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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