Strategic Planning
According to Clearwater's Jackie Mattingly, sustainable cybersecurity funding for rural hospitals remains elusive, with many states allocating little to no Rural Health Transformation Program money to security.
Emerging Technologies
Alexander Richter, executive director and head of the SciTech Innovation Hub at SciTech Scity, which recently won the World Economic Forum's 2025 Public-Private Collaboration Award, discusses the selection process for piloting and scaling health tech.
Tom Gillette, CIO at Miami Beach-based Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Erich Glasbrenner, the health system's chief nursing informatics officer, are focused on transforming patient access and experience in the year ahead.
Lakewood Health System's Jim Roeder says building regional alliances enables rural hospitals to share expertise, strengthen defenses and keep care available when cyber incidents happen.
Teresa Cope, Manx Care CEO, discusses the Isle of Man's 2026 Innovation Challenge that seeks tools that address the island's health system's needs, including improving access and efficiency for a small, geographically distinct population.
AION Labs CEO, Mati Gill, discusses the company’s extensive backing from pharma and tech giants to build AI startups, and how AION is looking beyond AI to explore quantum technologies for research and development in drug discovery.
Eric Jimenez, Artesia General Hospital CIO, says the hospital first deployed AI to protect its network after a cyber incident. It expanded to ambient listening and is now seeking to use AI for clinical applications.
Clinician innovators across the region see the next phase of healthcare AI focusing on trust and responsible adoption after a year of rapid experimentation.
While HIMSS Media editors anticipate that AI will be used in every layer of healthcare's tech stack in 2026, they stress that governance and human oversight are essential to ensure AI works safely at scale.
Sallie Gustafson, Murj's director of medical affairs, says Emory used smart remote monitoring technology that integrates with EHR systems to increase billable remote cardiac services by 52% despite minimal patient growth.