Morning Headlines 1/13/26

OpenAI acquires health-care technology startup Torch for $60 million, source says

ChatGPT developer OpenAI acquires AI-powered medical records insights startup Torch for a reported $60 million.

VieCure Raises $43 Million to Help Democratize Access to the Highest Caliber Cancer Care in Community Practices

Oncology-focused health IT vendor VieCure raises $43 million, bringing its total funding to $113 million.

Xella Health Closes $3.7 Million Pre-Seed to Build the Next Generation of Women’s Precision Health

Virtual women’s precision medicine startup Xella Health raises $3.7 million in pre-seed funding.

Cardamom announces investment by Valspring Capital to support rapid growth

Cardamom will use new funding from Valspring Capital to expand its professional services for healthcare IT.

Morning Headlines 1/12/26

‘Dangerous and alarming’: Google removes some of its AI summaries after users’ health put at risk

Google removes some of its health-related AI Overviews from search results after reports that they were providing inaccurate information.

Canopy Secures $22M Series B to Define the Standard for Connected Safety and Location Intelligence

Healthcare staff protection system vendor Canopy raises $22 million in Series B funding.

New Year, New You: Walmart Launches Better Care Services and Rolls Back Prices on 1,000+ Wellness Essentials

Walmart launches a digital healthcare hub that offers users access to telehealth providers, LilyDirect for weight loss medication, and Walmart Pharmacy for prescription delivery and pick-up.

Anthropic joins OpenAI’s push into health care with new Claude tools

Anthropic debuts Claude for Healthcare, giving users the ability to connect their medical and insurance records, and wearables and app data to the AI app for personalized insights.

Morning Headlines 1/9/26

IntelyCare Acquires CareRev to Create Comprehensive Workforce Staffing Platform for Health Systems

Healthcare staffing platform vendor IntelyCare acquires CareRev, which offers a hospital shift-bidding platform.

C3 HealthcareRx and Wellbox Health Merge to Form a Comprehensive Value-Based Care Organization

C3 HealthcareRx, a virtual behavioral health and medication management company, acquires chronic care management vendor Wellbox Health.

Pomelo Care Raises $92 Million Series C, Reaches $1.7 Billion Valuation, to Expand Its Proven Model Beyond Maternity & Set a New National Standard for Women’s and Children’s Healthcare

Virtual maternity care provider Pomelo Care announces $92 million in Series C funding, bringing its total raised to $171 million.

Morning Headlines 1/8/26

Oasys Raises $4.6M to Transform Mental Health Care into a Data-Driven Discipline, Catalyzing Better Health Outcomes

Digital mental healthcare company Oasys Health raises $4.6 million.

Introducing ChatGPT Health

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, giving users the ability to integrate data from their medical records and wearables for deeper insights, though the software is not intended as a diagnostic or treatment tool.

Skylight Health Acquires Stellation Care, Adding AI-Powered Provider Analytics to Its Multispecialty Orchestration Platform

Multispecialty care coordination and analytics startup Skylight Health acquires provider analytics vendor Stellation Care.

OpenAI Selects B.well to Power Secure Health Data Connectivity for AI-Driven Health Experiences in ChatGPT

OpenAI uses B.well’s interoperability software to enable users to connect their medical records to ChatGPT Health.

Morning Headlines 1/7/26

Altaris Acquires Tegria

Healthcare-focused private equity firm Altaris acquires Tegria from Providence St. Joseph Health.

Artificial intelligence begins prescribing medications in Utah

Utah launches a pilot to allow AI technology from Doctronic to autonomously manage prescription refills for 190 common medications.

TPG in talks to buy UnitedHealth’s Optum UK unit, Sky News reports

US-based private equity firm TPG is reportedly looking to acquire UnitedHealth’s Optum UK business, which supplies EHR software to a large percentage of British physicians.

FDA announces sweeping changes to oversight of wearables, AI-enabled devices

The FDA will ease regulation of wearables and AI-enabled devices that provide non-medical-grade information.

Morning Headlines 1/6/26

40 million people turn to ChatGPT for health care

OpenAI reports that 40 million people around the world ask ChatGPT health-related questions on a daily basis.

CMS no longer requiring childhood vaccination data from states

CMS will no longer require states to report childhood and adolescent immunization statuses as it works on developing new vaccine measures.

CareCloud Appoints Chief Strategy Officer to Lead Enterprise AI Platform as Company Enters 2026 as Its Defining AI Year

CareCloud promotes Stephen Snyder to CEO and A. Hadi Chaudhry to chief strategy officer.

Morning Headlines 1/5/26

DEA Extends Telemedicine Flexibilities to Ensure Continued Access to Care

The Drug Enforcement Administration extends telehealth flexibility in the prescribing of controlled substances through December 31, 2026.

California-Based Health Tech Company Files Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Population health technology vendor Clint shuts down and files Chapter 7 bankruptcy, citing insufficient cash to make payroll and pay creditors.

Federal judge allows HHS to share Medicaid data with ICE

A federal judge in California rules that HHS can share Medicaid data with ICE, with limits remaining in place on what can be shared and used.

Morning Headlines 12/31/25

Mayor Adams, NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Katz Announce Merger Between NYC Health + Hospitals and Maimonides Health Moves Forward

NYC Health + Hospitals will take over the struggling Maimonides Health and implement Epic there.

Health Ministries Worldwide Are Quietly Tightening the Rules on Health IT Vendors

Black Book Research reports that non-US markets are increasingly making data residency, in-country processing, and legal control a pass-fail requirement for choosing systems.

Healthcare AI Update 2025: What Use Cases Are Adopted the Most?

KLAS finds that 79% of health systems are using AI, ambient documentation is the leading use case, and just one of 3,000 respondents say their organization is using agentic AI.

HTI 5 Proposed Rule Info Session

HHS ASTP/ONC posts an information session on its proposed plan to streamline EHR certification requirements and update information blocking regulations.

Morning Headlines 12/30/25

Defense Health Agency Seeking Industry Feedback on MHS GENESIS EHR Draft Contract Strategy

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

CMS Announces $50 Billion in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States

CMS announces that states will receive awards averaging $200 million under the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, which they are expected to use to fund initiatives that include modernizing rural health infrastructure and technology.

Hospitals Score Win to Halt New HHS Drug Discount Rebate Pilot

A federal judge issues a preliminary injunction against HHS in a lawsuit brought by the American Hospital Association and others that would prevent HHS from implementing the 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program, where providers would buy drugs at full price and then seek rebates from drug companies.

Morning Headlines 12/29/25

How One Father Created an Organ Empire

The National Kidney Registry, which matches donors to recipients, pays millions to its technologist founder’s companies.

Medicare’s prior authorization has doctors on edge

Providers express uncertainty about how to submit prior authorization requests under traditional Medicare’s AI-powered treatment reviews, which launch as a six-state pilot project on January 1 for 17 treatments.

NHS England tech provider reveals data breach – DXS International hit by ransomware

A ransomware hacker claims to have stolen 300 GB of company data from NHS technology supplier DXS International.

Morning Headlines 12/24/25

Neurable Raises $35 Million Series A to Accelerate Deployment of Everyday Brain-Computer Interface Technology

Neurable will use new funding to commercialize its brain-computer interface technology that allows wearables to track mental fatigue, cognitive recovery, and focus state detection.

Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, Epic to launch centralized electronic health record system

Saint Peter’s Healthcare System (NJ), whose planned merger with Atlantic Health was cancelled in October 2025, will implement Epic.

New York Governor Vetoes Restrictive Health Privacy Law

New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoes the New York Health Information Privacy Act, a broad health data privacy bill that would have expanded protections for health information beyond federal HIPAA standards

Morning Headlines 12/23/25

HHS Proposes HTI-5 Rule to Streamline Certification Program, Further Protect Patients from Information Blocking, and Foster an Artificial Intelligence-enabled Future

HHS proposes the HTI-5 rule to streamline the ONC Health IT Certification Program, strengthen enforcement against information blocking, and establish a foundation of modern FHIR-based APIs to support AI-enabled interoperability while reducing regulatory burden and saving billions in compliance costs.

CEO of Health Care Software Company Sentenced for $1B Fraud Conspiracy

An Arizona man is sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay over $452 million in restitution for operating a software platform that generated more than $1 billion in fraudulent Medicare and insurer claims by using false doctors’ orders and illegal kickbacks to bill medically unnecessary durable medical equipment and other items.

Can the Montana State Hospital regain federal standing without electronic health records?

State officials are seeking to restore federal certification for Montana State Hospital even though the adult psychiatry facility continues to use paper-based medical records.

AMA CEO: AI is not medicine’s future—“this is happening now.”

American Medical Association CEO John Whyte, MD, MPH says artificial intelligence is not a distant future for medicine, it is already reshaping clinical care and digital health, and physicians must take a leadership role in its creation and use.

Morning Headlines 12/22/25

Holt exits New Mountain to create $30 billion health‑tech venture

New Mountain Capital private equity president Matt Holt leaves the firm after nearly 25 years to combine five of New Mountain’s healthcare portfolio companies into Thoreau, which will use AI to reduce medical costs.

HHS Announces Request for Information to Harness Artificial Intelligence to Deflate Health Care Costs and Make America Healthy Again

HHS publishes an RFI seeking feedback on how it can use its regulatory, payment, and R&D activities to increase healthcare AI adoption.

Hospital Completes EMR Investigation; System Cleared and Returning to Network

Cuero Regional Hospital (TX) brings its EHR back online after identifying anomalies within its network and reverting to downtime procedures for several days.

Morning Headlines 12/19/25

UnitedHealthcare delays controversial RPM policy change

UnitedHealthcare will delay implementation of a controversial policy that would have restricted its payment for remote patient monitoring.

Health-tech startup Deacon Health reveals first customer after raising $11M

Post-acute care coordination startup Deacon Health raises an additional $4 million after launching in April with $7 million in funding.

Catalyst by Wellstar Launches Polysight, Bringing Real-Time AI to Healthcare Compliance

Wellstar Health System’s venture arm launches Polysight to help health systems maintain regulatory compliance.

Morning Headlines 12/18/25

Private practice platform Tebra secures $250M to accelerate AI innovation

Ambulatory health IT vendor Tebra announces $250 million in new financing.

Valerie Health raises $30 million Series A to scale “AI front offices” for physicians

San Francisco-based Valerie Health announces $30 million in Series A funding and the creation of a regional operations hub in Chattanooga, TN.

Vitalis Ventures Announces $15 Million Strategic Funding for Drive Health to Accelerate Avery, the Clinical Workflow AI

Healthcare AI company Drive Health secures $15 million in funding from Vitalis Ventures and Inside Capital Partners.

Morning Headlines 12/17/25

FDA Eliminates Major Barrier to Using Real-World Evidence in Drug and Device Application Reviews

FDA updates its policy to accept de-identified real-world evidence to support drug and device application reviews, allowing the use of previously excluded registries, insurance claims, and EHR data.

GI Partners, TA Associates to launch Netsmart sale process in early 2026, sources say

The private equity owners of Netsmart will reportedly seek a buyer for the company for the second time.

Enjoin Acquires Pediatric Resource Group, Broadening its Expertise in APR-DRG Assurance, Clinical Documentation Integrity & Physician Advisor Solutions to Serve Children’s Hospitals

Clinical documentation improvement company Enjoin acquires Pediatric Resource Group, which offers pediatric clinical documentation integrity and physician advisory services.

Wyden Calls on Health Tech Companies to Add Privacy Features Letting Patients View and Control Access to Their Medical Records

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) urges EHR vendors to adopt privacy features that give patients the ability to view and control access to their medical records.

Morning Headlines 12/16/25

Auxira Health Raises $7.8M in Seed Funding

Cardiology practice extension company Auxira Health raises $7.8 million in seed funding.

Sentact Acquires Performance Health Partners and Vizient Patient Safety Organization to Drive Patient Safety At-Scale

Sentact acquires event and incident management company Performance Health Partners and Vizient’s Patient Safety Organization.

Medical Software Company Agrees to Pay $500,000 to Resolve Allegations of Causing Medically Unnecessary Breast Cancer Screening Claims

PenRad Technologies will pay $530,000 to settle federal allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by inadvertently causing providers to bill Medicare and MassHealth for medically unnecessary breast cancer screenings.