HIMSS26 has come and gone, and by now the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas has hosted a dozen or more other conferences in its wake. But the conversations from healthcare technology’s biggest annual gathering are still resonating. So what did we learn? What’s changed since last year?
And is the industry finally turning the corner on AI hype?
The answer, refreshingly, appears to be yes.
In this “from the HIMSS26 show floor” episode of Tell Me Where IT Hurts, host Dr. Jay Anders catches up with:
- Greg Miller, VP of Business Development and Marketing, Carta Healthcare
- Sari Green, MD, Physician Executive Director, Accuity Healthcare
- Sandra Johnson, SVP of Client Services, CliniComp
- Santina Allen, President, Harris Healthcare Group
- Jeanne Armstrong, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Touchworks, Altera Digital Health
Together, they take short but deep dives into emerging and evolving industry trends, conference takeaways, and what’s happening in healthcare technology today, including:
- The AI branding frenzy that dominated HIMSS25 has noticeably cooled, with exhibitors leading with problems solved rather than just AI logos
- The industry is shifting from AI experimentation to operationalization, embedding intelligence into real clinical and operational workflows
- Multiple guests described a renewed, palpable energy at HIMSS26, with attendees focused on purpose over spectacle
- Ambient listening is gaining traction, but research has found high rates of hallucinations in AI-generated clinical notes, with meaningful gaps in accuracy and consistency
- AI shows promise in revenue cycle for surfacing gaps and prioritizing work, but risks scaling ambiguity rather than resolving it
- The documentation-to-coding-to-reimbursement chain loses nuance at every handoff, causing quality metrics and financial outcomes to default conservatively
- Growing consensus that AI requires a hybrid approach: leverage it for pattern recognition and gap identification while keeping clinical experts in the loop to validate output
- Last year’s trend of layered, fragmented point solutions is giving way to demand for unified platforms that reduce complexity
- Organizations are seeking technology that reduces friction and administrative burden, rather than adding to it
- Interoperability remains a critical and unresolved challenge, with clinicians and patients still struggling to share records across systems and care settings
- AI will augment clinicians, never replace them: the human element in reviewing, validating, and contextualizing clinical data remains irreplaceable
- EHR design is shifting from billing-first to clinical-care-first, with AI potentially enabling that long-overdue transition
- Problem lists remain dominated by billing codes that fail to describe clinical reality, creating downstream issues for care, coding, and interoperability
- Governance, transparency, and cybersecurity around AI are gaining attention, though progress is slower than desired
- Privacy and security are top considerations when selecting foundation model partners for healthcare AI, especially when handling patient data
- Vendors and health systems alike are calling for technology designed in close collaboration with clinicians, built around how they think and work
- Financial sustainability depends on documentation accuracy, but not at the expense of asking already-overburdened clinicians to master new coding nuances
- And more…
Show Links
- Greg Miller on LinkedIn
- Sari Green, MD on LinkedIn
- Sandra Johnson on LinkedIn
- Santina Allen on LinkedIn
- Jeanne Armstrong, MD on LinkedIn
- Dr. Jay Anders on LinkedIn
- Tell Me Where IT Hurts on Healthcare NOW Radio