< + > Weekly Roundup – March 7, 2026

Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.

HIMSS 2026 Preview. The Healthcare IT Today crew will be in Las Vegas in full force. John Lynn outlined when and where to meet the team (and grab a selfie, of course). He also listed the most interesting sessions and topics at HIMSS 2026, which includes business operations, AI in clinical care, and puppies (apparently a must-have for healthcare tech conferences now). Read more…

How One Practice Saved 700 Staff Hours and Improved Access. Colin Hung caught up with NextGen Healthcare’s Jenna Hagan, who described the company’s Closed Loop solution for aligning care access, intake, the visit, care coordination, and ongoing health management. One practice saved a lot of time in just 6 months. Read more…

ViVE 2026: The Conversations That Mattered. What was everyone talking about in Los Angeles? Brittany Quemby compiled Healthcare IT Today’s video interviews from ViVE 2026.

• If you missed it last week, Part 1 of our video interview series emphasized aligning innovation across the healthcare ecosystem.
• Part 2 covered AI guardrails, AI agility, AI governance, and aligning AI adoption with clinical workflows.
• Part 3 focused on foundational architecture, virtual care, senior care, and earning AI’s trust.
• Part 4 highlighted improving patient identification and improving cost savings through automation.

ViVE 2026: From Big Ideas to Real Accountability. Amy Oliver at Azul Heart said the vibe at ViVE 2026 was about proving the value of AI, especially since AI has rapidly transitioned from a cool demo to a core functionality and touches all parts of the healthcare system. Read more…

Life Sciences Today Podcast: Changing Spine Surgery. Danny Liberman connected with Erez Lampert at PathKeeper Surgical, which is offering optical 3D imaging and AI as an alternative to low‑cost, high‑radiation fluoroscopy and expensive robotics. Read more…

Healthcare IT Today Podcast: The Healthcare Technology Olympics. John and Colin addressed the (torch) burning question: What Olympic sport best represents what it’s like in health IT right now? Read more…

No-Code Is Quietly Solving Healthcare’s Compliance-Flexibility Problem. EHR systems offer compliance but little flexibility, while no-code tools make prototypes easy but lack audit trails. Elliott Sprecher at Knack said that’s about to change with Knack Health’s HIPAA-compliant no-code database. Read more…

America Is Betting on AI While Ignoring Its Biggest Healthcare Weakness. Michael Savas and Richard Ricciardi at The George Washington University noted that AI’s promise risks colliding with a fragmented infrastructure – not to mention Americans’ concerned about centralized data collection. Read more…

Intelligent Interoperability and AI Are Redefining Tech Equity in Healthcare at HIMSS. Rachel Wilkes at MEDITECH described how improving interoperability leads to empowered patients and efficient clinicians, all while making data more actionable. Read more…

Taiwan’s HIMSS Debut Highlights Shift From AI Promise to Production. The Taiwan Excellence Pavilion will make its first appearance at HIMSS 2026. Exhibiting companies will emphasize AI infrastructure, diagnostics, telehealth, sustainability, and scalability. Read more…

This Week’s Health IT Jobs for March 4, 2026: CIO roles at HCA Healthcare’s Galen College of Nursing (Louisville, Kentucky) and Loma Linda University Health (California’s San Bernardino Valley). Read more…

Bonus Features for March 1, 2026: NVIDIA finds 70% of healthcare orgs use AI; insider breaches cost healthcare 48% more than other industries. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

• Hims & Hers Health acquired Eucalyptus, an Australian digital health company.
• Patient data activation platform MediKarma acquired Nanell, a digital solution for pregnancy support, from Japan’s Niterra Co.
• RevSpring, acquired TrustCommerce, a provider of end-to-end integrated healthcare payment and security solutions.
• Innovative Consulting Group has acquired Pivot Point Consulting, which has been divested from Highspring.
• Care navigation company Garner Health raised $118 million in Series D funding.
• Health plan administration platform Daffodil Health raised $16.3 million in Series A funding.
• MedScout announced a $10 million growth round; the company helps pharma firms develop commercialization strategies.
• Respiratory care technology company Synchrony Medical closed an oversubscribed $5 million funding round.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.

< + > How PathKeeper Surgical is Changing Spine Surgery – Life Sciences Today Podcast Episode 51

We’re excited to be back for another episode of the Life Sciences Today Podcast by Healthcare IT Today. My guest today is Erez Lampert, Founder and CEO at PathKeeper Surgical! I talk with Lampert about his journey from Israel’s aerospace industry and Invisalign’s Itero scanner to founding PathKeeper in 2018–2019. We dig into the core problem in spine surgery—surgeons “flying blind” between low‑cost, high‑radiation fluoroscopy and ultra‑expensive robotics—and how PathKeeper offers a third way using optical 3D imaging and AI. Erez explains their dual business model (capital + disposables, plus a “razor blade” model via implant partners in a $10B US spine market), and how strategic deals with High Ridge Medical (Zimmer Biomet spine) and Vizient unlock scalable US commercialization without a 50‑person direct sales team. The conversation challenges the myth that Israelis don’t know how to sell in the US, reframing success as understanding gatekeepers, GPOs, and distribution science rather than just raising $50M and hiring a big sales force.

Check out the main topics of discussion for this episode of the Life Sciences Today podcast:

• What problem are spine surgeons facing today, and why is “flying blind” so dangerous?
• How does PathKeeper’s 3D imaging + AI platform actually work in the OR, and how is it different from fluoroscopy and million‑dollar robots?
• What is PathKeeper’s business model, and how does the implant “razor blade” model create leverage in a $10B US spine market?
• How did the High Ridge Medical and Vizient deals come together, and what do they change for commercialization?
• Why is the common investor advice, “raise $50M and build a huge US sales team’ the wrong playbook here?
• What are the biggest anti‑patterns in the spine/med‑device industry today?

Subscribe to Danny’s newsletter to get strategic patterns for life science leaders building a defensible business.

Be sure to subscribe to the Life Sciences Today Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• iHeartRadio
• Amazon Music
• Pandora
• YouTube

Along with the popular podcasting platforms above, you can Subscribe to Healthcare IT Today on YouTube.  Plus, all of the audio and video versions will be made available to stream on Healthcare IT Today. As a former pharma-tech founder who bootstrapped to exit, I now help TechBio and digital health CEOs grow revenue—by solving the tech, team, and go-to-market problems that stall your progress. If you want a warrior by your side, connect with me on LinkedIn.

If you work in Life Sciences IT, we’d love to hear where you agree and/or disagree with our takes on health IT innovation in life sciences. Feel free to share your thoughts and perspectives in the comments of this post, in the YouTube comments, or privately on our Contact Us page. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if you have any ideas for future episodes.

Thanks so much for listening!

< + > MediKarma Acquires Nanell from Niterra Co., Ltd. | Hims & Hers Announces Agreement to Acquire Eucalyptus

Check out today’s featured companies who have recently completed an M&A deal, and be sure to check out the full list of past healthcare IT M&A.

---

MediKarma Acquires Nanell from Niterra Co., Ltd. to Accelerate Women’s Health Expansion and Value-Based Care Footprint

Strategic Move Integrates Specialized Pregnancy Journey Solution into MediKarma’s Holistic Patient Profile, Deepening B2B2C Engagement

MediKarma, the AI-driven platform that unifies and activates patient data to drive proactive care, today announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of Nanell, a specialized digital solution focused on the pregnancy journey, from Niterra Co., Ltd (Headquarters: Nagoya, Japan). The acquisition is set to integrate Nanell’s intellectual property, product assets and operations directly into MediKarma’s platform, strengthening its offering in Women’s Health.

Nanell was created by Niterra Ventures Company of Niterra Co., Ltd. to provide expert consultation, guided resources and health tracking, and has reported strong early results including targeted support for first-time and high-risk pregnancies, with retention above category averages.

“This acquisition immediately fast-tracks MediKarma’s expansion into women’s health with a solution purpose-built for the critical moments that happen between visits,” said Kris Narayan, CEO at MediKarma. “By integrating Nanell’s proven pregnancy expertise, we empower our members with clearer, real-time guidance and route meaningful signals back to care teams. This is a strategic move that strengthens value for payors and employers by offering earlier risk visibility and delivers a more human, proactive experience for families at a pivotal life stage.”

Under the agreement, MediKarma acquires Nanell‘s IP and related assets, followed by a planned 60–90 day knowledge transfer and operational transition. The commercial structure includes equity-linked consideration and a revenue-share component aligned to Nanell’s future growth. Furthermore, the collaboration is cemented by Niterra Ventures Company’s commitment to provide transitional support.

“Niterra Co., Ltd. invests and, in the past, also built ventures with the vision to improve everyone’s quality of life. Nanell was the result of researching women’s needs and building a solution for better support during pregnancy,” said Dirk Schapeler, President at Niterra Ventures Company of Niterra Co., Ltd…

Full release here, originally announced February 23rd, 2026.

---

Hims & Hers Announces Agreement to Acquire Eucalyptus, Accelerating Its Vision to Become the Leading Global Consumer Health Platform

Eucalyptus is a Consumer Healthcare Leader in Australia, the UK and Germany, with Expanding New Operations in Japan and Canada

Hims & Hers Health, Inc., the leading health and wellness platform, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Eucalyptus, an international leader in digital health, accelerating the company’s ability to bring access to high-quality, personalized care to more people across the world. As its US business continues to grow, Hims & Hers will be well-positioned, upon closing of the acquisition, to expand into Australia and Japan and deepen its presence in the UK, Germany, and Canada. The terms of the transaction have been structured to preserve the financial flexibility of the company, ensuring continued control over balance sheet management and capital allocation.

With this acquisition, Hims & Hers plans to expand its bench of local expertise and scale its infrastructure, making it possible for the company to reach millions more people globally with the model it has successfully built – and continues to maintain – in the US. Hims & Hers is committed to partnering with regional experts to enter new markets in a way that meets each region’s needs and supports customer access and choice. Together with Hims & Hers’ other recent acquisitions, the addition of Eucalyptus will create a diversified international platform that expands the range of offerings available to customers around the world, from simple online pharmacy fulfillment to advanced, concierge-style service.

“Healthcare challenges are global, and so is the demand for simpler, transparent, and more personalized healthcare. But how that comes to life looks different for every region and every person. We’ve shown the difference that makes in the US, and the logical next step is working with more international experts to make that difference abroad,” said Andrew Dudum, Founder and CEO at Hims & Hers. “With Eucalyptus, we will not only enter new markets, we will expand our ability to serve customers globally, trusting local experts to be a key part of how we transform healthcare into a customer-first, personalized industry. We believe this puts us on the path to becoming the leading global consumer health platform, where everyone can access the best care for their needs, regardless of where they live.”

Eucalyptus operates several consumer-beloved brands across the world – including Juniper and Pilot – and has served more than 775,000 customers. Eucalyptus has a demonstrated track record of efficiently entering new markets and is recognized for its customer-first approach, clinical rigor, simple digital experience, and local regulatory expertise. The company has also published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, examining how its model supports patient outcomes, adherence, quality and safety. It is also the first Australian telehealth business to receive accreditation from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS).

Following the completion of the acquisition, Tim Doyle, current CEO at Eucalyptus, will become the SVP of International at Hims & Hers, overseeing the company’s international business…

Full release here, originally announced February 19th, 2026.

< + > “Un-Sexy” AI Stole the Show at ViVE2026

ViVE always attracts a wide variety of technologies to the show floor. One minute you’re looking at a payer solution, the next you’re staring at a medical device, and then an EHR. I saw everything from Facetec using “3D Liveness” to solve patient identity to Karen Cross’s Mimosa DX (powered by Google Pixel) for diagnosing skin conditions.

But the real shocker? The utter lack of talk about AI Scribes. For the past two years, you couldn’t turn a corner without tripping over a vendor offering a scribe or scribe integration, but at ViVE2026, there was scribe-silence. It felt like the industry has reached a point of accepting scribes as standard infrastructure and moved on. The “bright shiny thing” of 2024 and 2025 has officially lost its luster, replaced by something much more grounded: AI automation.

Policies and Partnerships at ViVE2026

On the policy front, CMS representatives clarified details of the Rural Health Transformation Program, which is set to award $50 billion over five years to make rural care sustainable. CMS also reaffirmed its commitment to the pledge-model of interoperability and building a national provider directory.

There was also a big announcement involving DirectTrust, the CARIN Alliance, and CMS regarding a new accreditation program for consumer-facing apps. It’s a lot to digest, but it signals a major move toward modern identity management.

AI for Healthcare Automation at ViVE2026

If I had to pick a theme for ViVE2026, I would have to say that it was AI for “un-sexy” administrative tasks. While some vendors were pitching “agentic AI,” the talk felt nebulous and aspirational at best. The real meat of the conversations was in the revenue cycle (using AI to process claims faster), data analysis (research synthesis), and resource optimization.

In a surprising twist, the majority of vendors and attendees were not talking about this form of AI as a cost-cutting measure, but rather as a technology that would help relieve stress on already overworked staff. It’s a welcome development.

What Healthcare IT Leaders Are Asking

With AI scribes becoming standard infrastructure, where should health systems point their AI budgets next? The reality is that the next wave of AI adoption belongs to the “un-sexy” administrative workflows like revenue cycle management, claims processing, and resource optimization. Instead of framing these tools purely as cost-cutting measures, IT leaders should prioritize deployments that directly relieve the crushing workload on already stretched operational staff.

Will the new CMS National Provider Directory actually reduce the administrative burden of roster maintenance? The industry currently wastes billions of dollars a year trying to maintain thousands of disjointed provider directories that still end up inaccurate. By building foundational infrastructure for a single national directory, CMS aims to create a centralized source of truth, allowing organizations to update their information in one place rather than fielding dozens of validation requests a month.

How can IT teams close the dangerous exposure gap between software vulnerability announcements and internal patching? The traditional audit model often leaves health systems exposed for months while attackers exploit newly announced vulnerabilities on day one. Shifting to continuous, real-time software risk visibility allows IT and security leaders to immediately identify and mitigate threats across their enterprise and vendor networks.

< + > How No-Code is Quietly Solving Healthcare’s Compliance-Flexibility Problem

The following is a guest article by Elliott Sprecher, VP of Marketing at Knack

A New Jersey Healthcare Communications Firm Needed a HIPAA-Compliant Patient Portal — Built Fast and Without a Developer; Their Solution Points to a Broader Shift in How Healthcare Organizations are Building the Tools They Actually Need

When Joe Luzi set out to build a patient portal for his healthcare communications firm, Social Health Research, he ran into a wall that will sound familiar to anyone who has tried to build custom software in a regulated environment.

He needed a secure, HIPAA-compliant system where patients could share sensitive health stories — through video, free text, or guided questionnaires — with granular controls over who could access what. He knew what he wanted. He just couldn’t find a way to build it without either waiting months for a development firm to come up to speed on compliance requirements or absorbing the ongoing cost and complexity of maintaining custom-built infrastructure himself.

“When I was building my software, the HIPAA-compliant piece was going to be an issue — meaning a very difficult process,” said Luzi, who founded SHR after more than 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry. “It takes a lot of developing, a lot of coding, and I didn’t think my team was up for that.”

His eventual solution — a fully functional portal built in days on a no-code platform — reflects a growing tension in healthcare IT, and a growing appetite for a different kind of answer.

The Gap Between What Healthcare Teams Need and What Exists

Healthcare organizations today are under pressure to move fast. New programs, new reporting requirements, new patient engagement initiatives — layered on top of strict requirements around privacy, security, and data handling. For small and mid-sized teams, that pressure often surfaces in a specific, frustrating way: the tools available are either too rigid or too risky.

Traditional EHR systems offer compliance but little flexibility. Teams end up building workarounds — spreadsheets, generic forms, disconnected databases — that can’t scale and were never designed to handle protected health information. On the other end of the spectrum, lightweight no-code and AI-powered tools have made it easier to prototype workflows, but most stop short when PHI enters the picture. There’s no BAA, no audit trail, no path from proof of concept to production.

This gap has created an opening, and it has also created a new kind of problem-solver.

The Rise of the Operational Builder

One of the more consequential shifts in healthcare IT over the past several years hasn’t come from the C-suite or the IT department — it’s come from the people running programs on the ground. Administrators, department managers, care coordinators, and research leads are increasingly expected to design and maintain the digital workflows their teams depend on. They’re closest to the operational problems. They understand the nuances of their workflows better than any outside vendor. And they’re often working without a development team to call on.

This “operational builder” dynamic is accelerating as organizations look for greater agility and push non-technical staff to take more ownership of their digital environments. But in healthcare, that agility can only go so far without a compliance-ready foundation underneath it. Flexibility without security isn’t a solution — it’s a liability.

The result is a growing demand for tools that meet operational builders where they are: giving them genuine configuration power without requiring them to become developers or compliance experts.

Knack Health Targets That Exact Gap

On March 3, Knack — a no-code platform used by thousands of organizations worldwide — officially launched Knack Health, a dedicated healthcare product built to address this challenge directly.

Knack Health is designed for clinics, healthcare nonprofits, research organizations, and other small to mid-sized teams that need custom applications and workflows but can’t build or maintain them with a traditional development approach. The platform provides a HIPAA-compliant no-code database for storing and managing PHI, custom forms, dashboards, and portals with granular role-based permissions, the ability to create custom record change logs, scheduling and appointment booking tools, and more than 500 native integrations with other systems — including healthcare-adjacent platforms.

Critically, HIPAA-compliant plans include signed Business Associate Agreements, making it possible for covered entities to move from configuration to production without needing to stand up separate compliance infrastructure.

“Healthcare organizations are under pressure to move faster, but most tools force a tradeoff between flexibility and compliance,” said Derek Hutson, CEO at Knack. “Knack Health removes that tradeoff. We built a dedicated healthcare platform that gives teams control over their workflows while providing the security, auditability, and HIPAA compliance they need to operate responsibly.”

A Real-World Test Case

Back in Chatham, New Jersey, Joe Luzi’s experience with the platform offers a ground-level view of what that promise looks like in practice.

Social Health Research helps pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies understand the real-world patient experience — the treatment journeys, the barriers to care, the human details that don’t show up in clinical data. Those patient stories are invaluable to the companies SHR works with. They’re also deeply sensitive, and collecting them in a way that’s both authentic and compliant had always been technically demanding.

Before finding a no-code solution, Luzi explored working with traditional software development firms. The ones who understood HIPAA compliance well enough wanted to build everything from scratch — slow, expensive, and ultimately outside Luzi’s control. “Other software companies that I spoke with had a much bigger learning curve, especially on the HIPAA compliance side,” he said. “And I wasn’t willing to wait for somebody to learn while I’m paying them.”

What he needed wasn’t just a compliant platform — it was a compliant platform he could actually build on. Working with Knack, his team had the portal up and running in days. Patients can log in and choose how to share their story — through free text, video upload, or guided questionnaires. Consent levels are managed through simple checkboxes and forms. Patients can return and update their stories over time. The system integrates with SHR’s email server for ongoing patient communications.

“The two things that were really a game changer for me with the Knack software platform were that they were keeping up with the HIPAA rules and regulations,” Luzi said. He noted a significant regulatory update in the prior year that the platform handled without requiring any action on his end — exactly the kind of maintenance overhead that had made building custom software unattractive.

The system also had to work for patients, many of whom are managing serious illnesses. “Patients are only going to share their story when they know the information is secure and they know how that information is being used,” Luzi explained. The portal’s simplicity was as important as its compliance.

A Signal for the Broader Market

The Knack Health launch reflects a broader bet that the healthcare IT market is ready for a different category of tool — one that sits between rigid enterprise systems and compliance-naive no-code apps.

The platform supports both U.S. organizations navigating HIPAA and international healthcare teams that need strong data protection without HIPAA-specific requirements. Templates for common healthcare workflows are included to accelerate deployment, and the platform is designed to evolve alongside regulations rather than requiring customers to rebuild when requirements change.

For Luzi, that scalability matters as much as the initial build. “As the rules change or you learn more from patients on how to approach them, this can easily scale up or change or modify,” he said. He’s already thinking beyond SHR’s current pharmaceutical clients — the same portal infrastructure could serve advocacy organizations, healthcare providers, and other groups looking to amplify the patient voice.

The case for platforms like Knack Health ultimately isn’t just about technology. It’s about who gets to build. As healthcare organizations continue to push operational responsibility closer to the teams doing the work, the tools available to those teams will increasingly determine what’s possible. When the right infrastructure is in place, a healthcare communications firm founder with no development background can build a HIPAA-compliant patient engagement platform — in days, not months.

That’s the shift Knack Health is designed to support.

Knack Health is available now. More information is available at knack.com/health.

About Elliott Sprecher

Elliott Sprecher is the VP of Marketing at Knack, a no-code app builder that helps organizations create secure, custom web applications without requiring developers.

About Knack Health

Build HIPAA-compliant healthcare apps without code. Knack Health enables secure patient portals, intake systems, and custom workflows on encrypted infrastructure—with BAA included. Replace rigid point solutions with applications built around your organization’s needs.

Knack is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.

< + > MedScout Raises $10M and Launches AI Agents | Garner Health Raises $118 Million; Reaches $1.35 Billion Valuation

Check out today’s featured companies who have recently raised a round of funding, and be sure to check out the full list of past healthcare IT fundings.

---

MedScout Raises $10M and Launches AI Agents for MedTech Commercial Teams

Backed by Fulcrum Equity Partners, MedScout has Grown Enterprise Revenue by 3x Since Its Series A as MedTech Companies Adopt AI Agents to Turn Commercial Strategy into Field Execution

MedScout, the commercial engine for MedTech, today announced a $10M growth round led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with participation from existing investors Live Oak Venture Partners and Stage 2 Capital. The round, which more than doubled the company’s valuation from its Series A, will fuel continued investment in MedScout’s AI capabilities and support growing demand from enterprise customers.

“MedScout is tackling one of the most pressing challenges in MedTech: turning company strategy into revenue performance,” said Philip Lewis, Partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners. “What they’ve built combines commercial expertise and AI to solve that problem in a highly actionable way that’s unique to each customer. This is the future of how companies put AI to work, and it’s why we’re doubling down on our investment in MedScout.”

Alongside the funding, MedScout is launching Strategies, AI agents that analyze market and account-level referral networks, procedure volumes, payer dynamics, and more to deliver prioritized, ready-to-work territory plans to reps.

“MedTech companies spend months developing commercial strategies that don’t make it to the field as intended,” said Skylar Talley, Co-Founder and CEO at MedScout. “MedScout bridges that gap by translating commercial priorities into clear, territory-specific actions. Sales reps know which providers to prioritize and how to build and expand those relationships.”

MedTech commercial teams face a core disconnect: strategy is set at the top, but the tools reps use in the field don’t reflect it. Instead, reps rely on Google, stale spreadsheets, or data platforms that lack the context to tell them what really matters.

Each Strategy is an AI agent built around a company’s specific commercial context, how it wins in the market, and its definition of a best-fit target…

Full release here, originally announced February 24th, 2026.

---

Garner Health Raises $118 Million to Close the Healthcare Quality and Cost Gap; Reaches $1.35 Billion Valuation

The Funding Will be Used to Scale Garner’s Proprietary Provider-Ranking Engine and Incentive Platform that Now Helps Lower Healthcare Costs For Over 2.5 Million Members

Garner Health, a leading digital platform that helps patients find the best healthcare providers using better data and smarter financial incentives, announced it has raised $118 million in funding. Garner’s Series D, which brings the company’s total capital raised to-date to approximately $200 million, was led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Redpoint, Maverick, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Mercy, Plus Capital, and other existing investors.

The funding comes at a time of explosive growth for Garner, with revenue up over 130% year-over-year as employers continue to look for alternatives to traditional provider search tools. The capital will be used to further expand Garner’s industry-leading doctor ranking platform, scale its AI-driven navigation and appointment booking capabilities, and grow its team to meet the demands of a rapidly growing customer base.

The U.S. healthcare system suffers from a fundamental market failure: a lack of transparent data on physician quality and a lack of incentives for patients to seek high-performing providers.

“The single most important health decision we make is which individual doctor we see when we need care,” said Nick Reber, Founder and CEO at Garner Health. “Our data shows that the top-performing doctors have 75% lower rates of complications and mortality than their peers. By identifying these providers and creating the financial incentives for patients to see them, we aren’t just saving money—we’re fundamentally re-engineering the healthcare marketplace to reward quality.”

“Garner delivers a rare double win in healthcare: getting patients to the highest quality doctors while simultaneously cutting costs at scale,” said Josh Coyne at Kleiner Perkins…

Full release here, originally announced February 10th, 2026.

< + > HIMSS 2026 Preview

If it felt like we just attended a massive health IT conferece and now we’re about to attend another one, then you’d be right.  We attend a lot of healthcare IT conferences every year, but there’s nothing quite like the nearly back to back conferences of ViVE and HIMSS.  ViVE 2026 is now in the rear view mirror and next week we’ll be attending the HIMSS conference where we’ll do our best to bring you some of the best health IT content from the event.  We’ll be sharing a number of short videos on LinkedIn from the event, so be sure to follow me, Colin Hung, and Healthcare IT Today on LinkedIn to get the latest updates.  We’ll also be sharing them in articles on Healthcare IT Today in case you miss them.

Along with the videos we’re doing at the conference, we wanted to point you to a number of other places you’ll find us at the event along with some areas, sessions, and meetups that we’re interested in at the event.  Check out our list:

Healthcare IT Today Booth – #6453 – Exhibit Hall Hours
Be sure to come by and say hi to Colin Hung, Brittany Quemby, David Lynn, myself, and the rest of the Healthcare IT Today crew.  We’ll have mutliple video studios set up in the space so you can watch some our interviews live or get a selfie with Colin or Brittany (we know how valuable those are).

This year we’ll also have a new “Innovators You Need to Know” wall in our booth.  On the wall we’re featuring a number of great companies and resources from those companies.  You’ll be able to scan the QR code for each company to gain access to a great healthcare IT resource.  Plus, every form you complete, you’ll be entered to win a Ms. Pac-Man Arcade Machine (or a $500 gift card) along with a number of other Amazon gift cards.  What more could you want than great learning and a chance to win great prizes?  Spoiler Alert: You can start checking out the resources on the virtual version of our “Innovators You Need to Know” list.

Build, Deploy, Transform: UC San Diego Health’s AI Playbook. – Level 1|Room Casanova 501 – Tues 3/10 10:30-11:45 AM
This session may be full with an RSVP required, but we’re excited to see USCD Health’s AI playbook and the work they’re doing together with notable.  I think a lot of people are going to HIMSS to see what’s really working in AI.  This feels like a session that will share that information.  More details>>

Fax Forward: How Agentic AI is Transforming Fax Workflows – Exhibition Main Stage | Level 2 | Hall A | Booth 270 – Tues 3/10 11:40-12:10 PM
Fax is still one of the most popular forms of interoperability.  However, fax is no longer that old machine in your medical records office.  I’m interested to see how Documo is applying agentic AI to fax workflows to make it so much more than fax.  More details>>

Healthcare IT Today and Swaay.Health Meetup and Picture – Healthcare IT Today Booth #6453 – Tues 3/10 12:30 PM PT
The number one question we get before a health IT conference is – Where are the Healthcare IT Today and Swaay.Health communities planning to meet up?  We’re planning to do our annual HIMSS picture with the Healthcare IT Today and Swaay.Health comunities on Tuesday 3/10 at 12:30 PM PT at the Healthcare IT Today Booth #6453. We hope you can join us to connect with your peers. More details>>

The Future of MEDITECH Expanse as a Platform for Innovation – MEDITECH Booth #5031 – Tues 3/10 1:30-1:50 PM
This session has two of my favorite people to listen to.  MEDITECH Senior Director of Interoperability Mike Cordeiro will join Augusta Health Vice President and CIO Leigh Williams for this discussion at the MEDITECH booth #5031.  If you’ve read Healthcare IT Today, then you’ve probably seen both of these people before.  I’m excited to learn from them.  More details>>

From Image to Insight: Clinical Edge AI in Practice – Dell Technologies Booth #2531 – Tues 3/10 2:00-2:45 PM
We’re excited to again be doing meetups with Dell Technologies at HIMSS26.  For this meetup, we’ve partnered with NVIDIA along with a stellar panel of experts.  They’re always a lively discussion with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry.  Stop by and become part of the discussion.  We have some amazing c-level executives and industry experts that are going to be talking about one of the hottest topics at HIMSS: Clinical Edge AI in Practice.  More details>>

Transforming Workflows: AI and HPC for Efficient Healthcare Operations – Dell Technologies Booth #2531 – Tues 3/10 2:00-2:45 PM
This is our 2nd meetup with Dell Technologies at HIMSS26.  For this meetup, we’ve partnered with AMD for a great discussion with a true panel of experts.  They’re always a lively discussion with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry.  Stop by and become part of the discussion.  We have some amazing CIOs and industry experts that are going to be talking about an important topic at HIMSS: AI and HPC for Efficient Healthcare Operations.  More details>>

Value-Based Care Pioneer Shares Its Secrets – Level 3 | Murano 3304 – Wed 3/11 3:30-4:00 PM
Everyone has been talking about the shift to value based care for a long time.  I’m excited for this session where they’re going to share what’s really happening.  At the PointClickCare user conference I saw first hand how much PointClickCare was doing to support the shift to value based care.  Plus, Robin Roberts is one of the best government regulation people out there.  More details>>

SMS Text Reminders Improve Medication Adherence for High-Risk Patients – Level 5 | Palazzo D – Thurs 3/12 8:45-9:15 AM
I’ve always been fascinated by the power of the simple text message.  Sometimes we overthink what’s required to engage a patient.  The right text message can be so powerful.  That seems to be what we’ll learn about in this session.  Plus, I’m interested to learn about their use of the DrFirst prescription engagement services that are embedded in MEDITECH.  Nothing like a beautiful workflow that’s integrated seamlessly.  More details>>

Aligning Clinical and IT for Multi-Site Virtual Nursing Success – Level 3 | San Polo 3501A – Thurs 3/12 2:00-3:00 PM
In so many areas, there are literally just not enough nurses to provide the care that’s needed.  This session looks at a wide variety of virtual nursing options from Caregility that were implemented.  This feels like a preview of the future where we make the nurses and other staff in our organizations more efficient.  I look forward to learning some of the nuances of this effort.  More details>>

Various Focus Areas
I’m also always interested in the various focus areas that HIMSS has in the exhibit hall.  The startup area looks a little smaller than usual this year, but I always find startups interesting.  I’m quite interested in the Business Operations pavilion on the show floor as well.  That seems to line up nicely with healthcare organizations’ theme of needing a clear ROI and business case to implement IT.  Colin will be particularly excited to see the large Patient Experience and Wellness area.  They included the Puppy Park in that area which I think many will find appropriate.

#HIMSS26 Hashtag
Do hashtags matter at events now?  It used to be a really big deal to follow the hashtag at an event.  You could almost be in a session without actually being there since people shared on the hashtag so much.  Is that true now?  Looks like the official hashtag is following their previous approach and will be #HIMSS26  Be sure to follow that for much of the content we share.

I could keep going with the list of things happening at HIMSS 2026.  That’s enough for now, but I’d love to hear what’s on your dance card at HIMSS 2026.  What sessions are you most excited about?  Who are you most excited to meet.  Let us know on social media.