Takeaways from HIMSS26: Rural Health, Efficiency, and AI
Several people asked me what stood out at the annual HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference, held this year in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A recurring topic was the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program, with providers excited about how these funds could benefit rural areas and vendors exploring how their organizations could participate.
On the topic of optimizing rural healthcare, vendors specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), remote patient monitoring (RPM), and digital health, see many opportunities. Improving efficiency and saving time for healthcare workers were also key points in many discussions. Evolving technology, much of which involves AI, points toward many promising solutions.
During a press meeting on Tuesday, HIMSS president and CEO Harold (Hal) F. Wolf III said that, regarding AI, organizations need to make a determined decision to use analytics and bring it forward. And if you do that, he continued, it raises efficiency within the hospital. On the other hand, Wolf added, “We have to recognize you're not going to solve all the problems with AI tools.”
At HIMSS’s executive summit this past Monday, Wolf highlighted digital health. “We're up against massive shortages in allied professions,” Wolf said, “We're going to spring forward by helping our workforce take advantage of digital health resources and solutions.” Opening keynote speaker, David Banks, president and CEO of AdventHealth, stressed the importance of organizations repositioning themselves in a changing climate to avoid being left behind. Former Google executive Jenny Wood, author of WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It, underscored the need for a courageous mindset.
In a preconference forum titled “Leveling the Playing Field: How Rural and Community Hospitals Gain Access to Game-Changing Technology,” panelists focused on the challenges and strategies for innovating in rural healthcare. The conversation also covered the necessity of addressing job demands and resources, building trust, and leveraging partnerships to enhance access and quality of care in rural areas. The goal, they said, is to create a sustainable ecosystem of innovation and technology in underserved communities.
At Monday’s cybersecurity forum’s closing session, Richard Staynings, professor of cybersecurity, conversed with Robert Herjavec, a cybersecurity professional. Herjavec emphasized the importance of educating the next generation in AI and cybersecurity. He highlighted the evolution of technology waves, from networking to AI, and the current executive-led push for AI adoption. Herjavec noted that 50 percent of cybersecurity spending is driven by compliance, and AI's impact on business cycles and employment. He stressed the need for cybersecurity professionals to adapt and the potential for AI to revolutionize healthcare.
In a session on Tuesday, Dr. Thomas Keane, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), discussed the Office's efforts to enhance health information technology and data exchange. He emphasized the importance of data liquidity, affordability, and access, highlighting the role of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) in exchanging 600 million health records across over 75,000 organizations, up from 10 million in January 2025. Dr. Keane underscored the need to eliminate friction in healthcare systems, such as unnecessary portal logins, to improve patient care and outcomes. He also mentioned the growing momentum behind individual access services, enabling patients to retrieve and manage their health records more efficiently.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced to the HIMSS audience on Thursday the opening of a new Salt Lake City office this summer to attract tech talent. He also discussed AI's potential to transform healthcare, especially in rural areas, and emphasized the importance of trust in AI applications.
On Thursday morning, news broke about the cyberattack on Stryker, highlighting once again the importance of healthcare organizations to stay ahead in cybersecurity, a much-discussed topic among healthcare leaders at the conference. Even the previous night, I discussed the vulnerabilities organizations may have regarding cyber, with employees of the cybersecurity training company Eclipse Global. “What do you make of the Stryker attack,” I asked Eclipse Global’s Doug Wisman, the next day at their booth. Wisman underscored the importance of staying ahead of cybercriminals and reiterated the vulnerability of healthcare organizations.
Paula Stannard, director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at HHS, discussed the agency's role in enforcing health information privacy and security laws in a session on Thursday morning. Stannard emphasized the importance of risk analysis and risk management, noting a 12 percent decrease in large breaches in 2025 but a significant increase in hacking.
Wolf mentioned in his press briefing that the number of visitors to HIMSS26 was estimated to be around 25,000, with international travelers slightly down this year. A representative from the Dutch company ChipSoft confirmed this observation. He told Healthcare Innovation that ChipSoft still had a good number of international visitors stopping by their booth. However, he mentioned that the current political climate in the US makes international travelers hesitant. Additionally, he said that, with Las Vegas known as “Sin City,” the destination might be harder to justify for business purposes.
The annual HIMSS conference is typically a time for companies to make major announcements. This year was no exception. Here are a few of them:
Data management company, InterSystems, announced the appointment of Dr. Tim Ferris, as VP of Healthcare Practice. I caught up with him, as well as InterSystem’s president, Don Woodlock, at the InterSystems’ reception on Monday night at the Sphere, where we talked about Ferris’ experience as national director of transformation at England’s National Health Service (NHS) and, earlier in Ferris’ career, as CEO of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and SVP for population health at Mass General Brigham.
Healthcare technology company Optum announced a partnership with Microsoft to make it easier for clinicians and care teams to do their jobs by reducing administrative friction and simplifying claims and reimbursement processes. According to the news release, the collaboration introduces new provider-focused capabilities within Optum Real, a real-time claims system that instantly connects payers and providers. The new platform launched in October of 2025, Optum said in an interview with me this past Thursday. Puneet Maheshwari, SVP and GM at Optum, explained that the frequent back-and-forth between payers and providers regarding reimbursements results from a lack of transparency. He said this lack of clarity causes a lot of guesswork and rework on both sides. That's why Optum aimed to create real-time transparency between payers and providers, Maheshwari added.
The Australian AI scribe company, Heidi Health, announced a partnership with healthcare revenue management company, R1. R1 and Heidi will combine a clinician-focused documentation workflow with revenue management technology to link care delivery and reimbursement processes for providers across the healthcare ecosystem. According to a press release, Heidi supports more than 2.7 million visits a week by capturing clinical details directly within the physician workflow. R1, through its Phare Revenue Operating System, translates this clinical intelligence into compliant claims. The result, the news release stated, is a system that allows physicians to focus on practicing medicine and healthcare organizations to avoid denials, prevent defects, and improve revenue recovery.
Government IT solutions provider, Carahsoft Technology Corp., announced that the State of Utah has awarded the company a National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint Cloud and Software Solutions Contract. The contract agreement grants Utah, as well as other participating states, educational institutions, and local agencies, access to technologies offered through Carahsoft’s cloud solutions providers and authorized reseller partners.
Spectrum, a suite of communications services offered by Charter Communications, Inc., a broadband connectivity company, and RingCentral, Inc., a provider of AI-powered business communications, announced an expansion of their partnership. RingCentral’s RingCXTM, an AI-first omnichannel contact center, and its AI Conversation Expert (ACETM), advanced conversation intelligence, will be made available to Spectrum Business customers. As the latest additions to the Unified Customer Experience (UCX) with RingCentral portfolio, RingCX and ACE integrate the companies’ existing Unified Communications with RingCentral's solution for mid-sized and large customers. According to the press release, by combining communications, contact center, and embedded AI, UCX with RingCentral eliminates fragmented systems and disconnected workflows.
About the Author
Pietje Kobus-McAllister
Pietje Kobus-McAllister has an international background and experience in content management and editing. She studied journalism in the Netherlands and Communications and Creative Nonfiction in the U.S. Pietje joined Healthcare Innovation in January 2024.