We’re officially just over the halfway mark of the year, and unsurprisingly, there has already been plenty of commotion. But is all this noise actually moving us forward? Last year, we predicted that this would be the year of productive thrashing: lots of activity, maybe less so in a particular direction.
Here’s how things are playing out so far.
Prediction: Patient access will take off. Where things stand: Cautiously optimistic. Some data is showing 46% of providers claiming patient access is better than it was 12 months ago; however, only 18% of patients feel the same. There is much room to improve, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of 2026 brings, as we see the market continue to invest in automation, digital tools, and new and digital intake solutions.
Prediction: AI in healthcare will evolve. Where things stand: Where do we even begin here? AI continues to be a massive presence in healthcare at the forefront of all conversations. It’s constantly evolving. Where the progress has stalled is with its enforcement. To put it very simply, states want more guardrails, while the federal government is taking a stance leaning toward deregulation — mostly. Just this month, WIRED reported that the government is expected to expand its AI policy. This action could potentially reverse the deregulation efforts we saw during the first half of the year. We expect to see much continued movement here from a legislation standpoint specifically, as states and the federal government grapple with AI policy.
Prediction: Business models will become a bigger priority for the interoperability networks. Where things stand: Accurate (so far). Use cases are giving way to monetizing models, best practices, and more to build value within interoperability networks. Part of this work expands on ROI; long are the days that ROI exists; now, we are finding new ways to quantify and extend value. One surprise from the beginning of the year: We have yet to see consolidation of health information organizations in the market; in fact, we’ve seen continued sprawl as more organizations and entities join the interoperability movement, possibly spurred by government initiatives that have interoperability baked into the process.
Prediction: It will likely be another crazy year — from the outside looking in. Where things stand: Looking back on this a year later, crazy might not be the right word, but frenetic definitely is. A combination of new ways to engage with the government, deregulation, and more patient interest has garnered much activity. I am starting to see things calm down a bit, but we are also still encountering multiple workflows trying to solve the same problem. This redundant behavior could be better spent advancing instead of replicating solutions. That said, our hope is that more of these solutions see success, and we can move on to new challenges — which will ultimately move us collectively forward.
As we enter the second half of 2026, I’ll say it again: New ideas are fun to work on, but we — and other leaders in interoperability — are still doing the quiet, hard work to build up adoption among EHRs and providers. And TEFCA® remains critical to building and growing trust, underpinning the work to achieve critical mass in accurate, useful data exchange.