Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Saturday, May 16, 2026
HIPAA Security Rule Overhaul Fate Uncertain as May 2026 Deadline Passes
The May 2026 deadline set by HHS's Office for Civil Rights for finalizing an overhaul of the 23-year-old HIPAA Security Rule is widely expected to be missed, security experts say. The proposed rule, published in January 2025, would eliminate the distinction between required and addressable specifications, mandating multifactor authentication, encryption, and network segmentation as firm requirements. OCR Director Paula Stannard has signaled openness to the update but faces the Trump administration's deregulatory stance and nearly 5,000 mostly-critical public comments. Experts now expect a delayed, narrower rule focusing on risk analysis and MFA while deferring more prescriptive requirements to later guidance.
Sources: GovInfoSecurity
CMS Launches Electronic Prior Authorization Initiative with 29 Early Adopters
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced May 13 that 29 healthcare organizations — including health systems, EHR developers, physician practices, and digital health companies — have joined its new Electronic Prior Authorization Acceleration initiative under the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem. Participants will work to integrate electronic prior authorization into clinical and administrative workflows, reduce fax- and portal-based processes, and improve authorization status visibility, ahead of binding 2027 requirements. Major EHR vendors including Epic are among the signatories. CMS also proposes requiring payers to incorporate FHIR-based APIs for drug prior authorizations by October 2027.
Sources: Healthcare Dive
Patient Files Class Action Against Sharp Healthcare Over Ambient AI Use Without Consent
A San Diego patient has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Sharp Healthcare alleging the health system used Abridge's ambient AI documentation tool to record his medical visit without consent. Patient Jose Saucedo claims that during a July 2025 routine physical at Sharp Rees-Stealy, no disclosure was made before his physician activated the audio-recording platform. The suit alleges more than 100,000 Sharp patients may have been recorded without authorization, violating California's all-party consent law. Plaintiffs seek a court order blocking ambient AI use without explicit consent and monetary damages. The lawsuit also claims Abridge incorrectly inserted consent statements into patients' medical charts.
Sources: MobiHealthNews
Physicians More Burned Out and Skeptical of AI Than Nurses, Elsevier Survey Finds
Physicians are experiencing higher burnout rates and greater skepticism toward artificial intelligence than nursing colleagues, according to Elsevier's Clinician of the Future 2026 report, based on surveys of more than 2,700 clinicians globally. While 57% of physicians reported frequently using AI versus 41% of nurses, doctors expressed more reservations about AI reliability in clinical settings. Nurses, often excluded from AI procurement and deployment decisions, showed greater openness to automation tools that reduce documentation burden. Elsevier recommends that health systems build inclusive AI governance structures that bring frontline nurses into tool selection, training, and implementation planning from the outset.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Rural Massachusetts Health System Charts Disciplined Path Through AI Adoption
Berkshire Health Systems, a rural western Massachusetts health system operating three hospitals and dozens of physician practices, is taking a disciplined approach to artificial intelligence by focusing on targeted pilots with measurable outcomes before any broader rollout. CIO William Young says every AI initiative must demonstrate concrete value — from time savings and throughput gains to error reduction and staff satisfaction — before it can expand. The organization is investing heavily in data quality infrastructure and change management, recognizing that workforce readiness matters as much as technology. Young is partnering with vendors on projects aimed at reducing administrative burdens and improving clinical workflows while keeping staff expectations realistic.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
California Health CXOs Cite Data Quality as Top Barrier to Interoperability
At the HIMSS SoCal Chapter's CXO Summit held at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California healthcare executives gathered to discuss connectivity strategies and persistent barriers to interoperability across the state's fragmented delivery system. A panel on CXO connectivity planning emphasized that poor data quality remains the primary obstacle to meaningful health information exchange — with participants cautioning that garbage data in means garbage data out, undermining even well-resourced initiatives. Leaders stressed the need for executive-level commitment, including CEO and COO involvement, and a culture of cross-organizational collaboration and shared learning rather than each system independently solving the same problems.
Sources: MobiHealthNews
Optura Raises $17.5M Series A to Help Health Systems Track Healthcare AI Return on Investment
Nashville-based Optura secured $17.5 million in Series A funding led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Echo Health Ventures, to expand its ROAI platform, which helps healthcare organizations measure and govern AI deployments. The round brings total funding to over $25 million. Optura's platform unifies organizational data, scores AI use cases against cost and readiness, deploys purpose-built AI agents, and tracks outcomes in real time. The investment reflects growing demand for AI governance infrastructure in healthcare, with executives confronting evidence that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to generate measurable value. More than $2 billion in healthcare AI initiatives have been analyzed on the platform.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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