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.
BioticsAI, gains FDA clearance for its AI-powered fetal ultrasound product
BioticsAI gains FDA clearance for its AI-driven fetal ultrasound product.
NHS delays launch of major £88m IT project
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 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.
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.
Publication: HIStalk’s Guide to ViVE 2026 lists the activities of sponsors at the conference.
Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Agfa HealthCare
Booth 2203
Contact: Steven Wilkes, senior director of sales
steven.wilkes@agfa.com
859.302.1903
Agfa HealthCare is a global leader in enterprise imaging, helping health systems simplify complexity while scaling imaging across the enterprise. At ViVE 2026, Agfa HealthCare will showcase its cloud- and SaaS-enabled Enterprise Imaging Platform, designed to support long-term flexibility, operational efficiency, and clinical collaboration. Built for today’s CIO priorities, the platform enables organizations to consolidate imaging and modernize architecture without disruption. Attendees should seek out AGFA HealthCare to explore practical strategies for managing imaging at scale across departments, service lines, and care settings. The team brings deep experience partnering with large, complex health systems navigating digital transformation. Visit Agfa HealthCare at booth 2203 to learn how enterprise imaging can become a strategic asset — not a burden.
Altera Digital Health
Meeting Cube 350
Contact: Heewon Shin, segment marketing manager
heewon.shin@alterahealth.com
A global healthcare IT leader, Altera Digital Health develops and elevates technology to bring next-level healthcare within reach. Altera’s approach to our solutions is changing the way healthcare is delivered. We see the summit of what healthcare can be, but rather than total transformation, we’re focused on helping organizations take the steps they need to get there.
At ViVE, we’re excited to showcase how Altera is addressing the top challenges healthcare providers and payers are facing today by enabling interoperability and data-sharing, strengthening financial stability, and leveraging AI to help alleviate clinical and administrative burden. Stop by our meeting cube (#350) to meet with our experts and learn more about how Altera can help you deliver next-level care. Click here to schedule a meeting. For more, visit www.alterahealth.com.
Artera
Booth V-835
Contact: Adrianna Hosford, chief communications officer and head of marketing
adrianna.hosford@artera.io
833.234.9355
Artera is the proven agentic healthcare company, leveraging a decade of deep expertise to support 2 billion patient communications annually. Our solutions empower humans and AI agents to work together to fix patient communications across text, phone, and web, unifying the entire patient journey – from scheduling and intake to billing and more. Trusted by over 1,000 healthcare organizations (including specialty groups, FQHCs, large IDNs, and federal agencies), Artera directly increases staff efficiency, boosts patient engagement, and improves the provider bottom line, helping patients get the care they need with simplicity and speed.
2B+ Annual Comms. | 200M+ Patients | 10yrs Experience | FedRAMP High in Process | www.artera.io |
Join us at ViVE to experience our fully autonomous AI Agents in action. We’ll demonstrate how these agents manage a range of complex workflows (scheduling, FAQ resolution, appointment management, and more) to reduce staff burden and improve the patient experience. Stop by our booth to connect with our experts and explore strategies for optimizing patient access, implementing AI-driven patient communication, and much more. Plus, receive a $25 Amazon gift card when you schedule and attend a meeting with an Artera team member. As an added bonus, you’ll be entered to win an iPad Pro in our post-event raffle. Schedule a meeting with our team here.
Cardamom
Contact Adam Dial to arrange a meeting.
Contact: Adam Dial, chief customer officer
adam@cardamom.health
608.469.6154
Cardamom is a minority-owned, technology-forward health IT professional services company serving healthcare providers, payers, and health IT organizations. With a team-based, AI- and automation-first approach focused on committed outcomes, Cardamom helps customers more effectively use data, analytics, AI, and applications to improve care quality, reduce costs, and enhance patient and provider experiences. Cardamom is also committed to growing industry talent by hiring high-potential team members without prior health IT experience and providing comprehensive training and mentorship to deliver industry-leading results. For more about Cardamom, visit https://cardamom.health.
Team Cardamom is excited to attend ViVE! Join us and Vitea for cocktails and appetizers on Monday, February 23 from 6:00-8:00pm in the Pico Boardroom (8th floor) at the Moxy Hotel. We can’t wait to connect!
CereCore
Booth 1154 in the Club CHIME Lounge
Contact: Phil Sobol, CCO
Phil.Sobol@CereCore.net
615.344.4169
CereCore works behind the scenes to empower hospitals and health systems with IT services around the nation and globe. Looking for IT and application support, technical professional and managed services, strategic IT consulting and advisory services, or EHR consulting? Let’s meet so we can help you find EHR experts to maximize your investment, tap into support desk solutions that will result in happier users and providers, supplement your technical and support teams, and connect you with the right talent so you can better manage IT operations. Find meaningful change with CereCore’s healthcare IT managed services. See you in the Club CHIME Lounge at ViVE26.
Clearsense
Booth 1741
Contact: Kära Freeman, senior director, revenue operations
kfreeman@clearsense.com
612.747.2134
Gartner’s “2026 CIO and Technology Executive Survey” shows cost optimization is the number one priority shaping CIO objectives over the next two years.
Join us live on the Palm Stage at ViVE on Monday, February 23 at 4:30pm for the CHIME-curated case study panel, “IT Cost Optimization and Enterprise Strategy.” This featured session brings together Clearsense CEO Jason Rose with Trinity Health Chief IT Strategy Officer Mike Prokic and CTO and VP of Product Engineering Nick O’Connor for a candid discussion on how application decommissioning can be transformed into a scalable financial strategy. Trinity Health will share its roadmap for eliminating nearly $80 million in recurring operating expenses, offering a practical blueprint for any health system looking to drive cost optimization while protecting its workforce — without compromising patient care.
Clearsense will also be available for one-on-one discussions throughout the event. For health systems looking to reduce financial waste, manage merger-related complexity, or advance digital transformation initiatives, this is an opportunity to explore one of the most powerful — and underused — levers available to health systems today.
Visit us at booth 1741 or schedule a meeting in advance using our booking link.
About Clearsense
Clearsense is a healthcare data-enablement platform designed to help health systems optimize operating costs while revitalizing access to data. The 1Clearsense Platform enables large-scale decommissioning of redundant legacy applications using a disciplined, assembly line–style approach that prioritizes speed and cost impact. By retiring legacy systems while preserving access to historical data through active archiving, Clearsense helps organizations eliminate ongoing costs tied to licensing, infrastructure, and support while establishing a stronger data foundation for analytics, AI, and research. Learn more at clearsense.com.
Clearwater
Booth 618 in the Cybersecurity Zone
Contact: Lisa Munro, director of marketing
lisa.munro@clearwatersecurity.com
205.767.9141
Clearwater is healthcare’s largest pure play cybersecurity and compliance firm helping organizations across the healthcare ecosystem move to a more secure, compliant, and resilient state so they can achieve their missions. We provide a deep pool of experts across a broad range of cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance domains; purpose-built software that enables efficient identification and management of cybersecurity and compliance risks; managed cloud services; and a 24/7 Security Operations Center with managed threat detection and response capabilities.
Visit us in the Cybersecurity Zone to experience our latest innovations and connect with our team about the future of cybersecurity, data integrity, and digital resilience in healthcare. Be sure to catch our presentations in the Cybersecurity Data Innovation theater:
Wearing Two Hats: A CIO/CISO Case Study in Cyber Resilience (Monday, February 23, 1:35-1:55pm)
When ransomware struck and key security leaders departed, Enloe Health faced the reality many community hospitals know well – limited resources, expanding risk, and one leader wearing multiple hats. In this candid discussion, Enloe Health’s CIO and CISO will share how the organization rebuilt its cybersecurity program, regained leadership trust, and strengthened resilience without overextending staff. Attendees will walk away with practical insights for navigating cyber incidents, staffing constraints, and executive accountability in small-to-mid-sized healthcare environments.
When the Cloud Becomes the Attack Surface (Tuesday, February 24, 10:05-10:25am)
Healthcare organizations are moving fast to the cloud, but security models haven’t always kept pace. In this fireside chat, a healthcare cloud security architect and healthcare security leader will unpack the most common cloud misconfigurations, identity mistakes, and visibility gaps hospitals encounter and why they’re so hard to detect. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to manage cloud risk across complex, multi-cloud environments without overwhelming internal teams.
Clinical Architecture
Booth 1241
Contact: Marck DuBois, chief revenue officer
marck_dubois@clinicalarchitecture.com
317.580.8400
Meaningful outcomes start with high-quality data. Our data quality solutions give you the ability to objectively assess and improve patient information, normalize and uplift data, and transform message formats. Visit booth 1241 to learn more about the PIQXL Gateway, our implementation of the PIQI framework, which allows you to measure the quality of patient information and pinpoint the root cause of issues for improvement.
EFax by Consensus Cloud Solutions
Booth 1918
Contact: Alyssa Stephens, events
alyssa.stephens@consensus.com
844.804.1234
Visit the EFax by Consensus Cloud Solutions booth at ViVE to see how we’re turning healthcare’s biggest data bottleneck into your greatest clinical advantage. We’re going far beyond traditional faxing by using AI, NLP, and machine learning to transform static, unstructured documents into structured, HL7-ready data. Don’t let critical patient insights stay trapped in digital scans — learn how our automated data extraction slashes administrative burden, accelerates treatment, and drives revenue for providers and payers alike. Stop by booth 1918 for a free latte and watch a live demo of your data in motion to see why the future of the continuum of care is no longer unstructured.
CTG
Booth 1125 & Booth 318 in the Cybersecurity Zone
Contact: Sarah Blafer, marketing team lead, demand generation
Sarah.Blafer@ctg.com
860.942.2180
CTG, a Cegeka company, delivers IT and business solutions that enhance digital agility. Over the last 35-plus years, we’ve supported more than 1,000 healthcare organizations, empowering them to modernize systems, improve performance, and advance digital initiatives with innovative services and technologies. Our expertise spans EHR implementation and managed services, cybersecurity, ERP, cloud, infrastructure, IT/application support, and clinical optimization. Visit CTG at booths 1125 and 318 to learn more.
Divurgent
Club CHIME
Contact: Danny Arnold, EVP of growth and strategy
Danny.Arnold@divurgent.com
518.495.2594
Divurgent is a full-service, healthcare-focused/HIT consulting firm led by people you actually want to work with. We’re one of the only firms out there that has your back for the whole journey. We can help you select an EHR or tool, implement it, staff it, bring you live, optimize it, and more. Three-hundred sixty degrees. Most of our focus is on EHRs, but we do much more than that. We think beyond the system and below the surface. Think workflow, digital strategy, operational readiness, change management and more. Sure, we can help augment your talent or get boots on the ground, but we’re most excited by helping you solve your most complex challenges. Our consultants have worked for health systems, so they’ve been in your shoes and understand operations and clinical demands. Give us a problem and we’ll solve it together. And before we do any of that, we listen.
Ellkay
Booth 1516
Contact: Morgan Hassell, marketing director of communications
morgan.hassell@ELLKAY.com
602.663.0529
Ellkay is a trusted healthcare data enablement partner helping payers, providers, labs, and health IT companies simplify interoperability and build AI-ready data foundations. Through our modern platform and deep healthcare expertise, we help organizations connect, manage, and optimize data across their ecosystem — without adding complexity.
At ViVE, meet with Team Ellkay to learn how we help organizations:
Why stop by? If you’re navigating fragmented data, legacy systems, or growing interoperability demands, Ellkay brings both the technology and the expertise to help you move faster with confidence.
Special Events
Join us for Happy Hour at booth 1516 — both days! Stop by to connect with our team, enjoy a drink, and see how Ellkay is powering seamless interoperability behind the scenes.
Want to plan ahead? Set some time with us here. Let’s connect — and raise a glass to better healthcare data.
Elsevier’s ClinicalKey AI
Booth 1041 in the AI @ ViVE Zone
Contact: Meg Maguire, events manager
m.maguire@elsevier.com
Discover how ClinicalKey AI can support clinical decision-making at the point of care. Visit booth 1041 in the AI @ ViVE Zone and join our expert speaker session. Physician Executive Claudine Lott, MD will present on implementing AI at scale on Monday, February 23, and CTO Rhett Alden will present on API-enabled AI content integration on Tuesday, February 24. See how trusted content and AI can streamline workflows and elevate patient care.
Five9
Booth 2049
Contact: Roni Jamesmeyer, senior healthcare marketing manager
roni.jamesmeyer@five9.com
972.768.6554
Five9 provides a comprehensive suite of CX solutions, powered by Five9 Genius AI, to elevate customer experiences that deliver better business outcomes in the cloud contact center space. The New CX redefines how brands connect with customers through seamless and efficient AI-driven journeys that anticipate and meet each customer’s unique needs. Our unified cloud-native offering enables AI and human agents to create hyper-personalized customer experiences, so every customer interaction is more connected, effortless, and personal. Trusted by 3,000+ customers and 1,400+ partners globally, Five9 brings together the power of our AI, our platform, and our people to drive AI-elevated CX. For more information, visit www.five9.com.
Get-to-Market Health
Contact Steve Shihadeh to arrange a meeting
Contact: Steve Shihadeh, founder and CEO
steve@gettomarkethealth.net
We partner with healthcare technology leaders to accelerate growth, strengthen go-to-market execution, and build lasting customer relationships. Whether navigating post-investment expansion or launching new solutions, GTMH helps companies market, sell, and scale in ways that drive sustainable success. “Driving Growth in Healthcare Technology”
Health Data Movers
Contact Brooke Foster to arrange a meeting.
Contact: Brooke Foster, marketing coordinator
Brooke@HealthDataMovers.com
847.404.0326
Health Data Movers (HDM) is a healthcare technology services firm. We are trusted partners to healthcare organizations, biotechnology companies, and digital health enterprises through our services – data management, integration, project management, and clinical and business applications. We are the smart choice for creating unique solutions that empower patients and providers by unleashing the potential of healthcare data and technology.
Find us at our focus group, “Conversions without Chaos: Strategic Planning for High Stakes Healthcare Data Migration,” on Sunday, February 22 at 4:15pm.
Join Health Data Movers and CitiusTech on Tuesday, February 24 from 6:00-9:00pm for Data & Drinks After Dark at ViVE! RSVP here, space is limited!
We Make IT Happen! Visit www.healthdatamovers.com.
Impact Advisors
Contact John Stanley to arrange a meeting.
Contact John Stanley, chief growth officer
john.stanley@impact-advisors.com
562.243.4937
Impact Advisors is a leading healthcare management consulting firm committed to solving the industry’s emerging and evolving challenges through tech-enabled operations performance improvement. Our high-performing team of clinical, financial, operations, and technology experts collaborate to architect quality solutions and deliver measurable value for our clients. We are the most awarded consulting firm in healthcare, with services recognized among Best in KLAS for 18 consecutive years and a culture deemed a “Best Place to Work” by Modern Healthcare for 16 years.
Med Tech Solutions
Contact Kaitlyn Nelson to arrange a meeting.
Contact: Kaitlyn Nelson, director of account solutions and development
knelson@medtechsolutions.com
Stoltenberg Consulting, a leading healthcare technology consulting firm and proud Med Tech Solutions (MTS) brand, helps hospitals and health systems maximize the value of their EHR systems. With deep clinical and financial module expertise across Epic, Oracle Cerner, Meditech, NextGen, eClinicalWorks, and Veradigm, Stoltenberg’s EHR-certified consultants bring an average of 15+ years of real-world hospital experience to every engagement. Earning 3x Best in KLAS recognition for Partial IT Outsourcing, Stoltenberg specializes in EHR implementation, managed services including help desk and legacy system support, go-live command centers and ATE support, and flexible staffing solutions. Focused on reducing EHR burden, lowering support costs, and improving clinician and patient experience, Stoltenberg partners with healthcare organizations nationwide to drive meaningful, measurable outcomes for EHR improvement. No matter where you are in your EHR journey, partner with Stoltenberg and the MTS family of brands to help you make the most of your technology investment.
Director of Account Solutions and Development Kaitlyn Nelson and Chief Client Officer Imran Siddiqui will be on site at ViVE26. Please submit meeting requests here.
Medicomp Systems
Booth 2329
Contact: James Aita, director of business development and strategy
info@medicomp.com
703.803.8080
Medicomp delivers the industry’s only physician-curated universal data foundation, transforming healthcare data into trusted intelligence through its evidence-based Clinical Intelligence Engine, Quippe. Quippe connects information across domains, normalizes every input, and validates AI outputs to ensure accurate, interoperable insights at the point of care — fueling innovation, improving accuracy, and unlocking the full value of clinical data.
Medicomp will be showcasing entirely new functionality that streamlines clinical workflow, combining technologies like ambient listening, natural language processing (NLP), Model Context Protocol (MCP), and leveraging its universal data foundation and knowledge graph to deliver the efficient, intelligent clinical workspace that clinicians have been craving.
The gap between data and understanding is probably costing you – in denied claims, compliance penalties, technology ROI, clinician burnout, and patient safety risks.
Stop by the Medicomp booth to learn how your systems can benefit from:
Solve the data reliability problem with diagnostically intelligent clinical data solutions.
To learn more, visit Medicomp.com.
MRO
Booth V-330
Contact: Brad Hawkins, VP of payer solutions
BHawkins@mrocorp.com
601.405.2470
MRO is “The Single Source for Smarter Data” – driving a new era of clinical data intelligence where data is connected, structured, and transformed into actionable insights. The result – confident decisions, operational precision, accelerated research, and most importantly, better patient care. This innovative model for clinical data management is built for speed and scale, combining FHIR-native connectivity, deep clinical expertise, and advanced automation to turn a fragmented healthcare ecosystem into a connected pathway where every data point delivers impact. The outcome is a faster, smarter, more secure platform for managing enterprise clinical data that drives better outcomes and creates revenue-generating opportunities for our client partners, while enhancing security, compliance, and clinical integrity. With 24 years of trusted solutions and partnerships, MRO knows that a stronger healthcare ecosystem begins with smarter data, leading to data-driven decisions and better performance. Learn more at www.mrocorp.com.
Nordic
Meeting Room 547
Contact: Rebecca Whaley, SVP of marketing
Rebecca.Whaley@NordicGlobal.com
Navigating the flux of the healthcare landscape takes a seasoned partner who can envision technology’s role in your organization’s success and execute the right plan.
With a singular focus on healthcare and proven experience, Nordic understands the big picture and is ready to take on your toughest technology and business challenges.
Connect with us at meeting room 547 to discuss our end-to-end solutions and how they can help you solve for today and tomorrow. Reserve your spot!
Nordic is also proud to sponsor CHIME’s ViVE Welcome Reception for CHIME members. Connect with members of our team on Sunday, February 22, from 5:30-7:00pm at the JW Marriott Los Angeles.
Learn more about what Nordic is doing at ViVE 2026 here.
Optimum Healthcare IT
Booth 2202
Contact: Larry Kaiser, CMO
lkaiser@optimumhit.com
Optimum Healthcare IT is a Best in KLAS healthcare IT digital transformation and consulting firm based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Optimum’s comprehensive service offerings include Enterprise Application Services, Digital Transformation, and Workforce Management, which features our Optimum CareerPath skill development program. Backed by a leadership team with extensive expertise, we deliver tailored healthcare consulting solutions to diverse organizations.
Optimum Healthcare IT has the right pit crew at the right time for your organization. We prepare you for the track and keep you on the track with each of our specialized crew members. You have desired and required outcomes; we make sure you meet them.
Make a Pit Stop at:
PerfectServe
Booth 1665
Contact: Jenn Corcoran, senior marketing manager
jcorcoran@perfectserve.com
802.379.5352
Struggling with after-hours coverage, missed handoffs, or “who’s on call?” confusion? At ViVE, PerfectServe is offering complimentary 15-minute workflow reviews for healthcare leaders who want to identify gaps in their communication and scheduling processes – and leave with clear, practical next steps. In 15 minutes, we’ll:
Visitors will leave with a clearer picture of where things break down, practical ideas to take back to teammates, and a benchmarked perspective from other health systems.
Who should book time? This is ideal for CMOs, CIOs, and COOs; clinical operations leaders; IT leaders responsible for clinical communication; physician and nursing leadership; and scheduling managers. Book a review here.
Why PerfectServe?
PerfectServe helps health systems accelerate speed to care by bringing communication and scheduling into a single, EHR-integrated platform. We help organizations create a single source of truth for staff scheduling; enable secure, role-based care team communication; power a reliable clinical contact center; and, finally, answer, with confidence, “Who’s on call right now?”
Praia Health
Contact Scott North to arrange a meeting.
Contact: Scott North, VP of partnerships
scott.north@praiahealth.com
Praia Health is the patient experience orchestration platform for health systems. We help health systems attract, engage, and retain patients by supercharging their portals and digital tools with seamless, personalized journeys in one platform. The result is higher retention, lower costs, and measurable ROI.
TeamBuilder
Booth 1667
Contact: Taylor Bockweg, VP of sales
taylor@teambuilder.io
TeamBuilder is the Operational Intelligence platform for healthcare scheduling, purpose-built for ambulatory care. Traditional scheduling tools rely on static rules, staffing ratios, or forecast-only models that fail to reflect how care is actually delivered. TeamBuilder takes a fundamentally different approach. Its intelligence evaluates multiple operational signals — including appointment complexity, provider mix, staffing capabilities, throughput constraints, and available clinical space — to understand true demand and capacity. By modeling supply as capability rather than headcount and continuously re-optimizing as conditions change, TeamBuilder enables predictive scheduling for both staff and space. This allows healthcare organizations to move from reactive schedule management to proactive operational planning. The result is clearer visibility into capacity, improved access, and reduced labor inefficiency across clinics, specialties, and regions.
Black Book Research releases its 2026 list of top-ranked EHRs for ambulatory care, with ModMed, Epic, and NextGen Healthcare noted as leaders in multiple categories.
VHA lacks ‘formal mechanism’ for mitigating clinical AI chatbot risks, watchdog says
A 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.
Community Care of North Carolina selects Innovaccer’s Healthcare Intelligence Cloud for population health analytics.
Based on the contents of my inbox, it feels like everyone is talking about recent research from Michigan Medicine on emoji use in the electronic health record. The research letter was published in JAMA Network Open last week. It examined 218 million notes belonging to 1.6 million patients. Researchers found that emoji use was higher than previous studies that looked at clinical texting tools.
The authors identified 372 emojis within 4,162 notes that were created during the last five years. Of those, 35% were patient portal messages to patients, followed by telephone messages at 28%, encounter summaries at 15%, progress notes at 14%, and patient instructions at 6%. The University of Michigan patient portal doesn’t support patients adding emojis to communications.
The smiling face with smiling eyes was used 1,772 times, with communications emojis such as the telephone receiver and calendar appearing 544 and 429 times, respectively.
The article contains an illustration of the 50 most commonly used emojis along with their official names. Just skimming through them, I’m not sure that I would come up with names or descriptions that matched their official titles.
Take the “briefcase,” for example. Could people be using it because it looks like an old-timey doctor’s bag? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone carrying a briefcase that looked like the emoji. Even looking at the most used one, the smiling face with smiling eyes, I would describe that one more as blushing than having smiling eyes. I also would not have correctly described “beaming face with smiling eyes.”
Some of them were new to me, including “busts in silhouette” and “bar of soap.” The latter got me thinking about how many people actually see or use bar soap these days, given the popularity of liquid soap and body wash products. Similarly, how long will it be before people no longer identify a “telephone receiver” as such?
I wondered about the context for some of the emojis that were used, such as the “P button,” the “small blue diamond,” and the “round pushpin,” and how they might be used in medical communications. The most concerning to me was actually the least used, the “police car light.”
Researchers note the risk of confusion in using emoji to communicate, especially in older patients. While most emoji use occurred among tweens and teens, patients in their 70s had the second highest usage. The authors call for organizations to develop guidelines to promote clear communication and professionalism in clinical communications. I once encountered someone who used a particular emoji extensively before discovering that it wasn’t a Hershey’s Kiss, so I agree with the concern.
The authors go on to note that measuring emoji use is just the beginning, and that future investigation should look at how emoji “might affect patient understanding, trust, and outcomes – and explore whether these playful digital symbols offer new opportunities or pose unintended challenges in electronic health record communication.”
One of my close physician friends sent me a link to a Facebook post about the article. It had some pretty funny comments about which commonly used emojis were missing from the study, along with those questioning whether the AI tools clinicians are using to write messages were responsible for the addition of emojis. A couple of commenters thought the research was frivolous, but those sentiments were countered by others who were clearly concerned with the potential impact on patients.
Another colleague with ties to Michigan Medicine said that emoji use in the medical record was prohibited, although he wasn’t able to find the specific policy. He said that he remembered a conversation with risk management where it was discussed, however, and that there were significant concerns about the meaning of symbols within the context of the legal medical record. Although the policy could have been changed, I’m wondering whether some clinicians still haven’t fully internalized that the patient portal is part of the legal medical record.
He said he’s not opposed to their use, especially with pediatric or teen patients with whom clinicians are trying to build rapport. Still, he advises residents that if deleting the emoji changes the meaning of the message, either the emoji shouldn’t be used, or it should be supplemented by actual words.
I was curious about the previous research that looked at clinical text messages. In 2023, clinicians from Indiana University School of Medicine looked at the content of messages that were sent by hospitalists who used a secure messaging platform during 2020 and 2021. Messages with emojis were identified, as well as those with more old-school emoticons.
The authors found that the majority of the emojis and emoticons “functioned emotively, that is, conveyed the internal state of the sender” where others “served to open, maintain, or close communication.” The authors also noted that “no evidence was identified that they caused confusion or were seen as inappropriate.” They concluded that “these results suggest that concerns about the professionalism of emoji and emoticon use may be unwarranted.”
I believe that differences exist in how clinicians communicate with each other compared to how we communicate with patients. In the former, we are more likely to use medical abbreviations or jargon. With the latter, we should be using terms that are more clearly understood by patients. In my experience with peer review, communications with patients are typically held to a higher standard.
It will be interesting to see what kinds of guidelines or policies organizations come up with as far as regulating the use of emojis in patient communications and charting. I reached out to medical staff leadership at the facilities where I’m affiliated, and none of them recalled this topic coming previously.
I found citations for a half dozen other articles that looked at the content of clinical text messages among hospitalists and other members of the clinical team, as well as norms for emoji use. I didn’t have time to go down that particular rabbit hole this weekend, but I would be interested to hear from readers that have strong opinions on emoji use or those who have been involved in this type of research.
Do you use emojis in patient-facing communications? If so, how do you use them? If not, what do you think about the practice? Leave a comment or email me.
Email Dr. Jayne.
Early Warning System: How AI-Driven Near Miss Reporting Can Improve Patient Safety
By Tim McDonald, MD, JD
Tim McDonald, MD, JD is chief patient safety and risk officer for RLDatix.
A nurse prepares to administer a medication to a patient, notices that it is the wrong medication, and corrects the order. A surgical assistant sees that a patient has been prepped for surgery on the wrong limb and corrects the error. A patient on a liquid diet receives a meal with solid food, but a vigilant nurse notices the mistake and substitutes an appropriate meal.
In hospitals and other healthcare facilities, near miss incidents are commonplace. Robust care protocols and training of clinicians, nurses, and other staff go a long way to reducing incidents and preventing patient harm.
But for a variety of reasons, near misses are underreported across healthcare, representing a multitude of lost opportunities.
The importance of understanding how many near misses occur
The World Health Organization defines a near miss as “an error that has the potential to cause an adverse event (patient harm), but fails to do so because of chance or because it is intercepted.”
Healthcare leaders recognize that a certain number of preventable errors are inevitable. Healthcare delivery is complex, emergency rooms are overcrowded, and staff who are dealing with higher patient volumes are understandably prone to error due to fatigue or burnout.
Hospital leaders want to take measures to reduce the number of preventable harm events and have an opportunity to use near misses as a way to prevent them from escalating into serious incidents. That said, having a large number of near miss reports can be beneficial to a hospital as it indicates that a strong safety culture exists and provides valuable learning opportunities for leadership. Hospitals that effectively encourage robust near miss reporting are better positioned to identify and solve problems before they lead to patient harm.
Heinrich’s safety triangle theory holds that 300 near misses occur for every severe accident that involves a serious injury or fatality. Once hospital leaders have a good idea of how many near misses are occurring, they can use AI tools to analyze their near miss data and predict their risk for more serious adverse events. But the real challenge is getting an accurate near miss number.
Most hospitals have voluntary event reporting systems that include reporting of near miss incidents. But the fact that they are voluntary means they likely underestimate the actual number of near misses occurring. A nurse who notices a patient recovering from surgery walking the hallways without non-slip socks may not report the incident for fear of blame or any consequences of reporting. They also may not report a near miss because they believe the event not to be severe enough to warrant it.
One of the biggest reasons for the underreporting of near-misses is that clinical staff lack the time to log an incident report. For many hospitals, event reporting is manual and time-consuming, often taking around 10 minutes per report. Unless healthcare leaders take steps to simplify and streamline incident reporting, including leveraging AI tools to significantly reduce reporting time, they will lack real visibility into how many near misses are occurring and fail to fully understand the threats to patient safety.
Automating event reporting with AI
Advancements in generative AI and large language models (LLMs) offer the opportunity for hospitals to not only improve the accuracy of near miss reporting, but reduce the amount of time needed to log a report. These reporting efficiencies give back valuable time to clinical staff to care for patients. LLMs can process unstructured data, such as text, audio, and video transcripts, and understand the context, which makes it possible to extract and organize insights for a report.
For busy clinical staff, using an AI tool to accurately create an incident report, rather than filling out a report manually, could save considerable time.
As an example, say a nurse realizes that a patient with a penicillin allergy has been prescribed amoxicillin. The nurse prevents the dose from being given to the patient and requests an alternative prescription, preventing harm to the patient. The nurse takes a few minutes to make a verbal report using an AI-based event reporting tool, and moves on to their next patient. From the nurse’s voice notes, the event reporting tool generates a complete incident report, giving hospital leaders valuable insights about what happened.
Leaders can use machine learning tools to analyze near miss reports over time and detect patterns and trends, as well as anticipate risks, in order to be able to prevent harm before it happens.
Automating incident reporting, including near misses, helps reduce barriers to reporting and gives clinical staff a more active role in reducing harm system wide.
Better tracking of near-misses can serve as an early warning system
In a way, near miss incidents can indicate the diligence of clinical staff. An attentive nurse who notices an unsecured electrical cord and prevents a patient from tripping is obviously well trained.
Improved near miss reporting creates opportunities to improve processes and protocols, such as improved medication safety protocols, fall prevention measures, emergency department redesign, or training on safe injection methods.
When they are well understood and documented, near misses can act as an early warning system. When hospital leaders have a complete picture of incidents where a patient could have been harmed but wasn’t, only because of the timely intervention of a staff member or just plain luck, they can predict their risk of serious adverse events. They can understand their vulnerabilities and take corrective actions that prevent future incidents of harm.
Hospital leaders shouldn’t leave the future of patient safety to chance. Generative AI tools offer the opportunity for clinical staff to file incident reports seamlessly within their daily workflow, increasing the number of near miss reports received while decreasing the administrative burden that leads to clinician burnout and fatigue. AI and data analytics solutions give hospital leaders the ability to analyze trends over time and gain insights into how many near misses are actually occurring.
With effective use of AI-based tools, staff collaboration, and data-informed decision making, hospital leaders can raise standards of care and safety, reduce risk, and improve outcomes for all.
What to expect in US healthcare in 2026 and beyond
Healthcare services and technology will continue as the fastest-growing segment in healthcare, according to a new McKinsey report that predicts that providers and payers will increase outsourcing to tech and platform companies.
Multistate ‘hospital care at home’ command center opens in Vero
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.
SmartSense by Digi Launches SmartSense ONE at NRF 2026
SmartSense by Digi launches SmartSense One, a modular, scalable IoT operations platform that merges the capabilities of SmartSense and its acquired Jolt for unified monitoring, compliance, safety, and workflow management.
A McKinsey report predicts that healthcare services and technology will continue as the fastest-growing segment in healthcare. It expects providers and payers to increase outsourcing to tech and platform companies.
McKinsey projects that nearly half of healthcare profits by 2029 will come from software, platforms, data, and analytics, with traditional admin and consulting services growing slowly or shrinking.
The authors expect federal funding for the Rural Health Transformation Program to drive adoption of telehealth and AI tools.
Payers that saw margins drop due to higher utilization and regulatory actions will face a decline of up to 30% in EBITDA from their ACA and Medicaid segments due to disenrollment driven by ACA subsidy expiration and impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Poll respondents say that hospitals, like all other investors, put their money down primarily because they expect it to grow.
New poll to your right or here: What is the top industry takeaway from Kaiser Permanente’s settlement of Medicare Advantage overbilling allegations? These settlements always make me wonder whether a health system clearly violated the law, or whether vague coding rules come bundled with the unreasonable expectation that health systems will just forgo extra revenue to be responsibly nice.
The paucity of recent health tech news suggests that everybody is on hold while they digest never-ending federal government changes that affect payments, a shifting regulatory environment, and having thunder stolen by AI froth. I’m not paid by the word or column-inch, so today’s short post gifts you free time.
HIStalk sponsors who are participating in the ViVE conference can send me your information to be included in my online guide. New this year: for more exposure and less work for me, I will post the guide immediately and update it as additional sponsors submit their details, which also creates an incentive to respond early.
Ms. G from Hope Mills, NC sent over this unpacking photo of the science kits that her fifth graders received courtesy of reader donations to her Donors Choose project. She reports, “We have officially received the science kits, and they have already made a huge impact in our classroom. The moment the boxes arrived, my students were buzzing with excitement and could not wait to explore what was inside. As they opened the kits, they eagerly examined the materials, asked questions, and started making connections to what they already know about science … Thank you for helping bring hands-on, joyful science learning into our classroom.”
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Linus Health promotes Curt Thornton, MBA, MHS to president, Connected Care and names Chief Customer and Administrative Officer Leah Ray to the additional role of president, US healthcare.
SmartSense by Digi launches SmartSense One, a modular, scalable IoT operations platform that merges the capabilities of SmartSense and its acquired Jolt for unified monitoring, compliance, safety, and workflow management.
Cerner co-founder Cliff Illig and his family sell a majority stake in the Major League Soccer Sporting KC for a record valuation of $700 million. He bought the team in 2006 with a group of six local investors, which also included his Cerner co-founder Neal Patterson, for a reported $20 million.
Two women who were fired by businesses owned by a Huntsville, AL doctor file a sexual harassment lawsuit, alleging that the doctor forced them on multiple occasions to shave his legs. One of the plaintiffs notes in the complaint that “he was wearing lime green underwear.”
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Kaiser Permanente Affiliates Pay $556M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations
Kaiser Permanente affiliates will pay $556 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they inflated Medicare Advantage risk scores.
US healthcare spending soars to over $5 trillion in 2024
US healthcare spending rose 7.2% to $5.3 trillion in 2024, with $1.6 trillion spent on hospital services.
The White House unveils “The Great Healthcare Plan,” which would send federal funds directly to citizens to purchase their own health insurance, while asking insurers to lower premiums.
Kaiser Permanente affiliates will pay $556 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they inflated Medicare Advantage risk scores.
Federal investigators say that Kaiser electronically searched patient histories for diagnoses that had not been reported to CMS for risk adjustment, then pushed clinicians months later to add those conditions to patient charts as medical record addenda.
From Data Diver: “Re: Kaiser coding settlement. MA risk adjustment has become the national sport, where everyone claims innocence while quietly hiring more coders and consultants. A half-billion dollar settlement suggests that the line between legitimate documentation improvement and outright upcoding is not a faint one. If this is what gets caught, I can only imagine what stays below the waterline.”
Ms. S of Burlington, NC provides an update about HIStalk reader donations that fully funded, with matching money applied from third parties as well as my Anonymous Vendor Executive, her Donors Choose teacher grant request for headphones.
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Vista AI, which offers automated MRI scanning software, raises a $29.5 million Series B round, with several health systems joining other investors.
The Stowers Institute for Medical Research names Dan Devers, JD (Cerner) as general counsel.
Steve LeBlond, MBA (Sutter Health) joins Prisma Health as CIO/CDO.
RLDatix hires Richard Jarvis, MSChE (OptumUK) as CTO.
Komodo Health names Amit Sangani (Meta) as CTO.
AMIA names Philip Payne, PhD (WashU Medicine, BJC Healthcare, and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis) as president and board chair.
Epic posts social media videos of Emmie, its MyChart AI assistant for patients that includes a chatbot for inquiries.
Google Research updates its open MedGemma model with improved medical imaging support and a speech to text model that is fine tuned for medical dictation.
Hospitals list their top RCM priorities as improving patient experience, boosting revenue, and cutting costs, according to a new FinThrive survey. Executives cite prior authorization, denials, and clinical documentation and coding as their main AI targets, and nearly 60% expect to consolidate RCM vendors within three years.
A Black Book survey finds that for behavioral health, post-acute care, public health, and community-based organizations, the “last mile” of health data interoperability still relies on manual work and fragmented systems because of cost, immature APIs, and slow vendor onboarding.
US healthcare spending rose 7.2% to $5.3 trillion in 2024, with $1.6 trillion spent on hospital services. CMS says that healthcare spending accounted for 18% of US gross domestic product.
The White House unveils “The Great Healthcare Plan,” which would send federal funds directly to citizens to purchase their own health insurance, while asking insurers to lower premiums. The proposal also seeks to require drug makers to match US prices to those charged overseas and to shift more prescription drugs to over the counter status. The administration will ask Congress to approve the plan, which does not restore federal ACA premium subsidies or address the significant cost driver of provider pricing.
Researchers question a bill that would require Medicare to cover every FDA-designated “breakthrough” device, warning that it would sidestep CMS’s evidence-based review, expose patients to unsafe or unproven products, and hamstring CMS from reversing coverage if unfavorable evidence arises.
A Fortified Health Security report finds that total reported healthcare breaches doubled in 2025, as did the number of email-based breaches.
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Plenty of people have been asking me for my thoughts about last week’s announcement of OpenAI for Healthcare.
Models that are tuned to physician needs and that have been through robust clinical testing certainly offer advantages. The incorporation of the organization’s internal documents via SharePoint and other platforms is also attractive.
I recently chatted with a friend who is both a physician and an attorney about the impacts of such integrated solutions on the medicolegal landscape.
In the current state, with many physicians playing the “bring your own AI” game and using various solutions on their phones, no connection exists between those queries and the legal medical record. However, an enterprise platform that ties it all together and specifically encourages the use of patient data and PHI adds an additional layer of complexity to medicolegal investigations.
It won’t just be about the EHR and its audit log. It will involve all the potentially related queries that may have been entered and acted upon by the care team. We’re starting to see some legal activity around physicians who based their decisions on inappropriate AI-generated information. This is an area to watch.
I also wonder about the ability for hospital policies to negatively influence access to information by clinicians. For example, if you work in a hospital that restricts certain procedures or medications for religious reasons, how will those limitations shape the responses when those prohibited treatments might be the right answer for a patient?
This could evolve to include a bedside component for patients. They could ask questions about their care plan while hospitalized. However, they might learn that their care is limited by their choice of facility.
My conference BFF Craig Joseph, MD recently wrote that healthcare is betting on the wrong AI instead of looking at solutions that actually improve clinical outcomes. He cites a study from the University of Southern California that found that physical robots outperformed chatbots in reducing psychiatric distress. He goes on to talk about how the brain perceives interactions when there is a physical presence compared to a virtual one and about the benefits of emotional experience in delivering care.
It made me think of my own experiences with physical therapy. It’s an advantage having your friendly (or not so friendly) physical therapist right there urging you to push yourself compared to a therapy bot at home that is less perceptive when you’re slacking off.
The robots used in the study looked fairly low-tech and had crochet covers, reminding me a bit of the cats in Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp.” For a tech industry that focuses on flashy products, these wouldn’t even be on the radar. I agree with Dr. Joseph that sometimes low tech is best. Maybe we’ll have to make that the focus of our next conference booth crawl.
Speaking of low tech, I was talking with a couple of physician friends recently about the Oura ring as a potential adjunct to addressing sleep issues. One colleague swears by his, although the actions that he has taken based on the ring’s sleep data are the things that every family physician recommends for sleep issues: consistent routine around and time for sleep, adjusting environmental conditions, appropriate timing of meals, and keeping a basic sleep diary to identify triggers.
My other colleague proposed a decidedly low-tech approach: sleeping with a stuffed animal. He pulled out his phone to share a Wirecutter blog from last year that addressed the tactic. It cites several scholars and their comments on the practice, including notes on how it might help adults shift from a state of cognitive arousal to the more relaxed mindset required for sleep.
The blog notes the lack of literature on adults sleeping with stuffed animals, but I bet if we threw some AI into the mix, people would be eager to study it. Maybe those crochet cats can work the night shift as well as having a day job.
From Night Nurse: “Re: my annual refresher training. Passing pre-tests exempted us from that section. This was one of the questions. What kind of world are we in where this is considered an appropriate question?”
I have unfortunately seen some bad behavior from healthcare providers during my career, so I agree that we should be screening for people who have thoughts like this. I don’t think a bold annual training question is the way to pick them up. Even in a written survey, I would probably recommend a more subtle approach to identify those who have such sentiments. I’ve done a fair amount of work writing test questions and I wonder what the hospital’s item writers were thinking with this one.
From Tech Traveler: “Re: swearing. I’m a medical device representative and read your blog to keep up with healthcare tech topics so I can commiserate with the physicians I call on. I’m in and out of operating rooms and physician lounges all day and notice that there’s a certain amount of swearing that goes on among physicians, but it seems to vary by specialty and age as well as by topic. I’ve joked about doing a research project to explain the phenomenon, but it looks like researchers beat me to the punch.”
The article notes that although swearing is “often dismissed as socially inappropriate,” it has been linked to increased physical performance through state disinhibition. That is a psychological state in which individuals are less likely to restrain their behavior. The authors propose that this leads to flow, confidence, and focus, with those who swear being able to perform better on strength and endurance tasks than those who used neutral words.
They note that “these effects have potential implications for athletic performance, rehabilitation, and contexts requiring courage or assertiveness. As such, swearing may represent a low-cost, widely accessible psychological intervention to help individuals “not hold back” when peak performance is needed.”
Another one of the practices where I receive care has finally given in to the private equity company that has been pursuing it for the past couple of years. The physician mentioned this at a recent visit and shared the behind-the-scenes story. She has been struggling since she opened a second location, but has been keeping her head above water through the availability of same-day dermatology appointments, which turned local primary care doctors into a loyal referral base.
We’ve all been impressed by her ability to fit people in. Who doesn’t love being able to have a patient’s suspicious lesion removed in a timely fashion? Before she opened, patients often waited months for appointments.
Although she offers some cosmetic dermatology services, the practice is heavily skewed towards medical dermatology. She shared that automatic payer downcoding has been financially devastating. Her attempts to promote the more lucrative cosmetic treatments, which are typically cash pay, couldn’t compete with local med spas that run coupon specials. She decided to give in with five years to retirement. We’ll see how well that same-day availability holds up with private equity operations leaders at the helm.
If your care providers have been acquired by private equity, what changes have you noticed? Leave a comment or email me.
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Vista AI Secures $29.5M in Series B Funding as Health Systems Back Automated MRI Scanning
Automated MRI scanning software developer Vista AI raises nearly $30 million in Series B funding.
Healthcare payments company Zelis acquires revenue cycle analytics vendor Rivet.
Kaiser Permanente reaches $46M settlement over data sharing; 13 million people could get a payout
Kaiser Permanente will pay $46 million to settle a class action lawsuit pertaining to third-party tracking tools on its website and apps that class members say allegedly shared user data without their consent.
A CVS Health Foundation grant to the American Diabetes Association will enable two hospitals in New York to expand their maternal diabetes programs, including the enhancement of EHR dashboards for more streamlined referrals between obstetricians, primary care physicians, and endocrinologists.
Anthropic announces Claude for Healthcare, a HIPAA-ready set of AI tools that can support prior authorizations, claims processing, care coordination, and medical data interpretation by connecting to data sources such as the CMS Coverage Database, ICD-10, and the National Provider Identifier Registry. The company also added new Agent Skills for FHIR development and prior authorization.
OpenAI announces ChatGPT Health, which supports health conversations with encryption, isolation from model training, and connectivity to wellness and medical records applications such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal.The company also acquires the year-old, four-employee medical records startup Torch Health, which was working on AI tools to summarize health data, for a reported $100 million.
Penn Medicine develops Chart Hero, an AI-powered sidebar in Epic that summarizes chart information and can suggest next steps to physicians. The health system plans to expand it so that patients can enter their concerns and goals ahead of visits.
Kaiser Permanente develops TimEHR, and EHR-embedded AI tool that predicts the optimal length of appointment for a patient’s pre-op visit. The system, which uses Epic’s audit log as a data source, also suggests whether their appointment should be in-person or virtual.
The FDA and European Medicines Agency issue a set of 10 common principles for using AI to generate and monitor evidence in drug development.
Cedars-Sinai will use up to $5 million from HHS’s ARPA-H to build KronosRx, an AI platform that uses stem-cell-based patient avatars and electronic health records to predict drug toxicity before trials.
The CEO of Shopify uses Claude to create an HTML-based viewer of the exported data from his annual MRI scan. Healthcare followers pondered why he bothered to write an application rather than use a free DICOM viewer.
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Healthcare Providers and Epic Act to Safeguard Patients’ Health Information
Epic, OCHIN, and three health systems sue Health Gorilla, alleging that the data-exchange vendor has improperly allowed access to Epic-stored patient records by organizations that aren’t delivering care.
PE firm Sheridan Capital Partners acquires ICANotes, which offers a behavioral healthcare EHR.
Net Health Advances Rehab Therapy Care with Acquisition of Keet Health from WebPT
Rehab therapy and post-acute care technology vendor Net Health acquires musculoskeletal management and treatment software developer Keet Health from WebPT.
Epic, OCHIN, and three health systems sue Health Gorilla, alleging that the data-exchange vendor has improperly allowed access to Epic-stored patient records by organizations that aren’t delivering care.
The suit claims that some companies are selling the data to attorneys seeking class-action clients. It says that some of those companies have used fake websites, shell firms, and bogus NPI numbers to hide their intent. It also alleges that they have inserted junk data into exchange frameworks to create the appearance of treating patients and sending back updated patient information.
Health Gorilla denies the accusations, says Epic that is trying to limit competition and data access, and maintains that it supports legitimate information sharing, including for organizations and use cases that Epic does not serve.
From Cristol: “Re: news. Is it me, or is there less than before? I would have thought it would have accelerated with AI news, but it appears not to be.” It is lumpier, with some days have little interesting going on (Monday) and others overloaded with real news (today). Some of the last week’s feast and famine was driven by the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that started Monday. I don’t pad news posts with non-newsworthy junk, so it’s pretty obvious when not much is happening. Rightly or wrongly, most health-related news involves business rather than science.
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Cardamom will use new funding from Valspring Capital to expand its professional services for healthcare IT.
ChatGPT developer OpenAI acquires AI-powered medical records insights startup Torch Health for a reported $100 million. The four-employee, year-old startup was co-founded by Ilya Abyzov, who previously co-founded doc-in-a-box kiosk vendor Forward, which shut down in late 2024 after raising $650 million with little to show for it.
Oncology-focused health IT vendor VieCure raises $43 million, bringing its total funding to $113 million.
Healthcare financing and payments solution provider HPS/PayMedic raises $33 million in funding.
PE firm Sheridan Capital Partners acquires ICANotes, which offers a behavioral healthcare EHR.
Claims automation technology vendor EnableComp acquires H/ROI, which offers denials and revenue recovery services.
Tendo hires Beth Godsey, MBA (Vizient) as GM of Tendo Insights.
Direct Recruiters names Graham Gardner, MD, MBA (Kyruus Health), Michael Schram (Get Well), and Todd Helmink (DrFirst) as principals and operating partners of its new Healthcare Operator Advisory practice.
HealthLeap hires Wayne Grodsky (SmarterDx) as chief commercial officer, Michael Blumenthal (Hyro) as chief strategy officer, and Tamir Shklaz (Wordware) as CTO.
Umair Shah, MD, MPH (Washington State Department of Health) joins Jaan Health as chief medical officer.
HCA Healthcare implements Meditech at 43 hospitals.
Waystar adds agentic AI to its revenue cycle solutions.
Anthropic debuts Claude for Healthcare, giving users the ability to connect their medical and insurance records and wearables data into the AI app for personalized insights. Developers can take advantage of the ability to connect to the CMS Coverage and ICD-10 databases, and the National Provider Identifier Registry. Anthropic developers stress that Claude for Healthcare is HIPAA-ready and that health data shared with the app is not retained for the training of future models. The company has also launched new features for life sciences.
Surescripts launches its Script Corner prescription price transparency app for patients.
Eureka Springs Hospital (AR) fires its CFO after discovering unpaid invoices to Oracle America, with the CEO noting that the hospital had been paying bills based solely on submitted invoices rather than verifying them against contract terms and payment schedules.
The CEO of Shopify uses Claude to create an HTML-based viewer of the exported data from his annual MRI scan.
OSF Healthcare’s Innovation team develops CliniPane, an EHR-integrated clinical insights and data visualization tool designed for use at the point of care. A select group of primary care physicians is piloting the new software.
Heart failure patients who engage with text messages about their medications fill their prescriptions at higher rates and are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital than those who opt out of such messages. Magnolia Regional Health Center (MS) sent the messages from DrFirst’s prescription engagement tool within Meditech Expanse.
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