Interoperability

Hal Wolf, HIMSS CEO, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS administrator, talk about how using digital tools, including AI agents, can help Americans manage their own care and stay healthier longer, potentially unlocking massive economic gains.

Highlights from the second full day of HIMSS26 include conversations about how health systems can deploy AI, increase price transparency, find the right vendor partners and improve governance.

Healthcare IT News, Healthcare Finance News and MobiHealthNews editors discuss happenings from the first official day of HIMSS26, including the keynote speakers' thoughts about AI's future role in healthcare and how to master scaling and innovation.

Dr. Thomas Keane of ASTP/ONC discusses the agency's initiative that is piloting programs in nine states to ensure that behavioral health data can flow securely between providers, vocational programs and housing authorities.

Teresa Cope, Manx Care CEO, discusses the Isle of Man's 2026 Innovation Challenge that seeks tools that address the island's health system's needs, including improving access and efficiency for a small, geographically distinct population.

Predictions from Australia to Southeast Asia highlight where AI, telehealth, and platform consolidation are headed next.

Sutter Health's Dr. Richard Milani and Epic's Trevor Berceau talk about Sutter's chronic care program, which integrates readings from remote monitoring devices into the EHR to give doctors continuous insight into patients' conditions.

While HIMSS Media editors anticipate that AI will be used in every layer of healthcare's tech stack in 2026, they stress that governance and human oversight are essential to ensure AI works safely at scale.

According to Kevin Ritter of Altera Digital Health, health systems must go beyond simple information exchange to ensure their data is discrete, normalized and able to flow between multiple applications across the enterprise.

Veradigm's Courtney Yeakel discusses what payers, health systems and others need to know about compliance with CMS' Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule, which takes effect January 1, 2026.