Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Kyndryl to Acquire Healthcare IT Leaders in Full-Stack Healthcare Services Push
Kyndryl announced plans to acquire Healthcare IT Leaders, a specialized consulting and managed services firm serving hospitals and health systems. The deal will expand Kyndryl’s portfolio of healthcare IT delivery capabilities, enabling the global infrastructure firm to offer full-stack services from underlying systems through clinical applications. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Kyndryl’s fiscal year 2027. The acquisition reflects continued consolidation among enterprise IT service providers seeking to deepen their healthcare vertical expertise as health systems pursue unified technology partnerships for complex digital transformation programs.
Source: Healthcare IT News
Ransomware Breach at Health IT Vendor Now Affects 3.8 Million Patients
Unlimited Technology Systems, an Ohio-based health IT vendor, has updated its federal breach disclosure to report that a ransomware attack discovered in October 2025 compromised the records of approximately 3.8 million patients — a figure nearly nine times its initial estimate of 442,000. The attack targeted the company’s g4-Centricity for Vector health IT platform. The revised disclosure, submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services, places the incident among the largest healthcare data breaches of the year. The case illustrates the difficulty vendors face in fully assessing the scope of a ransomware attack during active incident response.
Source: Becker’s Hospital Review
Clover Health Faces Four Class-Action Suits Over Medicare Data Breach
Clover Health is facing four class-action lawsuits filed between July 22 and July 24, following a data breach that exposed the records of approximately 157,309 Medicare Advantage members. The breach originated from a social engineering attack on July 4 that granted unauthorized access to employee accounts. Plaintiffs allege Clover failed to adequately protect sensitive member data and delayed notifying affected individuals. The litigation follows the insurer’s second-quarter earnings report showing net income of $28 million. The lawsuits add to mounting legal pressure on health insurers whose data security practices have drawn scrutiny after major breach incidents.
Source: Healthcare Finance News
AnMed Hit With Data Theft Claim as Ransomware Group Seizes Social Media Accounts
A ransomware group calling itself ‘The Gentlemen’ claimed to have stolen six terabytes of data from South Carolina-based AnMed, compounding an ongoing cybersecurity incident at the regional health system. AnMed detected malware on its network on July 26, forcing shutdowns across 10 of its facilities. The group posted its data theft claim on August 11 after gaining unauthorized access to AnMed’s social media accounts. AnMed has not confirmed a breach, stating only that it identified suspicious activity on its network. The incident is one of several large ransomware events disrupting regional hospital operations this summer.
Source: Becker’s Hospital Review
Atlantic Health and K Health Launch PatientGPT Inside Epic MyChart
Atlantic Health System and K Health have launched PatientGPT, an artificial intelligence clinical assistant integrated directly with Epic’s MyChart patient portal. The tool draws on each patient’s individual medical records to personalize its clinical guidance, aiming to extend care access beyond traditional office visits. Atlantic Health is piloting the product in New Jersey, initially targeting patients facing extended appointment wait times. The collaboration reflects a growing trend of health systems embedding AI tools within established patient-facing platforms rather than deploying standalone applications, with integrated clinical data cited as a key factor in personalizing AI-driven health interactions.
Source: MobiHealthNews
Lurie Children’s Locks AI Models Before Deployment Under New Governance Framework
Chicago-based Lurie Children’s Hospital has built an AI governance framework — called ‘AI Trust by Design’ — that requires locking AI models, prompts, and outputs before any clinical use, according to chief data and AI officer Rajiv Kolagani. Validation involves comparing outputs from two separately run AI models, treating agreement as a confidence signal, alongside clinician review of complex patient records. Two tools are advancing toward scaled deployment: Intelligent Chart Assist for infection surveillance and Flight Plan for long-stay cardiology patients. Lurie Children’s has also scheduled an enterprise-wide AI summit for August 27, with more than 200 employees registered to attend in person.
Source: Becker’s Hospital Review
Novo Nordisk and AWS Open London AI Drug Discovery Hub
Novo Nordisk and Amazon Web Services have established a co-innovation hub in London focused on accelerating pharmaceutical drug discovery using artificial intelligence. The hub will harness Amazon Bio Discovery and Amazon Bedrock for scientific workloads, and Novo Nordisk has named AWS as its preferred cloud provider and strategic AI partner. The collaboration aims to apply large language models and other AI tools to molecular biology and therapeutic development pipelines, with the goal of compressing timelines from discovery through candidate selection. The deal positions AWS as a central infrastructure provider for pharmaceutical AI amid intensifying competition in the life sciences cloud services market.
Source: MobiHealthNews
CMS Establishes RAPID Pathway for Same-Day Coverage of FDA Breakthrough Devices
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a formal notice establishing the RAPID pathway — Reducing Administrative Pathways for Innovative Devices — which grants same-day national coverage determinations to medical devices that receive FDA Breakthrough Device designation and market authorization. The policy eliminates a multi-year coverage gap that has historically delayed patient access to approved breakthrough technologies under Medicare. CMS opened a 60-day public comment period to shape final implementation. The change responds to longstanding pressure from industry groups and patient advocates to synchronize CMS coverage timelines with FDA approval decisions for implantable and diagnostic devices with demonstrated clinical superiority.
Source: Healthcare Finance News
Sequoia Project Names 19-Member TEFCA Governing Council
The Sequoia Project, which serves as the Recognized Coordinating Entity for the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, has published an updated TEFCA Governing Council roster comprising 19 representatives from health systems, health information networks, technology vendors, and federal agencies. The council advises the Sequoia Project on TEFCA policies, dispute resolution, and strategic direction, replacing the body’s earlier Transitional Council. Stanford Health Care’s Matthew Eisenberg, MD, chairs the governing council; John Blair III, MD, CEO of MedAllies, serves as vice chair. Members include representatives from Epic Nexus, eClinicalWorks, CommonWell, Surescripts, Athenahealth, and the Social Security Administration.
Source: Becker’s Hospital Review
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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