On Thursday, April 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the first wave of its Health Technology Ecosystem. During the event, CMS showcased tools from over 50 companies, many of which are already available or will soon be accessible to the public.

As part of the event, interoperable digital tools were introduced, intended to streamline care and improve the patient experience. Highlights included:

• Digital data access and check‑in, also referred to as “Kill the Clipboard”
• Personalized health applications

“The old model is failing,” Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the audience. “We need to modernize health technology and upgrade American healthcare.” “AI is changing how people engage in health, and we see this every day, not through clicks, but through conversation,” he added.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz addressed the technology companies and said: “You're giving patients access to something they have always owned because they pay for it, their data, and you're allowing that data to be exchanged in a more cohesive fashion.” Dr. Oz emphasized getting rid of the clipboard, “We're putting the clipboard to rest, and we're going to allow treatment opportunities to climb higher.” “And as of today, the vision of paperless waiting rooms is not only imaginable, but you have achieved it,” he added.

“Today, we have over 700 organizations in the ecosystem,” Acting Administrator of the United States DOGE, Amy Gleason, announced. “More than 120 of you have said that you're ready for production or you'll be ready soon…We're celebrating something that healthcare has needed for a long time, freedom from the clipboard, and finally, freedom for patients to access and use their own health information.”

Thomas Keane, M.D., National Coordinator for Health IT, agreed. “All of this is extraordinary technical work, and this work is going to have a life beyond this, not only in the market, but also in the programs that ONC administers. We are going to adopt the innovations into our standards and certification program. We are going to adopt these innovations into TEFCA. The acceleration work that you guys have all done here is moving not only the market, but also the regulatory environment that governs the market.”

The initiative was guided by four core principles, the Chief Health Technology Officer at CMS, Alberto Colon Viera, explained:

• First, it aimed to give patients seamless access to their complete health records across providers through a single app, eliminating the need for multiple portals and logins.
• Second, it focused on improving care coordination by enabling real-time data sharing at the point of care, helping clinicians make more informed decisions.
• Third, the effort emphasized standards-based data exchange, leveraging existing interoperability tools to build a more connected and efficient system.
• Finally, it sought to expand beyond traditional treatment, using these capabilities to transform the overall health experience.

Leslie Wilson, Product Lead for Medicare.gov, announced a partnership with ID.me, CLEAR, and Login.gov. “It not only creates a more secure and safe way to access medicare.gov, but it's also more familiar for people.” Wilson also announced that the team is well underway in creating Medicare.gov caregiver accounts. Additionally, she highlighted the Medicare App Library, a CMS hosted discovery experience designed to help beneficiaries find trusted, vetted digital tools and apps.

During the event, Alberto Colon Viera brought up that Medicare cards will become digital.

Ambulatory cloud EHR company, eClinicalWorks, announced production support for the CMS’s Kill the Clipboard initiative. It uses a QR-based workflow that lets patients verify their identity on site and pull their health records directly into the chart at check-in, replacing the familiar waiting-room routine of relying on memory and filling out the same forms visit after visit.

Also featured at the event were Humana Inc. and the digital health platform b.well Connected Health, which announced its partnership. In a press release, the companies explained that Humana will leverage b.well’s national health data network to enable individuals to securely connect and access their health data across multiple providers, health plans, pharmacies, and digital health applications. Additionally, Humana will be able to access its members’ data in real-time at the point of claims processing and respond to data requests from providers and other health plans.

Collaborations between b.well and the behavior-change company Noom, as well as the health-technology company Welldoc, were also announced today. The partnership with Noom is resulting in the launch of Noom Health Record Connect, a new feature enabling the seamless connection of medical records with Noom.

Throughout the afternoon, companies showcased their products within different categories.