Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Sunday, June 14, 2026
House Committee Votes to Block CMS AI Prior Authorization Pilot
The House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously in June 2026 to block funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) model, a pilot that uses artificial intelligence to apply prior authorization requirements to select traditional Medicare services. The model, which launched at the start of 2026 and is slated to run through 2031 across six states — Washington, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona — uses for-profit contractors equipped with AI tools to process authorization requests for services such as skin and tissue substitutes and epidural steroid injections. The defunding measure still requires passage by the full House and Senate before taking effect.
Sources: Healthcare Dive
Best in KLAS 2026: Epic Named Top Health System Suite for 16th Year
KLAS Research published its Best in KLAS 2026 report, spotlighting vendors demonstrating “positive disruption” and “tangible” technology improvements across the healthcare IT landscape. Epic topped the Overall Health System Suite category for the 16th consecutive year, reinforcing its dominant position in hospital-based electronic health records. The report evaluates vendor performance based on direct user feedback across segments including EHR, revenue cycle, ambulatory care, and analytics. Analysts noted that AI-enabled features and measurable workflow improvements have become key differentiators among top-ranked vendors, reflecting growing pressure on health systems to demonstrate clinical and operational returns from technology investments.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Hartford HealthCare Embeds PatientGPT as AI Front Door for Patients
Hartford HealthCare has integrated PatientGPT into its patient portal and clinical infrastructure, creating what health system leaders describe as a safer AI-powered front door for patients. The Connecticut health system is using the platform to deliver AI-driven health guidance while maintaining physician oversight, robust data governance, and continuity of care. Padmanabhan Premkumar, president of Hartford HealthCare Medical Group, said the initiative aims to apply artificial intelligence in ways that reduce administrative friction for patients without bypassing clinical decision-making. The deployment reflects a broader strategy among large health systems to harness AI for patient engagement while building governance frameworks that protect safety and accountability.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Elsevier, athenahealth and PointClickCare Ramp Agentic AI Integrations
Elsevier, athenahealth and PointClickCare are accelerating agentic AI integration across their electronic health record and revenue cycle platforms, according to a new vendor notebook from Healthcare IT News. Agentic AI systems can autonomously execute multi-step clinical and administrative tasks, reducing manual workflows for clinicians and billing staff. Separately, Epic, Elation Health and Glooko are activating high-priority AI integrations with specialty partners, while Enzo Health has launched an AI-native EHR platform built specifically for home health workflows. The moves reflect intensifying vendor competition to deliver measurable automation benefits as health systems demand concrete return on investment from AI investments in their core clinical systems.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
CAQH Rebrands as DataSpring at AHIP 2026 in Las Vegas
CAQH, the healthcare data organization founded more than 25 years ago to improve administrative efficiency, rebranded as DataSpring at the AHIP 2026 annual conference in Las Vegas. CEO Sarah Ahmad said the new name reflects the organization’s evolution toward a more innovative identity, describing it as a “fresh water spring” concept paired with “springing forward” into healthcare’s next era. DataSpring holds 4.8 million provider-sourced records and links eligibility data across more than three-quarters of covered lives in the United States. Despite CAQH’s recent transition away from nonprofit status, Ahmad said the rebrand is not tied to that change. New solutions are planned for release in coming months.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
DiMe Coalition to Standardize Virtual Care Discovery and Reimbursement
The Digital Medicine Society is co-leading a coalition of healthcare industry partners to develop a standardized operational framework designed to ensure virtual care providers are discoverable and reimbursable within 90 days of contract execution. The initiative targets a persistent barrier to telehealth growth: inconsistent pricing and contracting standards that make it difficult for patients to compare virtual care costs and for payers to efficiently integrate telehealth providers into their networks. The framework aligns with broader federal efforts to advance price transparency across healthcare services. Participating organizations are expected to detail the framework’s components and timeline in the coming weeks, according to Healthcare IT News.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Oracle Among Tech Companies Extending Healthcare IT Layoff Trend in Mid-2026
Oracle is among the technology companies continuing to reduce headcount in mid-2026, extending a broader tech sector layoff trend that is reshaping the healthcare IT workforce landscape. The cuts follow aggressive hiring during the pandemic era and are prompting health systems to reassess vendor relationships and internal staffing strategies. Demand for AI-capable IT professionals is rising within healthcare organizations, while instability at large technology vendors creates uncertainty around long-term platform support. Healthcare IT executives are tracking the trend closely as vendors with significant healthcare divisions reduce both technical staff and implementation resources.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Health Systems Race to Control Rising Costs of AI Investments
Health systems across the United States are intensifying their scrutiny of artificial intelligence investments as AI-related costs accelerate faster than projected returns, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Organizations are narrowing from broad experimentation to targeted pilots focused on the use cases with the strongest return on investment, including revenue cycle automation, clinical documentation, and administrative efficiency. Many are purchasing enterprise-wide AI accounts and encouraging structured experimentation before committing to full-scale deployments. The trend reflects a maturing phase in healthcare AI adoption, as early enthusiasm gives way to discipline around measurement, governance, and demonstrable outcomes from technology spending.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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