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October 23, 2026

Takeaways from the most recent news in the technology and policies shaping healthcare.

Health IT

Epic Opens Its Platform Wider to AI and Outside Developers

Epic is opening more of its platform to outside AI tools and third-party apps, a shift it detailed at its second annual Open@Epic developer conference, held Oct. 21-22 at its Verona, Wis., headquarters, according to Becker's Hospital Review.

The event, which drew more than 1,000 attendees at its 2025 debut, signals that the dominant electronic health record vendor wants a broader ecosystem of developers building on top of its software rather than keeping integration tightly controlled. For developers, that means more access to Epic's data and workflows. For health systems, it means more innovation flowing through the records their clinicians use every day.

Epic also delivered a pointed reminder: the traffic those outside apps generate lands on health systems' own infrastructure. In practice, hospitals bear the performance and cost consequences of whatever developers build, so wider access comes with new responsibility for the organizations that run Epic. The move reflects how central the EHR has become as a platform for deploying clinical AI at scale.

More in Health IT

Health IT

After AI Go-Live, Who Owns Monitoring? Often No One

Health systems scrutinize AI before go-live, but post-deployment monitoring responsibilities often remain undefined, leaving no clear owner when models drift.

Why it matters: Unmonitored AI models can quietly degrade in clinical settings, putting patient safety at risk when no one is accountable for watching performance after launch.

Health IT

What AI-Native EHRs Mean for Healthcare Leaders

Healthcare Dive outlines how leaders should evaluate whether AI in electronic health records is truly native or merely bolted on.

Why it matters: As AI becomes standard in EHRs, integration quality will determine whether it improves care or adds clinical risk and noise.