Re: It would be interesting to compare after-hours use of generative AI solutions by patients who have access to after-hours…
News 12/19/25
Top News
UnitedHealthcare will delay implementation of a controversial policy that would have restricted its payment for remote patient monitoring, according to Stat.
The recently announced policy was to have gone into effect on January 1, but will instead be delayed until later in 2026.
Reader Comments
From Dr. Herzenstube: “Re: FHIR. The new version of the FHIR US Core Implementation Guide removes extensions for birth sex, gender identity, and individual pronouns as required to comply with the White House’s executive order titled ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.’” Verified, per the document above.
From Potentate: “Re: HIMSS. I worked for them until recently. They were having major money issues and could not compromise on membership restructuring from the top to allow revenue generation, mainly from the corporate side of things. Funds were not allocated optimally after the sale of the global conference. They laid off what I would say was about half the organization because they knew that the chaos between the new CRM system (causing a lag in data and membership issues) and revenue, things were going south quickly. There is barely any chapter team left as the director and senior manager left before the layoffs. No corporate relations. Most of the media, engagement strategy, and government relations teams are down to bones.” Unverified. This report came from a verified former employee.
HIStalk Announcements and Requests
Sunday, December 21 is Yalda, a holiday that I like because it excludes no one (although to be fair, neither does New Year’s Day). Yalda celebrants, most of whom are in or from Iran and neighboring countries, mark the last day of fall and thus the longest and darkest night of the year. Then comes winter, when the light begins its slow return. Families celebrate Yalda by staying up until dawn, protecting each other from the dark forces and eating watermelon and pomegranates whose glowing reds signify sunrise and renewal. Yalda means “birth,” which feels exactly right for people like me whose energy level rises with long summer days (Southern Hemispherians must do their pomegranate procurement in June). Celebrant or not, may your Yalda or winter holiday of choice be filled with light, warmth, good company, and the optimism that the clock is about to be reset with 12 months that have no mistakes in them yet.
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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock
Startup Hundred Health launches its $499 annual membership program and app that offers lab testing, health tracking, and nutritional supplement sales.
People
Navina hires Shlomit Labin, PhD, MSc (Shield) as VP of AI.
Sean Dennehy, MBA (Oracle Health) joins Infinx as VP of business development.
Impact Advisors names Casey Bryson (Lurie Children’s Hospital) as VP and client relations executive.
Emory Healthcare promotes interim chief information and digital officer Laura Fultz, MS to the permanent role.
Announcements and Implementations
An Athenahealth survey of ambulatory practices finds that 62% used four or more AI-enabled tools in the past year, and most expect AI to reduce documentation burden and improve patient engagement. Respondents say that AI’s potential is limited by inconsistent data formats and the challenge of finding needed clinical information.
HCA Healthcare UK goes live on Google Cloud-hosted Meditech Expanse in its 11 hospitals, with project support from CereCore.
A KLAS Arch Collaborative analysis of previous surveys of acute care nurses finds that unproductive charting is a key contributor to nurse dissatisfaction, burnout, and departures. Nurses asked for streamline or reduced charting twice as often as any other EHR enhancement to address duplicate and redundant documentation (especially in flowsheets), lack of task standardization in flowsheets, and a requirement to document information that nobody ever looks at and that doesn’t make a difference in patient care.
Government and Politics
A federal jury indicts Done Global on allegations that it arranged the distribution of 40 million doses of Adderall for non-legitimate medical reasons to members who paid it $100 million in subscription fees. The company’s former CEO and medical president were convicted of controlled substances distribution and fraud charges last month.
Other
Cisco provides its hospital customers with Connected Santa, which offers hospitalized children a virtual visit with Santa via Webex with help from onsite company and hospital volunteers.
Sponsor Updates
- Wolters Kluwer Health publishes a new report titled “2026 healthcare AI trends: Insights from experts.”
- Fortified Health Security names Justin Bockrath penetration tester and Jace Cawiezell threat defense analyst.
- Health Data Movers releases a new episode of its “QuickHITs” podcast titled “How Great CIOs Lead: Insights from Luis Taveras, PhD.”
- The “Tech Teams Today” podcast features Healthcare IT Leaders CTO Paul Cannon in an episode titled “Reliability Beats Cutting Edge.”
- Infinx names Heather Swanson business development director.
- WEDI honors InterSystems with its annual Innovation in Health IT Award.
Blog Posts
- 8 healthcare dashboard examples and the metrics they track (Arcadia)
- Arkansas Social Care Summit: Highlights from the Natural State (Findhelp)
- Why Data Security Will Define Cost-Effective RCM in 2026 (FinThrive)
- EHR build sprawl: Why “just in case” is costing you more than you think (Cardamom)
- Meditech staff lead holiday giving for local families (Meditech)
- Leveraging Your EHR to Maximize Reimbursements (Med Tech Solutions)
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The comments are true above. HIMSS is facing serious leadership and governance concerns, particularly involving the CEO and head of products. Poor strategic decisions, mismanagement of funds following the sale, and past failures in analytics have contributed to the organization’s decline. Hal installed a weak board by design with limited independence has left the CEO unchecked. morale is low and few remaining employees are looking for a way out.
I hear you, and I agree—HIMSS is definitely facing some big challenges right now. The leadership and governance issues you mentioned are serious, and they’ve clearly impacted morale and strategic direction. Honestly, I think this might also be part of a bigger trend. Back in the Meaningful Use era, these associations were hugely valuable because everyone was trying to figure out EHR adoption and compliance. But today, things have shifted—if you really want to talk Health IT, most people just go to Epic UGM. I’ve been to all three (HIMSS, CHIME, ViVE) over the last couple of years, and they feel more like vendor fests than true industry forums. There are very few actual buyers, and most provider attendees are just there on a vendor’s dime to validate the decision they already made. Without a serious reinvention, these associations risk becoming anachronisms in a fast-moving digital health world. These events just risk becoming echo chambers for long since made decisions.
“most people just go to Epic” that’s a problem because then EPIC becomes a monopoly in healthcare, if it isn’t considered one already, then they own your organization. It becomes their way or the highway$$$$$$$$$$$, need an upgrade $$, need a change in the system $$.
The sentence was “most people just go to Epic UGM” – that’s people going to Epic’s annual user conference and only customers are invited to discuss how the software should evolve in the next few versions.