Industry leaders have been rapidly deploying AI programs, many of them hoping for a cure-all for operational and technological maladies of all kinds. Their optimism is not surprising, as tech vendors promising productivity gains, cost savings, and reimagined workflows have frequently sold it as such.
But what many organizations have been deploying can be likened to a Band-Aid, not a genuine or sustainable remedy for structural problems in their operations and technology stacks.
In my
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Rewriting the Front Door: How AI-Assisted Intake Solves the 2026 Mental Health Crisis
For all the hype about AI “replacing therapists,” the more immediate and profound shift is happening somewhere far less glamorous: the intake process.
Across health systems, primary care physicians, insurers, and community providers are still funnelling patients into behavioural health through faxed referrals, phone tag, and unstructured web forms. Patients finally find the courage to ask for help, then hit voicemail, long waits, and confusing eligibility rules. In many organisations, no one
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The Future of the AI-Enabled Health Consumer in 2026
Imagine a world where your healthcare simply works. Everything you need to manage your health lives on your phone, in one place. It speaks your language, reflects your preferences, and connects you to care instantly—day or night, weekday, weekend, or holiday. You never sit on hold. You don’t wait six weeks for an appointment. You never wonder if a doctor is in your network. You never guess whether to head to the ER, urgent care, or connect virtually. You always know what’s covered, what’s next,
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The Digital Insider: Securing Agentic AI in the 2026 Healthcare Landscape
Hospitals have thrown their doors open to a new kind of technology that can think, act and make changes faster than any human. And with healthcare generating more than 30% of the world’s data, the industry has, for better or worse, become the ultimate proving ground for AI, from all of the good it can support to all of the threats that it amplifies.
AI is being woven into diagnostics, scheduling, documentation and the overarching integration and interoperability plans that make healthcare
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The Unbreakable Web: Building the 2026 Hybrid Network Stack for AI-Driven Care
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming healthcare at a pace that few could have predicted. What once were experimental use cases, predictive diagnostics, real-time patient monitoring, and AI-assisted surgeries are now entering everyday clinical practice. Yet there is one foundational element without which none of this progress can endure: the network infrastructure that connects it all.
In this new era, where every heartbeat, every pixel of a
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Mastering the EHR Learning Curve: 2026 Strategies for IT Competency
Professionals across public, acute, and behavioral health rely on electronic health record (EHR) software to support patient care and documentation every day. Entering diagnoses, care plans, and administrative information supports the care continuum, and in-house technology teams help to make this as seamless as possible.
Each new system and wave of advancements requires a learning curve. Examine how IT can navigate a new EHR, and use that knowledge to support clinical end users.
Make IT
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From Genes to Hackers: The Hidden Cybersecurity Risks in Life Sciences
Getting a new credit card number is relatively easy, but you can't get a new genome.
In October 2023, 23andMe experienced a data breach resulting from a credential stuffing attack. In this cyberattack, hackers exploit reused usernames and passwords obtained from previous data leaks to gain unauthorized access to user accounts. Initially, approximately 14,000 accounts were compromised. It exposed the sensitive personal and genetic data of about 5.5 million users and an additional 1.4
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From Reactive to Proactive: Mastering 2026 Medical Device Fleet Management
In today’s healthcare environment, hospitals typically have 10 to 15 connected medical devices per bed, meaning clinical engineering teams are often responsible for managing thousands of medical assets at each site., This number is only expected to rise. In a high-stakes environment of healthcare, every piece of equipment plays a critical role in patient outcomes.
As hospitals continue to adopt more advanced technology and software, clinical engineers face growing
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Closing the Referral Management Gap in 2026: Why Every Referral Deserves Swift Follow-Through
In healthcare today, one of the quietest yet most damaging leak points lies between the referral and the actual appointment. It’s easy to think of referral processing as a back-office task. But in organizations where demand is high, patient expectations are rising, and competition is fierce, a slow or clumsy referral process becomes a strategic liability.
I’ve seen firsthand how systems built for payments and patient engagement reveal one truth: every delay is a missed connection — patients
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What Benefits Leaders Need to Know About Agentic AI in 2026
The healthcare industry is a leader in AI agent adoption at 68%, according to KPMG research, with early implementations reducing administrative workload by 55%. Yet for all this progress, Agentic AI remains widely misunderstood - often conflated with chatbots or treated as the “final answer” to benefits complexity.
In reality, Agentic AI represents a genuine evolutionary step: systems that understand context across multiple platforms, take action in real-time, and guide members through
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