News 12/31/25

Top News

CMS will award all 50 states an average of $200 million each under the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, which states are expected to use to modernize rural health infrastructure and technology.

Reader Comments

From Blaspheme: “Re: HIMSS board. It doesn’t have many C-level executives from non-profits.” Excluding Hal Wolf, five of the 12 board members work for non-profits, two of them hospitals. Seven of the 12 are based outside the US. None work for a US-based non-profit health system, although that perspective is represented by recently retired Hal Baker, MD, former SVP/CDO/CIO of WellSpan Health.

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Struggling Maimonides Health will be taken over by NYC Health + Hospitals in a move that is backed by $2.2 billion in New York state funding to protect Brooklyn’s safety-net healthcare. The city cites as a benefit that Maimonides will be able to implement Epic, replacing applications from its best-of-breed portfolio that include several systems that it acquired from the former Eclipsys and Allscripts.

People

University of Utah Health promotes Donna Roach, MS to system CDIO.

Announcements and Implementations

The US Navy will extend the pilot of its new medical operations system for at-sea care after completing testing earlier this month.

Epic is working with Penn Medicine to improve patient and clinician experience by deploying technology at the point of care. The organizations previewed a model exam room for the Montgomeryville multispecialty clinic that will open in late 2027.

Black Book Research reports that 80% of international health tech buyers are using digital sovereignty as a first-cut, pass-fail test in eliminating companies that store and host data outside the buyer’s own country. The shift is due to pressure from tariffs, export controls, geopolitical risk, and mandates to use in-country hosting.

A new KLAS report on health system AI use finds that ambient documentation leads by far, with 79% of participating organizations using it. Microsoft, Abridge, Epic, and Oracle Health are considered most often. Two-thirds of organizations use some form of AI, primarily for productivity. Microsoft, Epic, OpenAI, and Abridge most often considered. Agentic AI remains mostly a buzzword, with just one of 3,000 respondents reporting live use. Planned AI use cases focus on revenue cycle management, patient engagement, and clinical workflows.

Government and Politics

The Defense Health Agency issues an RFI to solicit industry feedback on its draft contract strategy for a follow-on to MHS Genesis. It proposes a program office structure that would separate technical integration, human-centered design, and product management.

HHS ASTP posts a recorded  information session on the just-published HTI-5 Proposed Rule. The 60-day public comment period closes on February 27, 2026.

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