The Execution Phase of Digital Health

The primary takeaway from HIMSS 2026 is that the industry has evolved beyond the connection phase and entered the execution phase. Moving data is no longer the goal; the new standard is ensuring data is high-quality, automated, and deeply integrated into clinical workflows.

At the AWS In-Booth Theater, Medicom CEO and Founder Michael Rosenberg highlighted how the company is transforming enterprise imaging from a manual burden into a streamlined, cloud-native asset. Reflecting on the conference mood, Michael noted a hard shift toward "proof over promises," where health system executives prioritized production deployments over conceptual demos. Medicom’s real-world success stories with partners including Michigan Medicine, NYU Langone, and Cooper University provided a level of credibility that set the presentation apart from the "concept-heavy" floor.

Rationalizing the Imaging Workflow

Imaging remains a challenge due to file size and fragmented legacy storage. Medicom’s vision for 2026 centers on three core pillars:

• Application Rationalization: Consolidating fragile VPNs and physical media into a single, automated cloud platform.
• Infrastructure at Scale: Leveraging AWS HealthLake and AWS HealthImaging for rapid DICOM ingestion and eliminating the "spinning wheel" clinicians often face. Michael observed that being "cloud-native" is now considered table stakes; the industry is now asking if these tools can function without ever leaving the EHR.
• AI Driven Reconciliation: Using AI to automatically match incoming studies to the correct internal MRN so the right image hits the chart before the patient arrives.

FHIR: From "It’ll Never Happen" to Industry Standard

A critical part of the presentation was the role of FHIR in making workflows invisible to the user. Michael recalled that in previous years, the idea of FHIR as the primary integration layer for imaging was met with pushback; this year, it was the assumption for every automation demo on the floor.

This deep integration is achieved through two primary technical drivers:

• Inside the Chart: Medicom leverages SMART on FHIR to embed imaging tools directly into the EHR.
• Synchronized Data: By using FHIR APIs for patient and order searches via AWS HealthLake, Medicom ensures clinical and imaging data are perfectly synchronized. 

The Rise of Agentic AI

While agentic AI was the defining phrase of HIMSS 2026, Michael observed that few vendors actually have the data foundation to support it. Unlike generative AI, agentic AI refers to autonomous systems that execute multi-step workflows.

Michael noted that Medicom’s Smart Search uses an LLM which locates, matches, and retrieves prior imaging before a patient’s appointment, then executes auto-order generation and patient matching through HealthLake. It’s a complex workflow that only requires human intervention when the system encounters a specific challenge.

While most vendors were demoing concepts, Medicom showed real production systems during its conversations.

The Era of the QHIN and Strategic Data

With QHINs now live via TEFCA, the industry has a national on-ramp for data exchange, and health systems are beginning to view their enormous repositories as strategic assets. 

While expanding the image and records’ library is a big step forward, there’s still a manual burden for clinicians. The information is available, but providers must initiate a search and request process, which requires them to stop their workflow, login to a portal, and manually pull the data.

Medicom focuses on using automation to trigger clinical and administrative workflows the moment data enters the pipe. Our platform is built on the principle of true interoperability, meaning we are vendor-agnostic concerning the source of the image or the software used by the sending facility. Whether the data originates from a national library, an internal PACS, or a competing image-exchange vendor, our automation works exactly the same. By removing the clinician from the manual search process entirely, we transform the QHIN from a searchable directory into a proactive clinical tool.

The Bottom Line

HIMSS 2026 proved that the interoperability gap is closing. The winners in this era will be organizations that stop just moving data and start making that data work for clinicians and patients. By embracing a holistic strategy that puts imaging interoperability inside the chart, not alongside it, health systems can drive both innovation and efficiency.

Let us show you how to bridge the gap between your backend systems and your patients. Get Started with Medicom