administrative load. The report highlights AI‑powered documentation, scheduling, and data integration tools that can reclaim up to 30% of physicians’ time. CEO Abhinav Shashank argues that these efficiencies...
HIMSS26: Former AMA President Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld Gives Keynote to Kick Off Physicians’ Forum
Dr. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, former AMA president and global CMO of Aidoc, opened HIMSS26’s Physicians’ Forum with a keynote titled “From Hype to Healing: Real‑World AI Integration in Clinical Practice.” He warned that clinicians are overwhelmed and that AI must...
Piloting New Technology with a Structured Approach
Mass General Brigham’s chief digital officer, Esther Kim, outlined a disciplined pilot framework for emerging health technologies. The process begins with rigorous vetting to ensure alignment with the system’s strategic priorities. Pilot projects are measured against predefined clinical, operational, and...
HIMSS26 Session Offers a Prescription to End Confusion
At HIMSS26, Greg O'Neill, director of Patient & Family Health Education at ChristianaCare, presented a session titled “A Prescription to End Confusion.” The talk highlighted a new organizational goal to boost health literacy across clinical workflows. O'Neill explained how clearer...