Health IT, EHR systems, telehealth, and clinical technology
CMS's proposed drug prior-auth interoperability rule sets an Oct. 1, 2027 compliance date, requiring payers to expose coverage requirements through FHIR APIs and report usage across four API categories.
Merck's billion-dollar agentic AI platform with Google Cloud and CMS reimbursement for Bunkerhill Health's cardiovascular AI mark clinical AI's shift from pilot to platform-scale procurement.
CMS will pay providers recurring Medicare revenue for technology-enabled chronic care starting July 2026. ONC's HTI-5 rule reshapes EHR certification around APIs, changing how buyers justify platforms and manage regulatory risk.
The proposed 2026 HIPAA Security Rule eliminates addressable safeguards, requiring MFA, encryption, and twice-yearly vulnerability scans with a 240-day implementation window. HHS estimates $9B year-one compliance cost.
New forecast pegs telehealth at $94.6B in 2025, growing 15.9% annually through 2035. Custom builds now cost $120K–$280K for EHR integration, reshaping build-vs-buy calculus.
Federal funding now explicitly tied to standardized lab coding, compressing vendor selection timelines and pushing enterprises toward standards-compliant LIS and interoperability platforms.
U.S. hospitals face 1,451 FDA-authorized AI tools and August 2026 EU compliance deadlines. 85% plan budget increases this year.
New HIPAA standards for electronic claims attachments and e-signatures mandate infrastructure upgrades across payers, providers, and EDI vendors. Non-compliance creates direct regulatory risk.
Senate healthcare bill would codify MFA, encryption, and incident response as statutory minimums for HIPAA entities, forcing BAA rewrites and front-loaded security spending in 12–18 months.
Forasoft's 2026 cost benchmarks put custom telehealth builds at $40K–$90K for MVPs and $400K+ for multi-tenant systems. With 53 M&A deals in 2024, vendor consolidation now forces buyers to weigh total cost of ownership against integration risk.
HHS reports TEFCA has exchanged nearly 500 million health records nationally, establishing it as the de facto interoperability backbone. Enterprises must now justify any data exchange investment that bypasses TEFCA.
Bessemer reports clinical AI moving from pilots to clinician-in-the-loop triage. Enterprise buyers now prioritize EHR integration and reimbursement readiness over standalone model performance.