AI in Healthcare Is Moving From Pilots to Production
Across the country, health systems are shifting AI from experiments to everyday use. Some are seeing real results. Others are stuck in the trough of disillusionment. The HIMSS26 pre-conference AI in Healthcare Forum is built to help teams keep momentum and translate big goals into measurable outcomes.
Expect a practical focus: embedding AI into clinical and administrative workflows, strengthening governance, and aligning ROI with bedside reality. The barriers are familiar-legacy tech, fuzzy ownership, and uneven workforce readiness-but solvable with the right playbooks and examples from peers who've done it.
What You'll Learn
- How to operationalize AI inside existing workflows without adding friction.
- Governance, safety, and vendor oversight models you can lift and adapt.
- Ways to align executive priorities with frontline needs and metrics that matter.
- How to build trust, literacy, and permission frameworks for everyday AI use.
- Where agentic AI can reduce operational strain across access, authorization, and revenue cycle.
Sessions to Watch
How Mass General Brigham Embeds AI Safety and Security into Healthcare's DNA
Jane Moran, chief information and digital officer at Mass General Brigham, will outline how the system built data governance, security, and vendor oversight to support AI at scale across a 78,000-person workforce. Expect specifics on integrating AI into clinical workflows and improving organizational AI literacy-without compromising safety.
From Hype to Reality: Guiding Leadership Through AI Transformation
This panel cuts through common myths and focuses on results. Moderator Amy Zolotow (Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine, Belmont University) will lead a discussion with Michael Archuleta (CIO, Mt. San Rafael Hospital), Michael Hasselberg (chief transformation and digital officer, Nebraska Medicine), Roberta Schwartz (chief innovation officer, Houston Methodist), and Tanay Tandon (CEO, Commure) on building scalable adoption that physicians will actually use.
The Culture Code for Human-Centered AI: Building Trust and Literacy in Healthcare
AI doesn't scale without trust. Moderator Brian Spisak (Csuite Growth Advisors and Harvard University) will guide a panel with Heather Costa (Mayo Clinic), Guido Giunti (St. James Hospital), Shawn Isinhue (Moveworks), and Brian Weirich (Bon Secours Mercy Health) on governance, training, and practices that create transparency, accountability, and psychological safety.
Agentic AI: Reinventing Healthcare Operations for Better Care
Agentic systems are tackling administrative bottlenecks across patient access, contact centers, prior auth, scheduling, billing, and revenue cycle. Moderator Kali Arduini Ihde (Northwestern Medicine) will be joined by Craig Anderson (BayCare Health System), Amish Desai (Northwestern Memorial HealthCare), Donna Fortson (WellSpan Health), and Jeff McCool (SoundHound AI) to discuss how modern LLMs enable more contextual digital agents that reduce friction for staff and patients.
Fireside Chat: Aligning AI Strategy With Clinical Reality
Suresh Balu (Duke Institute for Health Innovation) and Jeffrey Ferranti (SVP and chief digital officer, Duke Health) will share how shared governance, clinician co-design, and outcome-driven metrics tie AI strategy to financial and clinical performance. The conversation will be moderated by Mark Sendak, co-founder and CEO of Vega Health.
Who Should Attend
- CIO, CMIO, CNIO, CDO, CISO leaders building or refining AI strategy
- Clinical and operational leaders driving workflow change
- Quality, safety, and performance improvement teams
- Revenue cycle, patient access, and contact center leaders
- Data science, analytics, and informatics teams
Questions You'll Be Ready to Answer After the Forum
- What AI use cases are production-ready for my environment today?
- Which governance and risk controls are essential before scaling?
- How do we measure impact in both clinical outcomes and financial terms?
- Where can agentic AI safely automate handoffs without breaking workflows?
- What training and permission models will make everyday AI use safe and clear?
Event Details
Event: HIMSS26 Pre-Conference - AI in Healthcare Forum
Date: Monday, March 9
Time: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Location: Level 5, Palazzo E, Las Vegas
For conference logistics and registration, visit HIMSS. If you're formalizing your AI risk approach, NIST's AI Risk Management Framework is a useful reference for healthcare governance.
Keep Building Your Team's AI Skills
If you need structured upskilling paths by role-from clinical operations to data teams-explore role-focused resources like AI Learning Path for CIOs, AI for Executives & Strategy, or the AI Learning Path for Business Unit Managers. Practical, role-based learning helps teams move from pilot talk to production results.
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