Monday Morning Update 3/2/26

Top News

AHA asks for these changes to ASTP/ONC’s HTI-5 proposed rule:

• Set a reasonable transition timeline for changing the certification program to FHIR-based criteria.
• Maintain criteria for C-CDA since rural providers depend on it.
• Retain certification criteria for privacy and security, transitions of care, and decision support interventions.
• Retain real-world testing conditions.
• Issue broad guidance on AI before defining how it fits within information blocking.
• Remove the “infeasibility” exception that allows providers to deny third-party requests to modify medical records.
• Repeal the disincentive actions that can be taken for information blocking.

Reader Comments

From K-Pop: “Re: medical innovations. This TV series shows cool technologies that are actually real.” Gizmodo lists real-life technical innovations that have been shown on HBO Max’s “The Pitt” that include hand-held ultrasound, AI-assisted transcription, and virtual reality.

From Janus: “Re: conferences. ViVE is an expensive conference, and reading that people attend without a plan makes me cringe. Then folks like Clear are sitting in on all these regulatory meetings pushing products that don’t actually provide any real value. Do patients even WANT Clear? Also, is anyone at HHS considering the fact that patients don’t trust them, and the idea of a nationwide framework / TEFCA is terrifying for a lot of Americans?”

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

Poll respondents say that using conferences as a way to meet with customers or prospects efficiently is their top reason for attending. Most don’t place ROI on generating leads.

New poll to your right or here: What does vendor litigation over network patient data sharing say about interoperability governance?

Listening: reader-recommended The Shoaldiggers,  a nine-piece band from NC whose eclectic music, as portrayed on You Tube, requires a van full of instruments such as mandolin, banjo, flute, washboard, a bow-played handsaw that sounds like a theremin, and a comically large upright bass. They are a testimonial for seeing local talent instead of ignoring music that isn’t from your college years or getting locked in to catchiness-engineered hits that feature “performers” who can’t write music or play an instrument.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Publication: HIStalk’s Guide to HIMSS26 lists the activities of sponsors at the conference.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

People

Christina Waters, MBA (AssistRx) joins PerfectServe as chief revenue officer.

Announcements and Implementations

A study finds that primary care physicians who cut visit volume by 10% spent more time per visit in Epic, while their after-hours work and inbox time also increased. The authors conclude that asynchronous EHR work continues even when visit volume declines.

The FDA issues 510(k) clearance for six indications to Qure.ai’s algorithm for chest x-ray analysis, increasing its total to 26.

A new KLAS early insight report on digital pathology finds that while adoption by US healthcare organizations lags that of global counterparts at just 15%, use is growing due to newly FDA-cleared products and the possibility of billing for the service.

Privacy and Security

University of Mississippi Medical Center will reopen its clinics on Monday, stating that “we can access patient records” following a February 19 ransomware attack.

Other

This must-read post seems relevant to how small-business health tech folks like physicians and boutique consultants could use healthcare AI. It’s also convinced me that I need to dig deeper into Anthropic’s Claude. An attorney describes how his two-person business law practice competes with huge firms by building its work around Claude:

When legal AI companies talk about customizing AI to a firm’s playbook, they are solving a problem that barely matters and ignoring the one that does. The real leverage comes not from which template the AI starts with, but from the instructions that tell it how to think about the work …. I’ve created custom instruction files, called “skills,” that encode my analytical frameworks, my preferred formats, my voice, and my judgment about how specific types of legal work should be done. When I upload a contract for review, Claude doesn’t apply a generic framework. It doesn’t even apply my firm’s framework. It applies my framework, the one I’ve developed over a decade of practice, automatically. The difference between a firm playbook and an individual lawyer’s encoded judgment is the difference between giving someone a recipe and teaching them how to cook.

Also possibly relevant, Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, will lay off nearly half of its workforce despite strong business performance. CEO Jack Dorsey says that expanded use of AI allows smaller teams to operate more efficiently and effectively, and he predicts that most companies will follow a similar path within the next year. My observation is that many corporate executives are so convinced, logically or not, that AI will dramatically reduce their headcount needs that they are willing to undertake big downsizings now and figure out the details later.

Epic is right up there with Wendy’s for sassy corporate tweets. I want to believe that doctors aren’t really using MyChart hit on women, but I’ve worked in hospitals too long to rule it out.

Sponsor Updates

• CVS Caremark expands its use of Surescripts Touchless Prior Authorization.
• Nym celebrates its eighth anniversary.
• Optimum Healthcare IT receives a 2026 ServiceNow Partner of the Year Award.
• Qure.ai’s FDA cleared indications now total 26 across nine products for X-ray and CT, exceeding 65 CE certified indications and other global validations.

Blog Posts

• How AI-Enabled Biomarkers Improve Early Cancer Diagnosis. (Qure.ai)
• Revenue Cycle Tech That Pays for Itself: Building the ROI Case for Automation (Vyne Medical)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
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