< + > Weekly Roundup – April 4, 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.

Connecting Patients With Virtual Nursing. Caregility President and COO Mike Brandofino talked to John Lynn about how sensors and communication tools in the hospital room of the future improve the patient experience and let nursing teams monitor more patients at a time. Read more…

Ramsoft OmegaAI and Blume: A Hands-On PACS and Portal Walkthrough. Colin Hung reviewed the usability, workflow, and overall experience of Ramsoft’s offerings, which benefit from fast loading times, intuitive designs, and patient-centric AI tools. Read more…

Healthcare’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Fraud Problem Starts at the Front Door. Jay Meier at FaceTec talked to Colin about the clinical dangers of poor patient matching and what it takes to give patients control of their biometric data – and trust in the process. Read more… 

Preventing AI From Becoming a Confident Liar. Colin sat down with James Kirtley and Julie Lamoureux at Dimensional Insight to learn why highly structured data governance is highly effective; it creates an audit trail for where data and insights came from, and it prevents arguments in the boardroom. Read more…

Bringing AI Agents to Healthcare. John caught up with Anshar AI CEO & Founder Pinaki Saha, who recommended getting started with agentic AI with pilots that have a clear goal. For many organizations, that happens to be preventing denials in the first place and determining what it will take to get denied claims approved. Read more…

Moving Healthcare Cybersecurity Away From the Perimeter. Jeremy Molnar and Chad Alessi at CTG talked to John about making sure organizations define the actions items and technology tools they need to carry out their emergency response plans. Read more…

Reducing Physician Burden Through Well-Designed Medication Management. John connected with Drew Hunsinger and Dr. Colin Banas at DrFirst about automating or otherwise accelerating prior authorization for specialty medications, which now make up 90% of all new medications. Read more…

Health IT 2026 April Fool’s Day Jokes.  For another edition of Fun Friday we focused on the jokes shared on April Fool’s day.  There are some great ones from Epic, Christina Farr, and more.  Read more…

Life Sciences Today Podcast: The Next Phase of Clinical Research. Veristat CEO Kim Boericke joined Danny Lieberman to explore what it really takes to build and lead a durable contract research organization in a rapidly shifting life sciences landscape. Read more…

Healthcare IT Today Podcast: Answering the Questions We Asked Everyone at HIMSS. What was top of mind for John and Colin in Las Vegas? The biggest lessons from AI use, the most reasonable health tech policies, and the mistakes everyone keeps making. Read more…

Fiber as the Foundation for AI, Telemedicine, and Big Data. Great Plains Communications CTO Tony Thakur outlined why a reliable fiber network is a strategic requirement for delivering advanced patient care today – and for what will come in the future. Read more…

Agentic AI Is Reshaping the Future of RCM. Prior authorization and claims management are ripe for transformation, noted Karly Rowe at Inovalon. Organizations must balance speed and automation must with strong governance if they want to get agentic AI right. Read more…

Technical EHR Implementation Is Only Half the Battle. Donna Palmer at Juno Health said collaboration and change management are critical to the success of an EHR overhaul. It starts with clear communication and multidisciplinary teams that break down silos. Read more…

Fragmented Technology Is Stifling Radiology. Radiologists routinely operate across several core systems, and context switching translates into hours lost per radiologist per day. AI can help, said CIVIE CEO Dhruv Chopra, but only if it’s natively embedded into authenticated, audited, and monitored clinical systems. Read more…

While Products Address the Moment, Platforms Are Hard-Earned Over Time. Infrastructure that allows innovation to scale matters more to healthcare than point solution novelty, according to Suki CTO Joe Chang. That means organizations that prioritize foundational capabilities will shape how AI is woven into the fabric of care. Read more…

This Week’s Health IT Jobs for April 1, 2026: Multiple roles for community health workers as well as IT directors / managers. Read more…

Bonus Features for March 29, 2026: 57% of execs say AI-based clinical tools are their top tech initiative – but 57% of patients say AI isn’t mature enough for docs to trust it. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

• GE HealthCare completed the acquisition of Intelerad, a medical imaging software provider, for $2.3 billion in cash.
• Chartis acquired Leap AI, which builds AI-enabled products and solutions for healthcare.
• Workforce management vendor Viventium acquired Perks4Care, a rewards and recognition platform for the post-acute care workforce.
• Care navigation company Quantum Health acquired CirrusMD, an on-demand virtual care company.
• Verily announced a $300 million investment and said Alphabet will be a significant minority investor in Verily while no longer having a controlling stake.
• Pricing and payment platform Turquoise Health raised $40 million in Series C funding.
• Specialty care platform Lantern announced a $30 million investment.
• Workflow automation vendor Health Universe announced $6 million in seed funding.

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

< + > Leadership, Moats, and the Next Phase of Clinical Research – Life Sciences Today Podcast Episode 55

We’re excited to be back for another episode of the Life Sciences Today Podcast by Healthcare IT Today. My guest today is Kim Boericke, the new CEO at Veristat! In this episode, I sit down with Kim to explore what it really takes to build and lead a durable CRO in a rapidly shifting life sciences landscape. We discuss Kim’s leadership journey, how value is created and captured in services-heavy businesses, and what Veristat is prioritizing for customers over the next 12 months. The conversation then goes deeper into the idea of moats—what makes a CRO genuinely hard to copy, what compounds over time, and how strategic decisions today shape defensibility five years out.

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

• Tell me about your journey.
• How do you create value for your customers?
• How do you capture the value?
• What are three things you’d like to achieve in the next 12-18 months?
• What makes a CRO genuinely hard to copy?
• What compounds over time? How do the strategic decisions you make today shape out defensibility five years from now?

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

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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!

< + > Health IT April Fool’s Day Jokes – Fun Friday

I know that April Fool’s Day was a few days ago, but we thought we’d save the health IT related April Fool’s Day jokes that were shared for our Fun Friday edition.  It felt a little light this year on jokes, but there were some pretty good ones in case you missed them.

If it’s April Fool’s then you have to highlight Epic who always goes all out.  They literally replace their homepage with great April Fool’s day announcements.  This year they had these three.

Epic MomChart – I kind of want this feature actually.

Epic Penny is Now Nickel – I’m really curious to see how the LLMs deal with this joke.  Will it know that it was an April Fool’s Day joke?

Chart with Art – I’d never really thought about how introverts would feel about AI medical scribes.  Something to think about.  And funny!

It’s great to see Christina Farr get in on the April Fool’s day action with this announcement.  Of course, my reply to her is that she described a lot of health IT companies out there.

Michael Stamatinos gave a nice April Fool’s Day style shout out to all the corporate workers out there.  If you’ve been there, you know.

Thanks for the fun on April Fool’s Day and hopefully you enjoyed some good humor as you head into the weekend.  Thanks for reading and being part of our great health IT community.

< + > Fiber as the Foundation for AI, Telemedicine, and Big Data in Healthcare

The following is a guest article by Tony Thakur, Chief Technology Officer at Great Plains Communications

A radiologist waiting on an AI-assisted scan. A physician conducting a virtual follow-up with a remote patient. A healthcare system securely moving massive volumes of patient data between facilities and the Cloud.

In each of these moments, outcomes don’t just depend on technology; they depend on the network driving that technology. 

Healthcare is undergoing one of the most consequential digital transformations in its history. Artificial intelligence is accelerating diagnostics and clinical decision-making. Telemedicine is expanding access to care beyond traditional walls. Big data is reshaping everything from patient outcomes to operational efficiency. Behind every application is an often-overlooked reality: innovation only performs as well as the connectivity supporting it.

Tony Thakur, Chief Technology Officer at Great Plains Communications, has spent decades designing, engineering, and operating high-capacity fiber networks that support mission-critical industries, including healthcare. From connecting hospitals and clinics to regional data centers, to delivering low-latency, redundant routes that support real-time applications, he’s seen firsthand how network performance directly impacts care delivery, security, and trust. Tony says, “In healthcare, innovation doesn’t necessarily fail because of technology. It fails when the network and automation aren’t able to keep up.”

Fiber infrastructure has quietly become the backbone of modern healthcare, not as a faster internet option, but as foundational infrastructure that enables advanced care to operate reliably, securely, and at scale.

This article explores why a high-capacity, reliable fiber network is no longer a nice-to-have for healthcare organizations, but a strategic requirement for delivering advanced patient care today and for what comes in the future.

AI in Healthcare Demands Speed, Symmetry, and Stability

AI applications in healthcare rely on the ability to move large volumes of data quickly and securely. Imaging files, real-time monitoring data, and machine-learning models require networks that can handle heavy upstream and downstream traffic without delay or degradation. Tony explains, “AI in healthcare only works when data can move without delay. If your network introduces latency or bottlenecks, it limits how effective point-of-care tools will be.”

In practice, this becomes clear when healthcare organizations connect imaging systems, analytics platforms, and AI workloads to regional or Cloud-based data centers. Large diagnostic files must move upstream just as efficiently as they move downstream, and insights must return in near real time to support clinical decision-making. Fiber’s symmetrical speeds and ultra-low latency eliminate bottlenecks that can slow diagnoses or limit the effectiveness of AI-assisted tools.

Telemedicine Only Works When the Network Does

Telemedicine has evolved far beyond basic video visits. Today’s virtual care includes high-definition video, remote diagnostics, real-time device monitoring, and seamless access to electronic health records, often happening simultaneously.

Reliable telemedicine depends on consistency, not just bandwidth. Fiber-based networks deliver predictable performance during peak usage, eliminating buffering, lag, and dropped connections that can compromise clinical accuracy and patient trust. “Telemedicine depends on trust, and trust disappears the moment a connection freezes, drops, or lags during a clinical interaction,” stated Thakur.

In more remote areas and for patients located far from their trusted specialist, surgeon, or provider, fiber-powered connectivity plays an even larger role. It enables equitable access to specialists, ongoing treatment, and post-care monitoring, bringing high-quality healthcare into patients’ homes regardless of geography. In these settings, network reliability directly influences access, outcomes, and continuity of care.

Big Data Requires Big Infrastructure

Healthcare organizations generate and consume massive volumes of data every day, from patient records and imaging to compliance reporting and research analytics. As systems move toward centralized platforms and Cloud-based applications, the ability to transport data securely and efficiently becomes essential.

Fiber networks provide the scalability and redundancy required to support these data-intensive environments. They allow healthcare systems to move information securely between facilities, connect to regional or national data centers, and expand capacity as demands grow without the need to re-engineer the network every few years.

Reliability and Security Aren’t Optional

In healthcare, downtime isn’t just inconvenient; it can be life-threatening. Fiber offers higher reliability than legacy copper or wireless alternatives, with fewer points of failure and greater resilience during peak demand or adverse conditions.

Equally important, fiber supports advanced security architectures that help protect sensitive patient data and meet strict regulatory requirements. Purpose-built fiber networks enable segmentation, redundancy, and secure routing strategies that form the foundation of a comprehensive cybersecurity approach. Thakur explains it this way. “Fiber isn’t about speed for speed’s sake. It’s about building a foundation that healthcare systems can rely on as data, applications, and patient expectations continue to grow.”

As threats increase and compliance requirements evolve, network design becomes a critical component of operational risk management.

The Future of Healthcare is Built on Fiber

AI, telemedicine, and big data are no longer emerging trends; they are core components of modern healthcare delivery. As these technologies continue to evolve, the networks that support them must be ready to scale, adapt, and perform without compromise.

Fiber is more than faster connectivity. It is the infrastructure that enables smarter diagnostics, broader access to care and data-driven decision-making, laying the groundwork for a more resilient, equitable and connected healthcare system.

As healthcare organizations continue planning for the future, the question is no longer whether fiber is necessary, but how quickly can they build the foundation required to support the next generation of care.

About Tony Thakur

Tony Thakur is the Chief Technology Officer of GPC, where he guides the company’s technology vision and works to enhance its robust fiber network. He also implements new product technologies, identifies national geographic network expansion opportunities, and introduces automation efficiencies.

Thakur has held C-level and senior executive positions during his two decades in the telecommunications sector. In this time, he has launched numerous programs and services related to technology infrastructure development, networking, and cloud connectivity.

Thakur graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology and has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in Arlington.

< + > Chartis Acquires Leap AI | Viventium Expands HCM Platform with Acquisition of Perks4Care

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.

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Chartis Acquires Leap AI, Accelerates Healthcare Innovation Through AI and Technology Transformation

Chartis, a leading healthcare advisory firm, today announced it has acquired Leap AI, pioneers in AI-driven healthcare solutions. Leap AI builds AI-enabled products and solutions as a key enabler of healthcare innovation—from workflow automation to superior user experience to groundbreaking R&D.

“As AI becomes industrialized across healthcare, organizations risk losing the ability to innovate against their unique friction points. Off-the-shelf platforms can’t match solutions built around an organization’s specific challenges, data, and operations,” said Chartis Chief AI & Digital Officer Tom Kiesau. “Leap AI brings deep healthcare expertise in AI development and product design, along with experience launching complex, first-of-their-kind solutions. Together with our clients, we’ll design and deploy AI solutions to improve how healthcare is delivered.”

Leap AI senior leaders will join the Chartis Center for AI & Digital Transformation, led by Kiesau, under the brand Chartis Leap AI Studio. The core team will maintain and implement a strong pipeline of future-forward, technology- and AI-based ideas and solutions for the healthcare industry.

“We’re excited to join Chartis and expand the impact of our new colleagues,” said Ali Paasimaa, Senior Partner, Head of Chartis Leap AI…

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

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Viventium Expands HCM Platform with Acquisition of Perks4Care to Strengthen Caregiver Retention Solutions for Post-Acute Care Providers

Viventium today announced the strategic acquisition of Perks4Care, a rewards and recognition platform built specifically for the post-acute care workforce. The acquisition expands Viventium’s ability to help care providers recruit, engage, and retain caregivers through targeted recognition and incentive programs.

Perks4Care enables care organizations to award caregivers points that can be redeemed for gift cards, while allowing providers to customize rewards programs around their operational goals and workforce priorities.

The acquisition comes at a time when caregiver shortages remain one of the post-acute care industry’s most pressing challenges. Perks4Care was developed by industry veterans Joe Kraus and Linda Donev, founders of Soneto, an operations management system used by hundreds of providers, including several of the nation’s largest franchise systems and corporate operators.

Drawing on more than 30 years of post-acute care experience operating care organizations and building technology for the sector, Kraus and Donev created Perks4Care to address persistent caregiver retention challenges and improve the caregiver experience. Their approach recognizes the critical role caregivers play in supporting individuals, families, and communities.

“Improving the caregiver experience is central to Viventium’s mission,” said Navin Gupta, CEO at Viventium. “Perks4Care gives providers a simple but powerful way to recognize caregivers in real time. By bringing Perks4Care into the Viventium ecosystem, we are helping post-acute care organizations build cultures where caregivers feel appreciated and valued.”

“One of Perks4Care’s distinguishing features is that it is truly caregiver-centric,” said Joe Kraus, Co-Founder of Perks4Care…

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

< + > Caregility Connects the Patient with Virtual Nursing

Around the world, according to Mike Brandofino, President and Chief Operating Officer of Caregility, declines in clinical staff are leading to declines in the quality of care and the patient experience. At the recent HIMSS conference, we stopped by their example hospital room where he demonstrates the elements of connected healthcare that Caregility have created to facilitate virtual nursing.

The Hospital Room of the Future shown in the demo consists of two types of technologies: sensors to report important events to a virtual staff, and communications tools to let that staff collaborate with the patient.

Among the sensors are wide-angle and zoom cameras with night vision, microphones that can pick up quiet sounds from anywhere in the room and can flag signals such as stress in the patient’s voice, a virtual stethoscope, a sensor that detects the patient’s breathing rate, motion detectors that note when a patient stands or leaves the room, and even an incontinence sensor.  The smart, connected hospital room has more than arrived.

Using a panel, a patient or nurse can turn a TV set into a two-way communication device, then bring in clinicians and family members for a discussion. A dashboard allows scheduling and tasks assignment. Virtual nurses can monitor 64 patients at one time on one device.

Watch the video for details and to learn about the benefits of the connected hospital room.

Learn more about Caregility: https://caregility.com/

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< + > Ramsoft OmegaAI and Blume Review: A Hands-On PACS and Portal Walkthrough

At Healthcare IT Today, we are continually evolving to bring you closer to the technology that is driving our industry forward. That means getting hands-on with the software to share honest impressions based on first-hand observation. It’s all about giving you the same behind-the-scenes look we get.

Our goal? To help you make more informed decisions by showing you exactly what a platform looks like in action, beyond the standard marketing pitch.

In this walkthrough, we are taking a close look at two solutions from Ramsoft: OmegaAI, their cloud-based RIS/PACS platform, and Blume, their patient portal. We tip our hat to the Ramsoft team. They kindly handed over the keys to their demo environment and gave us unfiltered access to their executives so we could ask the hard questions.

I am not a radiologist, so I won’t be speaking to the clinical efficacy or making a formal recommendation. Instead, I am diving deep into the usability, the workflow, and the overall experience.

What This Walkthrough Revealed

• Zero-Footprint Speed: See how large imaging files load almost instantaneously in a standard browser without any heavy application installs.
• Dynamic Worklists: Watch how AI and appointment logic can automatically organize and prioritize a radiologist’s queue, replacing the old first-in, first-out bottlenecks.
• Patient-Friendly Portals: Discover how the Blume portal uses AI to instantly translate complex medical jargon into plain English directly on the patient’s screen.

Radiology Has Changed

Why did we want to review these two specific solutions? Because the reality of radiology has fundamentally changed. Radiologists aren’t just reading from a dark room in the basement of a hospital anymore; they are reading from home, which means you can’t always expect them to have a super high-power PC.

A true zero-footprint, browser-based system is now necessary to provide nearly instant access to images wherever you are. Furthermore, with the constant demand to do more with less, software must actively streamline administration. By leveraging AI to autonomously handle scheduling, eligibility checks, and workflow orchestration, platforms like this eliminate manual steps and reduce friction across the board.

The Bottom Line

I was particularly impressed by how customizable OmegaAI is—from the dynamic worklists to the hanging protocols that remember your exact multi-monitor layout preferences. It just gets out of its own way. And while I was initially skeptical about a standalone radiology patient portal, Blume won me over by sticking to the basics: easy scheduling, simple file uploads, and accessible reports.

Fast loads – check. Intuitive design – check. Patient-centric AI – check. Overall, Ramsoft has built a platform that feels modern, accessible, and remarkably easy to navigate.

What Health IT Leaders Are Asking

Is Ramsoft OmegaAI a true zero-footprint RIS/PACS?
Yes. Unlike legacy systems that require heavy client-side applications, OmegaAI runs entirely in a standard web browser like Chrome. There is zero installation required, which eliminates the headache of IT approvals and platform incompatibilities. It delivers massive imaging files almost instantaneously, making it highly effective for radiologists reading from home or configuring complex hanging protocols across multiple monitors without needing a high-powered workstation.

How does Ramsoft Blume differ from a standard EHR portal?
Blume is purpose-built for the radiology journey. While comprehensive EHR portals often bog patients down with overwhelming, generalized medical records, Blume focuses strictly on what a radiology patient needs: scheduling imaging appointments, uploading prior files, and viewing results. Most impressively, it embeds AI to instantly translate complex medical jargon in radiology reports into plain English. This targeted approach reduces friction for the patient and prevents unnecessary follow-up calls to the clinic for clarification.

Learn more about Ramsoft at https://www.ramsoft.com/

Ramsoft is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene.