Business

Brian Smith, chief pharmacy officer at Shields Health Services, says that, while automation and AI can speed up the prior authorization process, patients may face other barriers to care that require human intervention.

Ambient AI relieves clinicians' cognitive burden by capturing visits and drafting patient notes so they can be fully present in the encounter and patients feel seen and heard, says Matt Troup, clinical strategy principal at Abridge.

HIMSS26 Policy Influencer Changemaker Award recipient Gayle Harrell, Florida state senator, emphasizes that regulations on AI and other digital technology need to ensure that decision-making power remains with clinicians.

Sarah Hatchett, Cleveland Clinic CIO, explains that her team is evolving to not only offer technical support, but to help address adoption challenges and secure staff buy-in for new tools.

MaryAnn Connor, NYU adjunct informatics professor, and Olga Kagan, FANA CEO, recommend that healthcare organizations hold recurring cyberattack and outage drills to prevent care disruption when digital tools are not available.

The company also launched three new products: Symphony by Tava Health for providers; TavaCare for employers; and TavaGuide for health plans, health systems and care coordinators.

Lalithya Yerramilli, Cohere Health's SVP of payment solutions, says the company uses AI to streamline prior authorization and reimbursement processes but not to deny care or claims.

Daniel Spitzer, Cyderes' SVP and general manager, healthcare, says understanding attack vectors and having a partner to scale cybersecurity efforts can help rural health systems safeguard their networks.

Backed by the "Godmother of Silicon Valley," Esther Wojcicki, and former Google product executive Mary Minno, Treehub aims to fund and help build companies from academic founders while drawing on Wojcicki's legacy of shaping Silicon Valley leaders.

Medicomp Systems CEO David Lareau says the company's panel of clinicians creates data points that its clinical intelligence engine uses to validate ambient AI outputs and prevent incorrect data from reaching patient records.