LAS VEGAS—Get the latest news from the 2026 Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Global Health Conference and Exhibition with this quick news summary.
Indeed, Samsung is collaborating to advance clinical research.
Samsung Electronics is actively selecting technology partners to advance its healthcare ambitions, announcing a strengthening of its partnership with b.well Connected Health to help scrap patients’ clipboards and replace them with smartphones.
The electronics giant is now using Verily Life Sciences to combine wearable data and analytics to advance clinical research. The partnership brings Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 and Verily’s precision health platform Pre together to provide an integrated solution for evidence generation and real-world population monitoring. The joint offering, a bundled solution, aims to accelerate research for life sciences and government customers by combining advanced health analytics and consumer-grade wearable data, the companies said.
Through this partnership, Verily will fully integrate sensor data from the Samsung Galaxy Watch and make it accessible in its Viewpoint Evidence solution built on the Verily Pre platform, enabling research sponsors to conduct real-world research with re-contactable participant cohorts. Sponsors will use Verily Pre data solutions, including Refinery for data harmonization and Workbench for analysis, modeling, and activation. Verily provides AI/ML-based analytics and digital measurement expertise combined with comprehensive clinical trial support across regulatory, development, operations, and compliance.
The partnership will allow researchers to combine Verily’s longitudinal datasets from consenting participants with Samsung sensor data, medical records, surveys and other third-party data. Sponsors will be able to conduct their own studies using Verily’s enrolled population, leveraging complete longitudinal data to examine sleep, activity and health outcomes, the companies said.
Verily recruits Samsung users to participate in research, encouraging consistent usage and high-quality data capture while enabling meaningful research and health insights.
The companies will also explore the possibility of jointly developing new and enhanced end-to-end solutions for clinical research.
Meditech expands ambient listening capabilities
Electronic health records company Meditech announced Tuesday that it is expanding its Expanse AI portfolio with native ambient intelligence for doctors and nurses.
Meditech is integrating native ambient intelligence solutions within the workflow of its Expanse Now mobile app for doctors and Expanse Point of Care app for nurses. According to the company, these fully integrated solutions reduce documentation burden by capturing conversations in real-time, automatically generating clinic visit records and inpatient assessments, and queuing the next steps in the workflow.
“Meditech is strategic in the application of artificial intelligence, focusing on the areas where we can most improve care delivery,” said Kathy Turner, Meditech’s chief nursing officer. “By integrating ambient listening into the Meditech Expanse point of care, we are empowering nurses to capture assessment data through natural conversation. This is not just a matter of efficiency, but a meaningful step toward supporting the human connections that are at the heart of excellent nursing care.”
The company also announced additional AI capabilities, including a claim rejection agent to streamline claim rejection management and dispute processes. Develop a proposed plan of action and draft an evidence-based appeal using clinical data extracted from the EHR.
Meditech has also developed MyHealth Assistant, an AI-powered assistant that integrates with the MyHealth patient portal and provides personalized, immediate support. And Meditech has rolled out a new tool called Ask Expanse that allows clinicians to ask questions through a chatbot interface at the point of care.
CoverMyMeds launches new specialty access and affordable solutions
Announced by CoverMyMeds New features that streamline medical pre-approval, benefits research, and patient enrollment for specialty care.
The company has developed a new solution that provides a fully integrated medication access experience that integrates benefits research, medical and pharmacy prior authorization, and patient service registration directly within the CoverMyMeds workflow, executives said.
CoverMyMeds aims to reduce administrative burden for care teams and improve the overall patient experience, while supporting the full range of medicines, from the most complex specialty therapies to traditional retail prescriptions.
The company’s new solution extends automation across routine pre-approval workflows for drugs covered by both medical and pharmacy benefits. Intelligent eligibility checks route each request to the appropriate benefit pathway for processing. Then, leverage the clinical data in your EHR to automate the completion of registration and pre-authorization forms and submit the required documentation to your insurance. CoverMyMeds says this integrated functionality maintains provider visibility during this process and allows for integration with hubs and specialty pharmacies that are also responsible for supporting patients undergoing treatment.
Healthcare providers will see fewer delays and more efficient workflows, and biopharmaceutical companies will gain actionable insights to enhance patient support programs and accelerate initiation of specialty treatments, the company said.
Zoom announces new healthcare solution
Zoom, the web and video conferencing platform, is expanding its influence in healthcare with its latest features and solutions.
The company is increasing its electronic health records integration, and Zoom Contact Center is now available in Epic Toolbox. Expected general availability in April 2026. More than 300 healthcare organizations use Zoom’s CX solutions to enhance patient communication and support. The EHR integration strengthens Zoom’s ability to support large-scale adoption across hospitals, health systems and payer networks, the company said.
Zoom is also expanding its healthcare ecosystem with Epic integration for Clinical Note. This allows clinicians to capture, review, and complete artificial intelligence-generated clinical notes without leaving Epic Haiku or Hyperspace. Zoom Virtual Agent (ZVA) is also integrated with Epic, allowing healthcare organizations to automate routine patient inquiries through voice and chat channels, freeing clinicians to focus on higher-value, patient-centered care.
Zoom is also introducing new features within Zoom Workplace for Frontline designed to streamline communication and coordination between clinical and operational teams. Scheduled for late 2026, this enhanced solution will enable teams to instantly communicate and bridge the gap for urgent messages, start each shift with clear visibility of who is working, and provide a single workspace for faster handoffs and collaboration. These features include:
RingCentral Debuts AI Agent for Patient Access Workflows
RingCentral, an artificial intelligence-powered business communications company, announced a voice-first, omnichannel AI agent platform designed to automate high-volume patient access and management workflows across voice, SMS, video, and messaging.
The company says this is an industry-specific application of its agent voice platform, AIR Pro, that provides production-ready AI agents that are optimized for healthcare organizations’ unique operational and regulatory requirements.
“AIR Pro for Healthcare acts as an intelligent digital front door, handling calls, verifying coverage, scheduling appointments, updating records, and seamlessly coordinating care across channels. By safely and reliably automating routine interactions, staff can focus on delivering more connected, human-centered care,” said Carson Hostetter, executive vice president and general manager of AI and CX Solutions at RingCentral.
AIR Pro for Healthcare includes configurable healthcare-specific accelerators with pre-built skills that automate common patient interactions. For example, when a patient calls to reschedule an appointment, AIR Pro can verify their identity, access the scheduling system, assess provider availability, prioritize appointments, manage wait times, and recommend the best available options, RingCentral said. Once verified, the agent updates the appointment in the system of record and sends an SMS confirmation. All of this happens within one interaction.
Pre-built skills include patient identity verification, intelligent call routing, appointment scheduling and rescheduling, patient check-in workflow, insurance verification, billing inquiries, patient intake, and basic triage.
AIR Pro for Healthcare supports over 80 integrations with electronic health records and practice management systems, including EPIC, Oracle Health, athenahealth, and eClinicalWorks.
Early pilot participants are testing AIR Pro for Healthcare to automate appointment management and common patient inquiries, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value care coordination activities.
