News 1/21/26

Top News

A preliminary VA Office of Inspector General report finds that the Veterans Health Administration doesn’t properly oversee its use of generative AI chatbots, potentially compromising patient safety. The report looked at the department’s use of its internally developed VA GPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot chat, both of which depend on clinical prompts. Neither tool has access to web searches, which means their knowledge bases are not current.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

The preview of my ViVE Guide on what HIStalk sponsors will be doing at the conference is live. More companies will be added as they complete the information form, so check back for updates.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Publication: HIStalk’s Guide to ViVE 2026 lists the activities of sponsors at the conference.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Australia-based 4DMedical raises $100 million in funding, which it will use to accelerate US adoption of its FDA-cleared, software-based lung imaging system that is used by several major US health systems.

People

Clearwater promotes David Bailey to VP, consulting solutions and strategy.

AdventHealth promotes Sarah Myers to regional CIO for AdventHealth Mid-America Region.

Sonney Sapra, MBA (Samaritan Health Services) joins UVA Health as CIO.

US Army veteran Elder Granger, MD joins MedSync as EVP for medical affairs and CMO.

Ovatient promotes Yasir Tarabichi, MD to head of digital; Jamie Carracher to head of growth and brand; and Amy Lukowski, PsyD to VP of operations and integration.

Announcements and Implementations

Nurses at Children’s Mercy (OH) use the Helen app to route non-clinical tasks to a dedicated concierge team.

BioticsAI gains FDA clearance for its AI-drive fetal ultrasound product.

Aultman Health System (OH) implements Nabla’s AI-based clinical documentation software.

In England, three Norfolk hospitals will delay go-live of their $118 million Meditech Expanse project, citing factors that include the work that is required to adapt the system for the NHS. 

A Baltimore theater will host a March 19 screening of “Suck it Up, Buttercup,” a documentary that calls out the dysfunctional US healthcare system that is driven by “corporate greed that’s filling coffers and coffins.” Both executive producers are physicians.

Other

Cleveland Clinic opens the Rubinstein Family Hospital Care at Home Suite, which serves as a technology command center for its hospital-at-home programs in Florida and Ohio. The suite was developed using a grant from Jon Rubinstein, an investor and  technology executive who helped spearhead development of the iPod and iMac.

AdventHealth will enhance its virtual care capabilities by installing an additional 800 cameras in patient rooms at its hospitals and urgent care centers in Colorado over the next several months.

University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers determine that embedding a standardized glucose management protocol into its EHR helps perioperative care teams better control the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients.

A Michigan Medicine study of 800 clinicians finds that those who disengage from work-related apps during non-working hours report feeling less stressed than those who don’t. Those who reported lower levels of stress were advised to turn on out-of-office replies to email and reduce screen time or delete work apps from their personal devices during their time away from work.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD announces that Software Advice has listed its EHR technology in its “Best Ophthalmology EMR Software of 2025” report.
• Linus Health reflects on its successes in advancing brain health in 2025.

Blog Posts

• 5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Clinical Denial Management (AGS Health)
• AdvancedMD Top Predictions for AI in 2026: More Time with Patients, Less Burnout and Improved Personalized Care Models (AdvancedMD)
• Looking back, leaping forward: Healthcare AI predictions for 2026 (Cardamom)
• CIO Forum Focus Group Recap: Overcome Healthcare IT Resource Gaps with Meaningful Managed Services (Med Tech Solutions)
• Increasing healthcare access through expanded nurse mobility and simplification of licensure (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Better, faster, stronger: How Paragon is leveraging AI internally (Altera Digital Health)
• Top 5 Ambulatory EHR Vendors That Clinics Trust (Bizmatics)
• Elevating the patient experience: They’re already telling you how (Cardamom)
• Healthcare IT in 2026: Why Cloud Migration Matters for AI Adoption (Concord Technologies)
• Optimizing Healthcare IT Scaling: A Strategic Model for Resource Augmentation and Project Acceleration (CTG)

Contacts

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