News 3/13/26

Top News

An Iran-linked hacker group claims in a statement that it disrupted the systems of medical device maker Stryker, saying that the attack was retaliation for the bombing of an Iranian school that killed 168 children and 14 teachers.

The group claims that it wiped 200,000 of the company’s servers and other devices. It also says that it exfiltrated 50 terabytes of Stryker data, including product details, hospital purchasing contracts, clinical trials data, and internal communications, and is threatening to post the information publicly.

Security experts warn that the attack could serve as a test case for further attacks against large US corporations.

Reader Comments

From ExecPhysicianCalifornia: “Re: Epic. A new wrongful death lawsuit alleges architectural defects in the company’s EHR design, including the inability to reconstruct medication timelines or distinguish between active versus discontinued medications. Do other see this as an isolated case or part of a larger pattern emerging around Epic’s market position and legal exposure?” I haven’t seen this lawsuit, which I would assume involves a provider given the wrongful death aspect. Details?

From Associate Meets Door: “Re: NextGen. Laid off about 100 people on Thursday, including some who have been with the company for 20+ years.” Unverified. The company is owned by two private equity firms, so I wouldn’t be shocked.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Medical practice AI agent vendor Nitra raises $50 million in Series B funding.

Amigo AI, which builds patient-facing AI agents for clinical use cases, raises an $11 million Series A round.

Healthcare finance AI platform vendor Translucent AI raises $27 million in Series A funding.

Oracle CTO and chairman Larry Ellison said this in Tuesday’s earnings call:

In healthcare, Epic automates … primarily acute care hospitals. We automate acute care hospitals. We automate clinics. We automate laboratories. We automate the payers, the people who actually pay the bills. We automate the insurance companies. We automate the HCM system that trains their nurses, that schedules their radiologists to get the right radiologist when an MRI is given, that automates the hospital’s financials, that also automates the FDA and the regulators that approve the latest drugs, that deals with the pharmaceutical companies. That is the healthcare ecosystem. It is enormous. And thank God we have these coding tools now that allow us to build a comprehensive set of software, agent-based software, to automate an ecosystem like healthcare or financial services. That is what we are doing at Oracle Corporation. That is why we think we are a disruptor. That is why we think the SaaS apocalypse applies to others, but not to us.

Sales

• WVU Health System will implement Hellocare.ai’s virtual care technology.
• Ardent Health will deploy Hellocare.ai technology in 2,000 hospital rooms.

Announcements and Implementations

Amazon expands access to its Health AI assistant to US users of its website and app, allowing them to receive health guidance, schedule One Medical virtual visits, and manage prescriptions.

Epic says that 85% of its customers are using its AI tools.

Zen Healthcare IT announces that its Stargate API supports identity tokens from CLEAR and ID.me to verify patients for TEFCA Individual Access Services.

ECRI publishes its list of “Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2026,” with potential AI-generated diagnostic errors taking the top spot. 

Stryker launches SmartHospital Platform, which includes connected infrastructure, clinical communication, a workflow engine, virtual care, and ambient sensor.

Microsoft introduces Copilot Health, a Copilot application that collects and summarizes user medical records. The product appears to be a revamp of Copilot for Health, which was announced in October 2025 as a non-personalized information chatbot. The new data capabilities are provided in partnership with records retrieval platform vendor HealthEx, which says that its free service retrieves information using direct connections, TEFCA, CareQuality, and CommonWell.

An AMA survey finds that 80% of physicians are using AI for work, double the share that was reported in 2023. Documentation and summarization are the most common uses, but use is growing fast for summaries of research and standards of care. More than 75% of respondents say that AI gives them an advantage in patient care, with the greatest benefits in diagnosis and work efficiency. Ninety percent worry about skill loss, especially among early-career physicians.

Government and Politics

A study finds that US healthcare affordability continues to deteriorate, even before this year’s expiration of ACA subsidies and Medicaid enrollment cuts. Americans report cutting back on driving and meals to pay for healthcare or medications, while also deferring treatments and stretching prescriptions.

Sponsor Updates

• Five9 launches Five9 Fusion, a new partner program that spans product integrations, independent software vendors, and embedded technology partners.
• Healthcare Growth Partners advises Medisolv in its acquisition of Lilac Software.
• Optimum Healthcare IT posts a new episode of its “Visionary Voices” podcast featuring Inova Health EVP/CIDO Matt Kull.
• Health Data Movers names Richard Walter account manager and Taylor Seagraves health IT recruiter.
• Impact Advisors Mexico celebrates hiring its 300th employee.
• TruBridge opens a Global Capability Center in Chennai, India.

Blog Posts

• Healthcare data warehouse benefits, features, and use cases (Arcadia)
• Time Saved: Achieving Efficiency and Revenue With Surgical Block Utilization (LiveData)
• New! Call Center Functionality: Transform Navigator Workflows (Findhelp)
• Understanding AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) for Contact Centers: What It Means for Contact Centers (Five9)
• CISO Brief, March 2026: Geopolitical Tensions and Cyber Vigilance (Fortified Health Security)
• Let’s Break Down ASTP’s New Radiology RFI (HealthMark Group)
• What is a copay? Understanding copayments in health insurance (Inbox Health)
• Beyond data: Meditech reveals smarter path to connected care at ViVE 26 (Meditech)
• CHIME C-Suite Focus Group Recap: How to Maximize Your EHR Investment with Agile IT Support (Med Tech Solutions)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.