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Hey folks —
Hope you’re having a good start to your week! Let’s dive in:
HIMSS 2026 AI recap
Tech boss uses AI to make his dog a cancer vaccine
Microsoft’s new health copilot
21 new tools/partnerships, 16 funding updates, new AI jobs & link-worthy content
Read time: 6 minutes
Our Picks ✨
Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…
1/
HIMSS 2026 AI recap
HIMSS 2026 in Las Vegas put agentic AI and workflow automation squarely in the spotlight, with vendors racing to embed intelligent agents across the clinical, operational, and patient access stack. Below are some of the most notable AI announcements from the conference. (link 1)(link 2)
Epic, previewed Agent Factory, a visual builder that enables health systems to design and deploy custom AI agents directly within the EHR environment.
Amazon, introduced Health AI on Amazon.com, an agent that can answer medical questions, renew prescriptions, and schedule appointments, with Prime members receiving complimentary One Medical messaging visits.
Microsoft, expanded Dragon Copilot with new role-based AI capabilities and a broader ecosystem of partner applications spanning clinical and revenue cycle workflows.
Abridge, deployed its enterprise clinical conversation platform across WVU Medicine, bringing ambient documentation and AI-assisted insights to the system’s clinicians.
athenahealth, launched athenaConnect, a unified gateway allowing health systems, pharmacies, and labs to integrate more easily with the athenaOne network of 170k+ providers.
Salesforce, rolled out six new Agentforce Health AI agents designed to automate tasks across referrals, claims, coverage checks, hospital operations, and more.
Aileen, unveiled an AI-powered companion for seniors that proactively calls older adults to provide daily check-ins, reminders, and social interaction, while alerting caregivers when issues arise.
Innovaccer, detailed its “autonomous healthcare stack,” combining ambient documentation, CDI assistance, and AI coding to reduce encounter coding time.
Meditech, added a native AI scribe and new ambient listening capabilities across its Expanse platform to help reduce documentation burden for clinicians.
Artera, highlighted new AI agents designed to streamline patient access workflows including scheduling, intake, and communications.
PointClickCare, launched Discharge Intel, delivering clinical updates to health plans within 24 hours of a hospital discharge to improve care transitions.
RevSpring, expanded its agentic AI offerings for billing and financial convos while introducing RevSpring Prime for membership-based care programs.
Zoom, unveiled new healthcare integrations including deeper Epic connectivity and AI tools for patient communication and frontline coordination.
RingCentral, introduced AIR Pro for Healthcare, a voice-first AI agent platform that automates scheduling, insurance verification, and other patient access tasks.
CoverMyMeds, debuted new automation capabilities that simplify prior authorization, benefits checks, and patient enrollment for specialty medications.
Vital, released Vital Guard, which analyzes clinical documentation and radiology reports to surface missed incidental findings and initiate follow-up outreach.
Verily and Samsung, partnered to combine Galaxy Watch sensor data with Verily’s research platform to support real-world evidence studies.
Samsung and b.well, partnered to support the CMS “Kill the Clipboard” effort by enabling patients to share health records from Samsung Health for digital check-ins.
2/
Tech boss uses AI to make his dog a cancer vaccine
In a sci-fi esque story that went viral over the weekend, an unusual medical experiment is showing how accessible AI driven biotech tools are becoming. Australian tech founder Paul Conyngham, with no biology background, designed a custom mRNA cancer vaccine for his rescue dog Rosie after she was diagnosed with aggressive mast cell cancer and given only months to live.
Conyngham used ChatGPT to navigate the research, paid about $3K to sequence Rosie’s tumor DNA, and ran the data through DeepMind’s AlphaFold to model the relevant mutations. Working with scientists at the UNSW RNA Institute, the team turned the AI generated blueprint into a personalized vaccine. The final construct was reportedly designed with the help of Grok. After the December injection, one tumor shrank by roughly half.
Rosie is not cured, but the story highlights how the intersection of RNA tech, genomics, and AI could transform medicine. It feels like an early glimpse into the future. Hard not to be excited and optimisitc! (link)(linkedin)
3/
Microsoft brings Copilot to healthcare
The big tech health AI push continues as Microsoft launches Copilot Health, a new experience inside Copilot that connects medical records, lab results, and wearable data to generate personalized health insights. The platform can pull EHR data from more than 50,000 US providers and integrate with 50+ wearables including Apple Health, Oura, and Fitbit to help users understand test results, track trends, and prepare for doctor visits. Microsoft partnered with HealthEx, which provides the identity and consent infrastructure that allows users to securely collect and connect their full medical histories.
The launch builds on massive consumer demand for AI-powered health guidance. Microsoft’s usage report says its AI tools now handle more than 50M health questions daily. 1 in 5 conversations seek personalized guidance for symptoms, test results, or chronic conditions, while 1 in 7 involves questions about children or aging parents.
The broader goal is what Microsoft calls ‘medical superintelligence’, an always-on AI assistant for navigating healthcare. With OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Health, Anthropic’s similar offering, and Amazon expanding access to its health chatbot, the the race for consumer health AI is fully on! (link)(linkedin)
Tools & Partnerships 🔧
Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…
TOOLS
Microsoft uses AI to generate virtual spatial proteomics: Microsoft researchers trained a multimodal model that converts routine pathology slides into spatial proteomics data, potentially reducing the cost and time required for advanced cancer analysis. (link)
Google tests diagnostic AI with real patients: Google deployed its AMIE conversational diagnostic AI with 100 primary care patients in a prospective study. The system matched physicians on diagnostic quality and safety with zero safety interventions, though doctors still outperformed it on practicality and cost-effectiveness. (link)
OpenEvidence hits 1M physician AI consultations in a day: OpenEvidence reported more than one million consultations between verified physicians and its AI system in a single 24-hour period, signaling rapid clinical adoption of AI decision support. (link)
Sword launches Pulse for cardiometabolic care: Sword Health introduced Pulse, an always-on AI program supporting hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and weight management in a single platform. (link)
AI boosts HIV PrEP uptake in large real-world study: A Nature Digital Medicine study of 155k+ patients found those engaging with conversational AI had ~3× higher PrEP initiation and better follow-up and appointment adherence. (link)
AI decision support safe but often ignored by clinicians: A Nature study in Kenyan clinics found an AI tool matched guidelines in 99% of cases with ~3% hallucinations, but clinicians rarely changed decisions based on its recommendations. (link)
Highmark reports $28M value from Google AI assistant: Highmark’s Google-powered “Sidekick” AI generated $27.9M in value in 2025 and has been used over 6M times across 74 internal use cases. (link)
Elation launches AI Fast Lane billing: Elation introduced an AI workflow that automatically reviews and submits routine primary care claims without manual staff review. (link)
Sword launches Dawn AI mental health platform: Sword unveiled Dawn, a direct-to-consumer AI mental health assistant trained on clinician data that provides continuous conversational support. (link)
Cadence plans AI-first shift under CMMI ACCESS model: Remote monitoring company Cadence said it will participate in CMS’s ACCESS model, aiming to transition from monthly human check-ins to AI-agent-driven patient monitoring. (link)
WellSpan launches AI-powered robotic hospital kitchen: WellSpan Health unveiled a 24/7 robotic kitchen that stores ingredients, cooks, plates meals, and self-cleans, doubling dining capacity at its York hospital. (link)
AI therapy layer boosts mental health outcomes: A Nature Medicine study found Limbic’s AI behavioral health layer improved therapy performance, with 75% of sessions ranking among the top 10% of human therapist sessions. (link)
Multi-agent AI outperforms single agents in clinical workloads: A study in npj Health Systems found multi-agent AI systems maintained far higher accuracy than single agents when handling complex clinical task loads. (link)
Oracle expands AI clinical note generation: Oracle Health rolled out its Clinical AI Agent to generate draft notes for inpatient and emergency department visits using data from its EHR. (link)
Epic AI adoption surpasses 85% of customers: More than 85% of Epic health system customers now use its AI tools, which are helping reduce documentation time and improve follow-up detection for conditions like lung cancer. (link)
PARTNERSHIPS
National Academy of Medicine + Mayo Clinic + CommonSpirit + Seattle Children’s + University Hospitals: The National Academy of Medicine launched the Patient Safety in the Era of AI initiative with leaders from major health systems to develop strategies for using AI to improve patient safety. (link)
National Organization for Rare Disorders + OpenEvidence: NORD partnered with OpenEvidence to expand AI-powered rare disease resources, combining literature synthesis with expert-reviewed clinical content. (link)
WVU Health System + hellocare.ai: WVU Health System selected hellocare.ai to deploy AI-enabled smart hospital room technology across 25 hospitals. (link)
Atropos Health + Microsoft: Atropos partnered with Microsoft to integrate its Evidence Agent with Dragon Copilot, delivering patient-specific real world evidence inside the EHR at Stanford Medicine. (link)
R1 + Heidi: R1 partnered with Heidi to integrate ambient AI documentation into R1’s revenue cycle platform, linking clinical workflows with reimbursement processes. (link)
UC Davis Health + Abridge: UC Davis Health is piloting an AI scribe training program for emergency medicine residents to support documentation and workflow efficiency. (link)
Deal Desk 💰
Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…
FUNDING
AMI Labs, a world models developer led by Yann LeCun and the ex-Nabla CEO, raised $1.03B at a $3.5B pre-money valuation from Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Tim and Rosemary Berners-Lee, Jim Breyer, Mark Cuban, Mark Leslie, Xavier Niel, and Eric Schmidt. (link)
Nitra, an AI company focused on healthcare financial and operational workflows, raised $187M in Series A and B funding. (link)
Alan, the French health insurance startup, raised $116M in funding at a €5B valuation, led by existing investor Index Ventures. (link)
Translucent, an NYC-based healthcare finance startup, raised $27M in Series A funding. GV led, joined by NEA, FPV Ventures, and Virtue. (link)
Moxie, an AI operating platform for aesthetic practices, raised $25M in Series C funding, led by Viewpoint Ventures with participation from SignalFire and others. (link)
Gestala, a Chinese brain-interface startup, raised $21.6M Guosheng Capital and Dalton Venture led. (link)
Amigo AI, an NYC-based developer of patient-facing AI agents, raised $11M in Series A funding. Madrona led, joined by Optum Ventures. (link)
Understood Care, an NYC-based patient advocacy startup, raised $8.4m. Backers include Rethink Education, Zeal Capital Partners, 1984 Ventures, and YC. (link)
Kled AI, a human data marketplace for AI, raised a $5.5M Seed round from various investors. (link)
MERGERS & ACQUISTIONS
Veeva Systems + Ostro: Veeva Systems acquired Ostro to expand AI-driven conversational experiences that help patients and providers access trusted therapy information more quickly. (link)
Elsevier + Mytonomy: Elsevier agreed to acquire Mytonomy to expand patient education and engagement capabilities for healthcare providers. (link)
Oura + Doublepoint: Oura acquired Doublepoint to add AI-powered gesture recognition technology for controlling wearable devices through natural movements. (link)
Quantum Health + CirrusMD: Quantum Health acquired virtual care provider CirrusMD to integrate physician-led telehealth into its healthcare navigation platform. (link)
RadNet + Gleamer: RadNet acquired Gleamer and is integrating its radiology AI into the DeepHealth platform to expand imaging diagnostics capabilities. (link)
Guideway Care + Waypoint Healthcare Solutions: Guideway Care acquired Waypoint Healthcare Solutions to add AI and virtual agent tools for referral management and care transitions. (link)
Procode AI + The Auctus Group: Procode AI launched from stealth with $4M in funding and acquired The Auctus Group to expand AI-powered revenue cycle services for private practice surgeons. (link)
as of 3/16/25
Other Relevant News 🔍
News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…
AI Job Opportunities 💼
Explore our AI Job Board or contact us to feature roles in our newsletter…
Visuals of the Week 📸
Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…
That’s it for this week friends! Back to reading — I’ll see you next week.
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