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October 23, 2026

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

Health IT

Three Capabilities That Separate VBC Winners From Laggards

The shift to value-based care (VBC) is exposing a hard truth: good intentions and risk contracts are not enough without the technology to execute them. According to Healthcare Dive, scaling impact in VBC comes down to three essential capabilities, and organizations that lack them struggle to coordinate care or capture shared savings.

The first is interoperable data sharing, so payers, providers, and patients work from the same information rather than fragmented records. The second is real-time analytics that turn that data into timely action, flagging care gaps and rising-risk patients before costs escalate. The third is collaboration tooling that connects every stakeholder in a single workflow, replacing the phone calls, faxes, and spreadsheets that still slow coordination.

In practice, these capabilities are interdependent. Analytics are only as good as the data feeding them, and insights create value only when teams can act together. As VBC arrangements grow more complex and providers take on more downside risk, the technical foundation becomes the difference between thriving and simply surviving.

More in Health IT

Health IT

Epic Opens Its Platform Wider to AI and Outside Developers

Epic used its Open@Epic developer conference to open its platform wider to outside AI and apps while reminding developers that the resulting traffic runs on hospitals' infrastructure.

Why it matters: As the dominant EHR vendor, Epic's decision to open its platform shapes how and where clinical AI gets deployed across most U.S. hospitals.

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.