Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Saturday, June 27, 2026
TEFCA Network Hits One Billion Health Records Exchanged, ONC Strengthens Oversight
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced that the TEFCA network — the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement — has surpassed one billion health records exchanged, up from just 10 million a year ago. To support continued growth, ONC awarded a new oversight contract to verify that Qualified Health Information Networks comply with required policies and procedures; the agency is also conducting additional reviews of QHINs and their participants. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called secure access to health records "a fundamental right," while National Coordinator Thomas Keane declared that "exchange across the TEFCA network is just getting started."
HHS Reveals AI Governance Priorities After Sweeping Request for Information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held a public webinar Thursday laying out key takeaways from its sweeping AI request for information, revealing what healthcare organizations say they need most from federal regulators. The sector's top three asks: cross-agency coordination within HHS, practical implementation and governance support, and better tools for evaluating clinical AI products. "Trust in this technology is the only thing that will lead to responsible, but also effective, adoption," said Arman Sharma, HHS deputy chief AI officer. Meanwhile, ARPA-H is building AI agents to autonomously manage cardiovascular disease care, and the FDA is developing lifecycle-based AI regulation frameworks.
Sources: Healthcare Dive Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Pope Leo XIV's AI Encyclical Offers Governance Blueprint for Healthcare Leaders
Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, has implications extending well beyond faith-based health systems, according to legal experts at Epstein Becker Green writing in Fierce Healthcare. Attorneys Greg Krabacher and Jim Flynn identify three key takeaways for healthcare leaders: a governance-first, deliberative posture toward AI adoption; rigorous auditing of AI tools for bias, discrimination, and privacy risks; and ensuring human dignity remains central to care delivery. The 42,000-word encyclical cautions that those who design AI systems inherently impose their own moral code, obligating healthcare organizations to actively confirm alignment with institutional values before deployment.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Innovaccer Signs Multi-Year AI Collaboration with AWS to Scale Agentic Healthcare Deployments
Health AI company Innovaccer has signed a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services to help health systems and payers deploy agentic AI solutions at production scale. The partnership targets what Innovaccer CEO Abhinav Shashank calls healthcare's "production problem, not an innovation problem" — organizations have AI pilots in place but lack the infrastructure to run agents reliably, securely, and at enterprise scale. Through the agreement, Innovaccer will scale agentic AI workloads on AWS cloud infrastructure and expand go-to-market reach through the AWS Marketplace. The companies also announced co-investment in customer success programs to support health system deployments.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Houston Methodist Launches AI Nutrition Screening That Monitors Every Inpatient Daily
Houston Methodist has deployed HealthLeap's AI-driven clinical screening platform to identify patients at risk of inadequate nutrition across its inpatient population. The system screens 100% of inpatients daily throughout the entire care journey, enabling continuous monitoring that supports earlier interventions and potentially shorter hospital stays. "By incorporating advanced screening tools into the clinical workflow, we can help care teams recognize risk earlier, intervene sooner, and support more timely recovery for patients," said Michelle Stansbury, Houston Methodist associate chief innovation officer and VP of IT applications. The deployment is designed to reduce complications, prevent avoidable care delays, and support shorter hospital stays, the company said.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Invoca Launches Nico AI Agent to Convert Patient Inquiries Into Appointments
AI platform Invoca has launched Nico, a healthcare patient engagement AI agent designed to convert patient inquiries into appointments across voice, web forms, and digital advertising channels. Cleveland-based University Hospitals was among the first to implement the tool, reporting that Nico recovered 25 appointments during its first night of operation. When a patient texted from inside the hospital requesting help, the agent — though it wasn't scripted for this scenario — correctly directed the patient to find a staff member. "It's an impressive use case," said Matt Eaves, University Hospitals VP of digital marketing. Nico is available via Invoca's AI Messaging Agent and in beta with its AI Voice Agent.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Assort Health Reaches Unicorn Status with $120M Series C for Agentic Patient Journey AI
Assort Health has raised $120 million in Series C funding led by Menlo Ventures, reaching a $1.2 billion valuation and entering unicorn status. The total brings the company's overall fundraising to more than $222 million. Co-founded and co-led by Jeffery Liu and Jon Wang, Assort offers AI agents for scheduling, intake, referrals, lab requests, and revenue cycle management, built on more than 190 million patient interactions. The company is expanding from its voice AI patient access platform into an "agentic operating system" for the full patient journey, anchored by a feature called Patient Journey Memory. John Muir Health is among the health systems partnering with Assort for ambulatory operations.
Sources: MobiHealthNews Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Trase Lands $107M Seed Round to Scale AI Agents Across Healthcare and High-Stakes Industries
Trase, a Virginia-based company building AI agents for high-stakes environments, has secured $107 million in seed funding led by ARCH Venture Partners, with Red Cell Partners also participating. Trase's flagship product, Trase Origin, is an agentic AI operating system for healthcare, government, and enterprise use, powering purpose-built agents for patient access, clinical research, care management, and revenue cycle workflows. "Agents are handling the onerous, immutable tasks that bog down highly trained individuals," said CEO Grant Verstandig, noting that Trase aims to make healthcare "cheaper, faster and better." Duke University's Heart Center has deployed Trase agents to automate high-volume fax triage workflows.
Sources: MobiHealthNews Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Curated by JD · samwise.agency