News 4/1/26

Top News

HHS retires the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and ASTP leadership role that was created in 2024. The move restores ONC to its former role as the sole government body charged with advancing healthcare technology policies and regulations.

National Coordinator Thomas Keane, MD, MBA will continue in that position.

HHS has also moved the roles of CTO, chief artificial intelligence officer, and chief data officer from ONC to its Office of the CIO.

Reader Comments

From Yup: “Re: Oracle Health. You predicted a while back that Oracle Health SVP of products Suhas Uliyar would not see a single Epic-to-Oracle displacement before he moved on to a different job. It seems that he has left Oracle entirely while seeing the aforesaid zero displacements.” Suhas Uliyar said last July that the Oracle-to-Epic train would reverse course and send former customers clamoring back to Oracle Health after seeing the technical whizzbangery that he was touting. I countered that he would leave that job without seeing a single Epic displacement, which is what apparently happened. I will defer to the opinion of Redditor DeCernerfucation from eight months ago:

Suhas has been in the healthcare space for how long? A couple years? Amateur. That’s an awfully big stupid mouth for him to have with such a small amount of experience. He’ll probably just move on to something else when he finds out how hard it will be. This kind of hubris pretty much applies to all of them. I have no respect for their unprofessional trash-talking. The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well with Oracle leadership.

Sponsored Events and Resources

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

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Oracle conducted massive layoffs Tuesday that are apparently continuing, with some sources indicating that the company will part ways with 20,000 to 30,000 employees. Those who were affected learned of their status via a 6 a.m. email that was sent to their personal email address and by discovering that their access to the company’s electronic systems had been revoked overnight. They were not offered a chance to speak with a human, ask questions, or return to the office. Oracle Health was reportedly not spared, based on many LinkedIn posts from those affected. ORCL shares rose 6% on the news.

Health Management Associates acquires Medicaid-focused technology, analytics, and compliance company HealthTech Solutions.

Virtual nursing and technology company Banyan Medical Systems files for bankruptcy amid an investor lawsuit and claims that its former CFO stole millions of dollars. The company’s owner says that the former CFO has stated that he will replay the company the $21 million he owes. Banyan has sued the former CFO and his 24 shell companies, claiming that he obtained dual citizenship in the Caymans and bought a $4 million house and a $1 million boat there.

Clinical copilot developer Avo raises a $10 million Series A round.

Sales

• Rush University System for Health (IL) selects Charge Infusion automated coding and billing software from Medaptus.
• Mount Sinai Health System (NY) will make OpenEvidence’s medical AI tool available from within its EHR.
• Carina Health Network (CO) will implement Innovaccer’s Healthcare Intelligence Cloud.
• Hendry Regional Medical Center (FL) will replace four separate systems with Meditech Expanse.

Announcements and Implementations

Sutter Health goes live as the first site to use Epic Emmie, a chatbot that can answer patient questions.

Linus Health secures a supplier agreement with group purchasing organization Provista.

The Veterans Health Administration implements an agentic AI-based operating system developed by Salesforce across 150 VA facilities. Built on Slack, the system unifies service management and patient care coordination.

Document Storage Systems will integrate Sightview’s EHR for eyecare with the VA’s current EHR.

EHR/PM services company Focus Solutions changes its name to Focus while insisting that “the name change is not cosmetic.”

Government and Politics

The McChord Clinic at McChord Air Force Base (WA) rolls out ambient listening technology as part of the DoD’s facility-wide implementation.

Sponsor Updates

• Agfa HealthCare announces that Spain’s Osakidetza health network has implemented Agfa Enterprise Imaging.
• Altera Digital Health releases a new client story titled “Transforming Care at St. Luke’s Medical Center Through Digital Health Innovation.”
• The “This Week Health” podcast features Clearsense executives in an episode titled “From Archive to Intelligence: How Clearsense Is Embedding AI to Accelerate Healthcare Cost Optimization.”
• Clearwater will sponsor the  SCALE Community Gold Club Retreat 2026 April 10-12 in Park City, UT.
• Black Book Research founder and President Doug Brown publishes a new book titled “The Black Book of Reshoring: The Essential Guide to America’s New Manufacturing Boom.”
• Artera shares the successful results Atlantic Health achieved after implementing its AI agents for colonoscopy patient outreach.

Blog Posts

• What Is Revenue Cycle Management in Healthcare? (AGS Health)
• Do’s and Don’ts for Health IT Job Interviews (Med Tech Solutions)
• We let billing define the medical record. AI gives us a chance to take it back. (Nordic)
• The Last Pages Of The Story: Closing The Healthcare Loop (Surescripts)
• The One-Person Unicorn Is Coming to Healthcare IT (Black Book Research)
• Unitasking Digital Tools Aren’t Solving the Patient Experience Problem (Praia Health)
• Elevating the EHR with containerized services: Three benefits for your hospital (Altera Digital Health)
• Is Fee‑for‑Service Still Relevant? (Bizmatics)
• Meeting the moment: Redefining the impact of managed services (Cardamom Health)

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