Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Monday, June 8, 2026
Microsoft and Mayo Clinic Partner to Build Frontier AI Model for Healthcare
Microsoft and Mayo Clinic announced a strategic collaboration to develop a frontier artificial intelligence model for healthcare, combining Mayo Clinic’s de-identified clinical data with Microsoft’s AI and cloud engineering capabilities. The model is designed to support clinical reasoning across a broad range of use cases, including earlier diagnoses and personalized treatment decisions. Mayo Clinic will own the model and deploy it internally first, where it will be tested and refined through real-world clinical use. Microsoft plans to make the model available through Azure Foundry APIs, extending access to other organizations. The partnership reflects growing momentum among health systems and tech giants to develop healthcare-specific foundation models.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Trump Signs AI Cybersecurity Order Extending Protections to Rural Hospitals
President Trump signed an executive order titled Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security on June 2, directing federal agencies to expand AI-powered cybersecurity defenses. The order specifically instructs the Homeland Security Secretary to extend cybersecurity tools and services to rural hospitals and other critical infrastructure within 30 days. The order also establishes an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse, developed in collaboration with the AI industry, to coordinate software vulnerability scanning and help prioritize patch remediation across sectors. While the order makes only brief reference to healthcare explicitly, health sector security leaders say the rural hospital provisions represent a meaningful step toward closing long-standing cybersecurity resource gaps.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Joint Commission Launches Voluntary AI Responsibility Certification for Health Organizations
The Joint Commission launched its Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare certification on June 1, creating a voluntary program recognizing hospitals and health systems that demonstrate appropriate governance, monitoring, and staff education for AI tools. The certification does not validate individual AI products, but assesses the processes organizations have in place to deploy AI safely and ethically. Any healthcare organization may apply, regardless of whether it holds Joint Commission accreditation. The accreditor cited an American Medical Association survey finding that 81 percent of physicians now use AI in clinical practice, up from 66 percent in 2024, as evidence of the urgent need for universal AI responsibility standards.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
HSCC Releases Cybersecurity Governance Guide Tailored to Healthcare AI Systems
The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center’s Cybersecurity Working Group released a Healthcare AI Cybersecurity Governance Framework Implementation Guide in June, providing hospitals with a how-to playbook for managing AI-specific security risks. The guide addresses threats including data poisoning, adversarial attacks on imaging AI, and model hallucinations that could lead to incorrect diagnoses or drug recommendations. It also covers third-party AI vendor risk, model drift, and governance challenges tied to agentic and generative AI systems. HSCC noted that sensitive patient information could be exposed by publicly accessible AI chatbots, making proactive governance essential as health systems accelerate AI adoption across clinical and administrative workflows.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
White House and CMS Launch Health Tech Ecosystem Initiative with 60 Tech Giants
The White House and CMS announced the Health Tech Ecosystem Initiative on June 3, a voluntary public-private partnership securing commitments from 60 healthcare technology organizations including Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Google, and OpenAI to expand digital health access and interoperability. CMS said it will begin sharing Blue Button Medicare claims data through CMS-Aligned Networks as early as the first quarter of 2026, enabling patients to access their data using modern identity solutions without per-site account credentials. The initiative builds on the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, and participants are preparing for initial ecosystem releases. Future phases include AI-powered care navigation tools and upgrades to the Medicare Plan Finder.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
VA Defends Oracle EHR Amid Persistent Glitch Reports as 2026 Rollouts Resume
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs responded to reports of ongoing glitches with its Oracle Health electronic health record system as it prepares to expand deployments to Ohio and Kentucky facilities in June, with Indiana sites planned for August and Alaska and Cleveland following in October. VA officials acknowledged persistent issues including notes disappearing from patient records, prescriptions displaying incorrect dosages, and data anomalies that have raised safety concerns among clinical staff. Labor groups representing VA clinicians told lawmakers that problems at newly deployed sites mirror unresolved issues reported since 2020. The agency has requested a 25 percent EHR budget increase for fiscal year 2027.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Health Catalyst Sells Vitalware Revenue Cycle Business to Med-Metrix for $147M
Health Catalyst announced June 4 that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Vitalware mid-revenue cycle business to Med-Metrix for $147 million in cash. Vitalware was acquired by Health Catalyst in 2020 for $120 million. The divestiture is expected to sharpen Health Catalyst’s focus on its core data platform and AI investments targeting cost, clinical, and consumer performance improvement. Health Catalyst said the transaction will strengthen its balance sheet and provide financial flexibility to prioritize technology development. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Garner Health Raises $100M Series E, Valuation Reaches $2.74 Billion
Care navigation startup Garner Health raised $100 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total valuation to $2.74 billion, just three months after completing a $118 million Series D round. Index Ventures led the latest round, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint, Thrive, Sequoia, Founders Fund, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Garner, which serves nearly 800 employer organizations covering 2.5 million members, uses AI-powered data to match employees with high-quality providers, and says its clients see an average 12 percent annual reduction in healthcare spending. The fresh capital will fund expansion of its provider quality platform and scale AI-powered product development.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.