In a session on Tuesday, Dr. Thomas Keane, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), discussed the Office's efforts to enhance health information technology and data exchange. He emphasized the importance of data liquidity, affordability, and access, highlighting the role of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) in exchanging 600 million health records across over 75,000 organizations, up from 10 million in January 2025. Dr. Keane underscored the need to eliminate friction in healthcare systems, such as unnecessary portal logins, to improve patient care and outcomes. He also mentioned the growing momentum behind individual access services, enabling patients to retrieve and manage their health records more efficiently.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced to the HIMSS audience on Thursday the opening of a new Salt Lake City office this summer to attract tech talent. He also discussed AI's potential to transform healthcare, especially in rural areas, and emphasized the importance of trust in AI applications.

On Thursday morning, news broke about the cyberattack on Stryker, highlighting once again the importance of healthcare organizations to stay ahead in cybersecurity, a much-discussed topic among healthcare leaders at the conference. Even the previous night, I discussed the vulnerabilities organizations may have regarding cyber, with employees of the cybersecurity training company Eclipse Global. “What do you make of the Stryker attack,” I asked Eclipse Global’s Doug Wisman, the next day at their booth. Wisman underscored the importance of staying ahead of cybercriminals and reiterated the vulnerability of healthcare organizations.

Paula Stannard, director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at HHS, discussed the agency's role in enforcing health information privacy and security laws in a session on Thursday morning. Stannard emphasized the importance of risk analysis and risk management, noting a 12 percent decrease in large breaches in 2025 but a significant increase in hacking.