Samwise Healthcare IT Newsletter
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Tech Firms Pressed CMS for Easier Records Access in 1,700-Member Slack Workspace
Technology companies and investors have been communicating directly with federal health officials through a CMS-run Slack workspace, according to an Oct. 9 KFF Health News investigation. The workspace, created in August 2025, has grown to about 1,700 members, including representatives of AI companies, digital health startups and investment firms; KFF found only a handful of patient advocates, physicians and hospital representatives. Vendors pushed for apps to access patient records more easily through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, some favoring a one-time consent model. A former FDA attorney said the workspace shared some characteristics of a federal advisory committee. CMS declined to answer several of KFF’s questions.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Oracle Health’s 2025 Cerner Breach Compromised Data of Nearly 20 Million People
A 2025 data breach of Oracle Health’s legacy Cerner system compromised personal information belonging to nearly 20 million people, Fierce Healthcare reported, citing a Bloomberg report based on information released by the Texas attorney general. The attorney general’s Oct. 2 report said Social Security numbers, addresses and medical information of almost 20 million people, including about 3 million Texans, were compromised. Oracle Health has not publicly disclosed the total number of individuals affected. The original notice said an unauthorized individual gained access to the servers on Jan. 22, 2025. Twenty-nine class actions were consolidated into one Missouri case, which a federal judge allowed to move forward in June.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Vandalia Health to Replace 27 EHRs with a Single Epic Instance
Charleston, W.Va.-based Vandalia Health is moving its 16 hospitals and more than 220 ambulatory sites onto Epic, consolidating an EHR footprint that swelled to 27 systems during four years of rapid growth. CIO Daniel Stross told Becker’s the system expects to sign its Epic contract in October, with every hospital and clinic going live on the same day in fall 2028. Ten of the 16 hospitals run on three separate instances of Oracle Health, whose contract was approaching expiration. Stross said the analysis showed a seven-year payback on the undisclosed investment. Vandalia plans to offer the MyChart patient portal starting in 2028.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Mount Sinai Study: Safety Prompts Cut Harmful AI Clinical Choices in 19 of 20 Models
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that adding a brief safety reminder to prompts reduced potentially harmful clinical choices in 19 of 20 large language models tested. The study, published Sept. 26 in Communications Medicine, analyzed more than 10 million AI responses across 501 variations of 50 clinical scenarios, plus 100 cases adapted from deidentified hospital discharge records. Without the reminder, 16.6% of responses were potentially harmful; with it, 10.1%. In one scenario, a model was told to skip recommended follow-up blood tests to reduce workload. Researchers recommend building automated safety testing into clinical AI evaluation before deployment and after model updates.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Houston Methodist Measures a 7% Surgical Volume Gain with AI
Houston Methodist has documented a 7% increase in surgical case volume in its 15-room cardiothoracic suite using image-based AI from vendor Apella, Healthcare IT News reported. Rather than a simple before-and-after comparison, staff built a synthetic control: a virtual twin drawn from other Houston Methodist operating room sites that had not implemented the technology. Compared with it, the suite completed approximately 25 additional cases per month over the following 10 months. Case mix remained stable and operative minutes did not decrease, but turnover times fell. Roberta Schwartz, executive vice president and chief innovation officer, said the platform added visibility into events not routinely documented in the EHR.
Sources: Healthcare IT News
Utah Widens AI Prescribing Experiment to New Prescriptions and Health System Pilots
Utah’s experiment letting AI handle part of a physician’s job grew considerably this month, Becker’s reported Oct. 9. On Oct. 5, the state Commerce Department added a healthcare pillar to its Pro-Human AI Initiative and approved five new agreements. One lets Nolla Health’s AI issue initial acne prescriptions without a physician visit; the company says it is the first in the U.S. cleared for AI to write new prescriptions. August AI won approval for a chronic-medication renewal pilot, and Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health received expedited review pathways for future AI pilots. Six independent evaluators will assess companies’ technical claims.
Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review
Elsevier Launches ClinicalKey Nursing AI, a Clinical AI Tool Built for Nurses
Elsevier launched ClinicalKey Nursing AI, a clinical AI tool built specifically for nurses and nursing workflows, Fierce Healthcare reported. The tool lets nurses ask clinical questions in natural language about procedures, medications and discharge planning, with clear citations to Elsevier and nursing sources. According to Elsevier’s Clinician of the Future 2026: Nurses Edition report, only 41% of nurses use AI for work compared with 57% of doctors. In a four-week trial with 96 registered nurses across the U.S., 94% said it increased their confidence in clinical decision-making and 73% reported time savings during their shift. Elsevier says its nursing solutions are trusted by over 2,800 hospitals globally.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
Nextech Partners with Assort Health and EliseAI to Embed Agentic AI in Its Specialty EHR
Nextech is partnering with Assort Health and EliseAI to integrate agentic AI tools into its specialty electronic health record platform, giving clients a choice of two AI patient access platforms, Fierce Healthcare reported. The integrations connect AI to scheduling, intake, patient readiness, communications and follow-up workflows, with the goal of answering more patient inquiries, reducing front-office workload and converting more calls into appointments. Nextech said both are multi-year partnerships with joint product roadmaps, go-to-market efforts and co-investment in additional AI capabilities. Assort Health will co-develop an agentic AI solution for ophthalmology practices, where requests can depend on subspecialty, testing requirements, insurance and referral status.
Sources: Fierce Healthcare
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency