Sunday, April 12, 2026

< + > Bonus Features – April 12, 2026 – 67% of consumers say AI’s time savings will make providers more engaged, 27% of desktop devices in healthcare are unencrypted, plus 25 more stories

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT that we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

Studies

Partnerships

Products

Implementations

Company News

People

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo. Note that submissions received after the close of business on Thursday may not be included in Bonus Features until the following week.



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Saturday, April 11, 2026

< + > Weekly Roundup – April 11, 2025

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.

Why Greenway Health Ditched the EHR and Started Over with Novare. CEO Richard Atkin and CMO Dr. Michael Blackman sat down with Colin Hung to discuss why Greenway built an EHR that’s AI by design, what exactly that means, and how it can power proactive care. Read more…

A Bold CMS Prediction, Behavioral Science, and What You Missed at RISE National 2026. At the health plan conference, Colin heard a CMS official say clinicians will have access to better medical knowledge in the tools they use thanks to AI. He also learned you can’t automate empathy, especially when nudges are repeatedly unanswered. Read more…

Why Healthcare Safety Is a Data Problem. August Calhoun at RLDatix sat down with John Lynn to explain why organizations need to evolve from incident reporting to process improvement when it comes to using data to strengthen patient safety and modernize operations. Read more…

Addressing Governance, Ethical, and Regulatory Considerations in Deploying AI. Clear accountability, transparency, compliance, humans in the loop, and audit trails are just some of the main considerations, according to the Healthcare IT Today community. Read more… 

Evaluating AI Models for Reliability, Transparency, and Bias. This is critical for using AI in clinical and administrative workflows. The experts in the Healthcare IT Today community recommended ensuring variability and observability of data, along with continuous evaluation and validation. Read more…

Using AI to Support Clinical Decision Making, Operational Efficiency, and Patient Engagement. The most important use cases, according to the Healthcare IT Today community, include reducing administrative burdens, helping predict operational bottlenecks, and coordinating care transitions. Read more…

Why Power and Electric Companies Exhibited at HIMSS26 – and Why CIOs Should Take Note. Health systems can’t wait until the 11th hour to figure out if their facilities can handle low-latency edge AI tools, Malcolm Murray at Schneider Electric told Colin. Read more…

An Empathy-First Approach to Chronic Illness in Vulnerable Populations. Dan McDonald and Lauren Barca at 86Borders talked to John about engaging with populations that face multiple barriers to accessing care but may distrust the healthcare system and the technology tools it offers to them. Read more…

Life Sciences Today Podcast: Why AI Agents Will Save CROs, Not Replace Them. Medable Chief Customer Officer Alison Holland joined Danny Lieberman to chat about how SaaS automates the low-value work of clinical trials to remove the barriers to patient participation. Read more…

Healthcare RCM Needs to Catch Up With Other Industries. It’s time for RCM to shift from reactive cleanup to proactive design, said WebPT COO Monte Sandler. That depends on accurate information capture at intake and guidance at the time of documentation to prevent errors in the first place. Read more…

AI Made HCC Coding Harder; This Is How to Fix It. Ritwik Jain at Martlet.AI and John Snow Labs said AI tools are overwhelming clinicians and coders with low-quality outputs that lack context or clinical relevance. That’s why organizations need AI tools purpose-built for risk adjustment. Read more…

How to Get More From Your Microsoft Cloud Deployment. The key is to approach the Microsoft ecosystem as a connected whole rather than a series of disconnected tools, according to Amol Dalvi at Nerdio. Specific tips include deploying unified endpoint management and automated policy enforcement. Read more… 

Patient Warming and Secure Positioning in the OR Don’t Require Separate Solutions. Temperature and stability are critical patient safety variables that are traditionally managed separately. That’s why Gentherm integrated warning into securement pads, the company’s Adam Hauke said. Read more…

Becoming the First Agentic Native Company in U.S. Healthcare. DeepCura CEO Fernando Cowan described how the company, with two employees and seven autonomous AI agents, was designed so the same AI agents the company sells to clinicians also run the company’s internal operations. Read more…

This Week’s Health IT Jobs for April 8, 2026: UAB Medicine (Birmingham, Alabama) is looking for a Chief Technology Officer. Read more…

Bonus Features for April 5, 2026: Classis ONC is back! Plus, 84% of behavioral health patients are comfortable sharing personal data if it improves support. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

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



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Friday, April 10, 2026

< + > Health IT Conferences, ChatGPT Second Opinion, and Oracle “House Flipping” – Fun Friday

Happy Friday everyone!  We hope you had an amazing week and helped many patients through the work you do.  Since it’s Friday, we’re back with another edition of Fun Friday where we try to bring a smile to your face and maybe some insight into the crazy world that is healthcare as you head into your weekend.  This week we have a number of great cartoons that I think will cause you to pause and also laugh.

This picture from Khalid Turk definitely captures some of the feelings many of us have coming out of the ViVE and HIMSS conferences.  Especially with them being back to back.  As you know, we attend a lot of healthcare IT conferences, but those 2 back to back is a lot.  The bag of conference swag and the robot saying “You were qualified” definitely sends an interesting message too.  Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that we’re holding our Swaay.Health LIVE marketing conference later this month if you want to learn how to not connect like a robot to attendees at conferences.

I think we’ve often heard about patients using ChatGPT for Second Opinions.  The irony of the doctor using ChatGPT as a second opinion is funny.  I especially love how Eric Topol links to a study about how well ChatGPT is at triaging (ie. not very good).

What’s interesting is that this almost seems inevitable to me in some form.  Although, we need much better guardrails and privacy than what ChatGPT offers.

This next cartoon was actually sent in by a regular Healthcare IT Today reader who created this graphic after the large cuts by Oracle.  In the cartoon, this reader compares Oracle’s decisions to house flipping (ie. taking from Cerner to build data centers for AI).  See what you think.

I personally think this comparison is interesting.  There’s no doubt that Oracle sees the future revenue from these AI data centers.  Although, I think Cerner is just a small portion of the dollars they really need for this effort.  So, if it was a house flip, Oracle didn’t do a very good job on the house flip which is kind of sad.  In the right hands, Cerner could have been so much more.  That said, I’m still interested to see what Oracle does with Cerner.  While Epic certainly has a dominant position, I’ve learned more and more about how Oracle Health is having success with their existing clients and some niches where Epic doesn’t really play.  So, we’ll see how it plays out.

Happy Friday everyone!  Have a great weekend!



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< + > AI Agents Won’t Replace CROs — They’ll Save Them – Life Sciences Today Podcast Episode 56

We’re excited to be back for another episode of the Life Sciences Today Podcast by Healthcare IT Today. My guest today is Alison Holland, Chief Customer Officer at Medable! In this episode, I talk with Holland about how her journey from London nurse to Covance veteran to digital trial leader shapes Medable’s strategy.

Holland started at the bedside and then spent nearly 20 years at a major CRO – Covance. She learned where trials really break: overloaded sites, fragmented systems, and patients battling logistics instead of disease. Medable’s answer is a reusable SaaS platform plus tightly scoped AI agents—first for CRAs, then for TMF, and next for sites—that automate the manual, low‑value work while keeping humans firmly in the loop.

She walks through concrete wins: PRO compliance jumping from ~75% to 95%, 20% more primary endpoint data, and up to 100 hours saved in study startup by configuring from therapeutic‑area libraries instead of rebuilding from scratch.

Holland’s chosen industry anti‑pattern is “change fatigue”: an exhausted ecosystem that no longer believes transformation will stick. Her counter is precision use cases that deliver undeniable value, build momentum, and make it possible to say, credibly, “Yes, we can” this time.

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

  • Tell me about your journey.
  • Who are your customers and how do you create value for them?
  • What’s Medable’s sweet spot for the size of the customer, the kind of customer, or the phase of the study?
  • We saw this recurring pattern where the decisions would be taken in the last month before the trial, and a subpattern where, in the first two weeks, there would very often be a protocol revision. Is that your experience as well?
  • Do you have to do a custom build for every customer and every trial?
  • How do you capture the value?
  • Are we going to see AI Agents replacing CROs in our lifetime?
  • What are three things you want to do for your customers in 2026?
  • What is the biggest anti-pattern in the clinical R&D 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:

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!



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< + > Why Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Needs to Catch Up With Other Industries

The following is a guest article by Monte Sandler, Chief Operating Officer at WebPT, the Leading EMR for Physical Therapists

Every industry has a revenue cycle. A company provides a product or service. It sends an invoice. It gets paid. But you rarely hear anyone outside of healthcare say they “work in revenue cycle management.” In most industries, it is simple and predictable. The process just works.

Healthcare is different. And it has stayed different for a long time.

When a patient receives care, the payment process is rarely straightforward. A $1,000 visit may result in Blue Cross paying one amount, UnitedHealthcare paying another, Medicare paying something else entirely, and the patient owing a portion based on deductibles and coinsurance. Each payer has its own rules. Each claim includes CPT codes, diagnosis codes, modifiers, documentation requirements, and payer-specific edits.

The result is complexity layered on top of complexity. That complexity is why revenue cycle management (RCM) is a constant topic in healthcare and almost invisible everywhere else. Now, for the first time, technology is in a position to change that.

The Data Has Not Changed; How We Use It Has

One of the biggest misconceptions about healthcare RCM is that payers are suddenly providing new or better information. They are not.

The claims process still runs through clearinghouses. Providers submit claims, clearinghouses batch and route them to payers, and payers send back standardized EDI transaction sets. Those transaction formats have not materially changed in decades. The structure and data elements are largely the same as they were 20 years ago.

What has changed is the provider’s ability to use that data more intelligently.

Historically, RCM teams relied on people and processes to manage denials and exceptions after submission. The focus was on back-end correction rather than preventing issues before they occurred.

Today, we can analyze that same clearinghouse data at scale. We can identify patterns across payers, providers, procedures, and locations. We can understand how specific rules are applied and where errors are most likely to occur.

That shift in capability allows us to move upstream, addressing issues before submission instead of correcting them after denial.

Moving From Reactive Cleanup to Proactive Design

For years, RCM improvement focused on back-end cleanup. Claims were submitted, denials came back, and teams worked them one at a time, after the fact, to find a solution.

A better approach is to solve issues that cause denials before the claim is ever sent.

That means ensuring the right information is captured at scheduling. It means verifying eligibility accurately at registration. It means confirming prior authorizations when required. It means supporting providers with the right coding guidance at the point of documentation.

When you stack all of that information together and scrub it before submission, the claim is cleaner. Clean claims get processed faster. They get paid the first time.

This benefits providers because it reduces rework and accelerates cash flow. It also benefits payers because there are fewer exceptions to manage, fewer manual reviews, and fewer phone calls to answer.

In other words, better revenue cycle execution on the provider side inherently reduces administrative burden on the payer side as well.

Why AI Finally Makes Automation Real

Healthcare RCM has always been complex. The difference now is that we have technology capable of handling that complexity. 

Every payer has its own rules. Every CPT code connects to specific diagnosis codes. Modifiers must be applied correctly. Documentation must support medical necessity. The number of possible combinations is enormous.

In the past, we tried to manage this through static rules and manual decision trees. We believed that, in theory, everything could be mapped. In practice, the computing power and tools were not sophisticated enough to automate it effectively.

AI changes that equation.

With modern AI models and increased compute capability, systems can process large volumes of structured transaction data, learn patterns across payers, and identify likely exceptions before submission. Instead of reacting to denials, organizations can embed intelligence into the workflow.

That does not eliminate the inherent complexity of healthcare benefits. It does, however, allow us to automate around it. As a result, healthcare RCM can begin to resemble other industries more closely. The goal is not to oversimplify healthcare. The goal is to remove unnecessary administrative friction so that visits convert to collections more predictably.

What This Means for Providers and Payers

For providers, the impact is straightforward: fewer denials, faster payments, and lower administrative costs per claim. When claims are clean, payment turnaround time accelerates significantly. That stability matters in an environment where margins are tight and staffing is limited.

For payers, cleaner claims mean fewer exceptions to manage and fewer resources devoted to manual review. When providers send accurate, complete claims the first time, the system works more efficiently on both sides.

RCM does not have to be adversarial. When both sides operate with better data and better automation, the friction decreases.

The Patient Experience Still Matters

AI will not change the design of benefit plans. Patients will still be responsible for deductibles and coinsurance. What can change is clarity and convenience.

Technology now allows providers to present clearer information to patients about what they owe and why. Digital payment options, credit cards on file, text reminders, and mobile payment platforms make it easier for patients to settle balances. Visibility and transparency improve when data is organized and presented effectively.

Patients may not think in terms of the revenue cycle, but they experience its consequences. When bills are confusing or delayed, frustration follows. When information is clearer and payment is simpler, the experience improves.

Bringing Healthcare RCM Into the Modern Era

Healthcare does not need to remain the outlier. Every industry has a revenue cycle. In most industries, it is invisible because it is predictable. Healthcare’s complexity made it difficult in the past. Today, with smarter use of existing data and AI-enabled automation, we have the opportunity to reduce that gap.

The next phase of RCM transformation is not about adding more people or layering on more manual processes. It is about embedding intelligence into the workflow and solving issues before they surface. When we do that well, we move closer to a system in which visits translate into revenue with less friction, less rework, and greater clarity for everyone involved.

That is how healthcare RCM begins to catch up.



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< + > IKS Health Announces Acquihire of ThinkDTM | Gyde Acquires Avid Health

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.

IKS Health Announces Acquihire of ThinkDTM, an AI-led Company

IKS Health Expands Patient Access Team with Addition of AI and Product Design Experts

IKS Health, a global leader in care enablement solutions, is proud to announce the strategic acquihire of ThinkDTM, an AI-native product, strategy, and digital services company, including ThinkDTM Founder Tij Bedi. Bedi will assume the role of Executive Vice President and General Manager, Patient Access and Innovation, and his established team of AI technology experts will become a part of IKS Health.

“As healthcare continues to be disrupted, joining IKS Health is a tremendous opportunity to intelligently implement AI in ways that make patients’ lives easier,” Bedi said. “An engineer by education and a problem solver by inclination, I’m excited for me and my team to be a part of such a robust health-tech organization during a time of rapid industry change.”

Bedi and his team will help lead the strategic expansion, scaling, and transformation of the IKS Health patient access solutions portfolio, including patient scheduling, registration, demographic capture, insurance eligibility verification, and prior authorizations. The newly expanded team will focus on building and scaling differentiated patient access solutions, strengthening platform capabilities, and driving forward-looking innovation that enhances outcomes for healthcare providers and patients. In addition, Bedi will enable strategic partnerships that leverage innovative use of technology to create differentiated market opportunities.

“Tij and his team are critical additions to our growing team of AI engineers and experts, particularly as we lean into the world of agentic AI and its role in our continued growth and scale in revenue optimization and beyond,” said Sachin K. Gupta, Founder and Global CEO at IKS Health…

Full release here, originally announced March 31st, 2026.

Gyde Acquires Avid Health to Launch AI-Enabled Brokerage Platform Across Medicare Markets

Leading Medicare Agency Joins Gyde, Combining Proven Expertise with AI-Enabled Operational Support to Accelerate Growth

Gyde, the next-generation, AI-native brokerage platform, announced it has acquired Avid Health, the top-rated Medicare agency in Palm Beach, FL. Gyde is empowering a new generation of elite brokers to serve as comprehensive, trusted guides across insurance, wealth, and health. The company combines advanced AI technology with experienced operating teams to help top agencies like Avid Health deliver higher-quality advice, deepen client relationships, and grow lifetime value at scale.

This news marks the company’s first partner announcement since Gyde’s recent public launch with $60 million in funding led by Lightspeed. Avid Health has spent years helping Medicare beneficiaries, especially those aging into Medicare, navigate the complexity of Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Part D coverage. Their licensed agents deliver personalized, ongoing guidance across the full arc of a client’s Medicare journey—from initial plan selection through annual reviews—with an emphasis on education, access, and trusted relationships built over time. They offer a wide range of additional products to serve clients’ insurance, wealth, and health needs.

“Avid Health represents exactly the kind of agency we built Gyde to partner with,” said Will Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO at Gyde. “They’ve spent years earning the trust of Medicare beneficiaries through genuine expertise and consistent service. Our job is to give their team the infrastructure and tools to grow faster without changing what makes them exceptional. We remain bullish on the future of the Medicare market and look forward to partnering with leading agencies like Avid Health.”

As part of the acquisition, Avid Health’s brokers gain access to Gyde’s proprietary platform, including GydeOS and Gia. GydeOS is Gyde’s broker-facing operating system, giving agents the tools to dramatically grow their book of business, identifying coverage gaps and cross-sell opportunities that strengthen retention and meet important health and financial needs. Gia, Gyde’s intelligent assistant, works alongside brokers by proactively reaching out to clients via SMS and voice to deliver timely reminders and coverage updates, scheduling appointments, and answering routine questions on the broker’s behalf.

“I have watched Will and Sam work over the past two years, and from our first conversation, I knew this team was different. They’re sharp, forward-thinking, and have a clear track record of building and scaling businesses the right way, which I’ve witnessed firsthand. What really stood out to me was their grasp on the numbers—not just financial projections, but how to turn strategy into real growth. More than anything, I trusted their vision and felt aligned with the way they move: fast, focused, and with purpose,” said Gerrick Diaz, Founder of Avid Health.

The acquisition reflects Gyde’s conviction that Medicare Advantage remains a critical product for seniors and commitment to support the brokers who serve this market in novel, previously unprecedented ways…

Full release here, originally announced April 2nd, 2026.



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Thursday, April 9, 2026

< + > A Bold CMS Prediction, Behavioral Science, and What You Missed at RISE National 2026

I have to admit, it took me until 2026 to finally make it to a RISE event. I’ve had the RISE National conference on my radar for years, but the timing just never worked out.

Let me tell you, I’ve been missing out.

If you have customers that are payers or health plans (or if you want to), this is a conference you need on your calendar. Why? Because this conference is an excellent place to learn about the latest challenges facing this part of the healthcare ecosystem, first-hand. The keynote sessions were informative (no fluff) and the exhibit hall had a diverse set of exhibitors, each addressing key problems.

The discussions were so compelling, in fact, that I ended up skipping most of the educational sessions just to keep learning from the exhibitors. I was fascinated by:

  • Nudging behavior: Using behavioral science to actually change patient habits, rather than just blasting reminders.
  • Unlocking data: Making clinical data interoperable and instantly actionable for both payers and providers.
  • Targeting bottlenecks: Applying AI strategically to fix broken workflows instead of just chasing the latest trend.

Want to know what you missed and whether this conference is for you? Check out the video below for the full rundown and my on-site interviews with AdhereHealth, RAAPID, MRO, InterSystems, ELLKAY, Hallmark, and Surescripts.

Here is a quick look at the top trends and biggest surprises from the show floor.

The CMS AI Prediction That Turned Heads

I’ve never been to a healthcare conference with an opening keynote from the Department of Justice, but it’s understandable give that the DOJ is cracking down hard on healthcare fraud.

However, the real showstopper for me was Abe Sutton, Director of the CMS Innovation Center. Amidst heavy talk about data collection and model viability, he made a throwaway statement about the future of AI in Healthcare that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

In Sutton’s view, the 20th century saw an explosion of healthcare specialists because there was simply too much medical knowledge for one human to hold. However, now that we are armed with AI’s pattern recognition and literature-scouring capabilities, he predicts we may see a massive reversal. Instead of getting the runaround to six different specialists to find a root cause, a patient in the future might only need to see two because more clinicians will have access to better medical knowledge in the tools they use.

It was a bold, thought-provoking vision for clinical care.

Behavioral Science Beats the “Drip Campaign”

We all know we should be healthier, but humans are irrational. We need nudges sometimes and other times we need something deeper to change our behavior. A theme at RISE National 2026 was the application of behavioral economics and behavioral science to healthcare.

Chandra Osborn from AdhereHealth shared a story that perfectly illustrated why cookie-cutter outreach fails. They had a member who was not keeping up with their medications. Consistent text message reminders didn’t work. Why? Because forgetting wasn’t the barrier. Through empathetic listening, they discovered she was overwhelmed caring for her sick mother. She lacked transportation and couldn’t afford food. Once the plan connected her with a food bank and set up home delivery for her pharmacy scripts, the member was able to stay on their medications and stay out of the ER.

Osborn made it clear – you can’t automate empathy.

The Most Surprising Exhibitor: Hallmark

Yes, that Hallmark. I walked by their booth a couple of times, and there was always a line.

It turns out they are heavily involved in the Medicare Advantage space, helping health plans with member engagement and gap closures. They shared a story about sending a simple birthday card to a plan members and how much of an impact that had on the member.

They also have a solution that allows center agents and front-line staff to send cards to members/patients: sympathy cards, cards with words of encouragement, celebratory cards, etc.

The team at Hallmark stressed to me the power of cards – how they can build trust and connection.

Should You Attend RISE National?

The short answer: Yes. Double-down on this one.

The RISE team ran an incredibly smooth event. The venue was amazing, the food was on point (thank you for the healthy snack stations!), and they thoughtfully included quiet spaces to take video calls. I also loved the charity give-back stations, where attendees could pack food bank bags or paint for local causes.

It is a highly targeted, nuanced conference. If you are selling into the payer space, you need to be here.

What Healthcare IT Leaders Are Asking

Who should attend the RISE National conference? If your organization targets payers or health plans, this is a must-attend event. The attendees are focused on risk adjustment, quality care gaps, and Medicare/Medicaid compliance.

What were the main themes at RISE 2026? Conversations heavily revolved around behavioral science and nudging, the integration of AI in both clinical care and coding defensibility, and the push to accelerate clinical data exchange. Moving upstream from legacy claims data to weaponizing clinical data was a major talking point.

How are payers using AI according to the conference? Payers and vendors are using AI to hyper-personalize member nudges based on behavioral science. They are also deploying AI to ensure coding accuracy – preventing both under-coding (leaving money on the table) and over-coding (which triggers DOJ and CMS compliance issues).

Learn more about RISE National at https://risehealth.org/



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< + > Bonus Features – April 12, 2026 – 67% of consumers say AI’s time savings will make providers more engaged, 27% of desktop devices in healthcare are unencrypted, plus 25 more stories

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features . This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product ...