Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Thursday, June 11, 2026
GAO: DoD and VA Must Improve EHR Cybersecurity Coordination
The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to strengthen cybersecurity coordination for their joint federal electronic health record. A GAO report found that the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization office, which oversees the shared system used by more than 200,000 healthcare providers, does not fully follow leading interagency collaboration practices. The Joint Incident Management Framework had not been completed as of April 2026. The GAO recommends both agencies define common cybersecurity goals and performance measures to reduce risk across a system serving millions of veterans and active-duty service members.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Why Oncology Is Becoming Healthcare AI's Toughest Proving Ground
Cancer care is emerging as the domain where enterprise AI either proves itself or fails, according to Dr. Theepa Dinis of clinical NLP company emtelligent. Dinis says oncology “puts more pressure on AI than almost any other area of medicine” because of its data complexity and high-stakes decision environment. She warns that cancer care exposes data governance gaps that “may determine success or failure for enterprise AI,” and that AI hallucinations in pharmacovigilance could “send the whole system chasing the wrong problem.” Health systems deploying AI in oncology workflows must treat data quality as a prerequisite, not an afterthought.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
EHR Vendors Accelerate Agentic AI: Elsevier, athenahealth, PointClickCare
A cluster of agentic AI integrations is reshaping the EHR market. Elsevier acquired Wellsheet, a clinical workflow platform deployed at 139 U.S. hospitals. Athenahealth added more than 80 AI features to AthenaOne, reporting a 30 percent increase in recovered payments. PointClickCare launched Billing Advisor for skilled nursing facilities. Enzo Health debuted an AI-native EHR for home health providers, while Elation Health acquired Aster to add women's health voice AI. Glooko also completed an integration connecting insulin pump data directly into participating EHR systems, extending continuous glucose management into clinical workflows.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Virtual-First Care Requires Shared Clinical and IT Governance, Leaders Say
Health systems building virtual-first care models must treat clinical and IT leadership as equal partners with shared governance structures and common metrics, according to Amy Lukowski, vice president of operations at Ovatient. Founded by MetroHealth and MUSC Health, Ovatient operates an EHR-integrated virtual practice connecting patients to a broader care continuum. Lukowski argues virtual urgent care is “table-stakes” for competing against national telehealth providers and retail clinics, but only delivers durable value when integrated with primary care and behavioral health. “There is no wrong door for patients to enter and be seen,” she said.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Stanford's AI Discharge Summary Tool Reduces Physician Burnout in Pilot
Stanford Health Care piloted MedAgentBrief, an AI agent that generates hospital discharge summaries, finding strong clinician adoption and measurable reductions in burnout. Developed at Stanford Medicine and deployed at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California, the tool delivered AI-drafted summaries each morning to 11 hospitalist physicians over 10 weeks. A study published in JAMA Network Open found omissions in 25 percent of reviewed summaries and inaccuracies in 20 percent, with hallucinations rare at 2 percent. Time savings averaged about three minutes per patient, though physicians estimated saving more than 10 minutes through reduced cognitive effort.
Sources: Becker's Hospital Review
Charta Health Joins Athenahealth Marketplace with AI-Powered Chart Audits
Charta Health, an AI chart review platform, has joined the Athenahealth marketplace, integrating directly with AthenaOne to automate pre-billing audits across every patient encounter. The San Francisco-based company says its platform increases revenue by an average of 11 percent by catching coding errors, undercoding, and payer-specific compliance gaps before claims are submitted. Unlike sample-based manual review, Charta covers 100 percent of encounters across five capabilities: autonomous coding, revenue discovery, payer compliance, clinical quality measure tracking, and provider performance feedback. CEO Justin Liu said the integration lets practices access the tool “directly within the workflow they already use every day.”
Sources: Becker's Hospital Review
AMN Healthcare Acquires Jaide Health to Expand AI Language Services
AMN Healthcare has acquired Jaide Health, an AI-enabled medical interpretation and translation platform, to extend language access services for limited English proficiency patients across the full care journey. The deal expands AMN's capabilities beyond clinical encounters — where credentialed human interpreters remain the standard — into administrative touchpoints including patient intake, discharge instructions, and routine written communications. Jaide Health is already deployed across multiple healthcare settings and its team will join AMN Healthcare. CEO Cary Grace said the acquisition helps health systems “deliver a more seamless experience for patients and care teams” while preserving reliance on qualified interpreters for high-stakes clinical interactions.
Sources: Becker's Hospital Review
Jackson Hospital in Alabama Reports Network Security Incident
Montgomery, Alabama-based Jackson Hospital disclosed a network security incident detected June 8, 2026, involving suspicious activity in its computer systems. Third-party cybersecurity and digital forensic specialists are investigating the event, which the hospital says appears limited in scope with no data loss. Patient care operations have not been affected, and the hospital plans to share additional details as the investigation proceeds. Jackson Hospital, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2025, is simultaneously contending with a reimbursement dispute with BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama. Its CEO has warned of possible closure if BCBS does not raise its reimbursement rates.
Sources: Becker's Hospital Review
Curated by JD · samwise.agency