CMS is also encouraging the use of AI tools through its Health Technology Ecosystem initiative. Since July, more than 700 healthcare organizations have voluntarily joined the Health Tech Ecosystem pledge, with tangible results from these pledges expected to be announced publicly on March 31.

"I think the real power we're going to see is when we really have patients have these tools, 24 hours a day, in those 1,000 moments in a day when you have to make a decision about your health and your doctor's not there, and you need that guidance," said Amy Gleason, acting administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service and a strategic advisor to CMS.

"I think we need to embrace this and help people understand how much this can help them, and it's not about marketing. It's about supporting their health and their decisions every day in a personalized way," Gleason added.

Samsung also announced a new collaboration with Verily Life Sciences aimed at advancing clinical research with wearable data and analytics. The collaboration combines Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8 with Verily's precision health platform Pre to monitor real-world populations and generate research evidence for life sciences and government customers.

Other technology companies that announced new health-related features or initiatives were Zoom and RingCentral.

Zoom, a web and video conferencing platform, has strengthened its EHR integrations and said that over 300 healthcare organizations currently use its customer experience solutions for patient communication and support. Zoom is also introducing new capabilities within Zoom Workplace for Frontline, which is designed to streamline communication and coordination for clinical and operational teams.

RingCentral, an AI-powered business communications company, announced a new voice-first omnichannel AI agent platform to automate high-volume patient access and administrative workflows across voice, video, and messaging. The platform, which is called AIR Pro for Healthcare, will be able to handle patient calls, verify coverage, schedule appointments, and more.

"By automating routine interactions securely and reliably, it frees staff to focus on delivering more connected, human-centered care," said Carson Hostetter, EVP and general manager of AI and CX solutions at RingCentral.

3 takeaways our experts can't stop talking about

By Carol Chouinard

Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the conversation at the 2026 HIMSS conference. Aside from the new AI tools and initiatives announced, health IT vendors, both large and small, and consulting firms also shared what they learned from early adoption of the technology, as well as their perspectives on the next wave of AI solutions.

Overall, a few key themes were apparent during the conference:

• AI is still new and not completely embedded in how healthcare IT leaders work on a day-to-day basis. Connecting with colleagues, building new relationships, monitoring emerging solutions, presenting out offering and sales pitches, and even how we engage with one another all remain key focuses and are outside of what AI can currently enable.  
• There was noticeably more humility during conversations. During the conference, many people openly acknowledged that we are entering a new technological revolution and that no one can credibly say they've "been there and done that." Speed and velocity are also more important than ever to success with AI.
• Predictably, there was a limited focus on risk and governance at HIMSS. More surprisingly, there was also a lack of discussion about how organizations would apply the same level of IT discipline to AI assets as they do other IT assets, particularly for managing and controlling these assets across their lifecycle.

If last year's HIMSS conference focused on AI's hype phase, this year's conference shifted to real-world applications and implications — including a renewed emphasis on what it actually takes to drive value from AI-enabled solutions.