#himss26

Military to healthcare technology: Phil Leamon’s journey

Phil Leamon of InterSystems reflected on his path from a 25-year career in the United States Army to leadership in healthcare technology.

Leamon enlisted at 17 and served in a range of roles, including explosive ordnance disposal and computer programming on large IBM mainframe systems. His first exposure to healthcare came during the Gulf War (Desert Shield and Desert Storm), when he was assigned to a 1,000-bed military hospital. There, he oversaw administrative teams processing injured soldiers arriving from the front lines—an experience that sparked his long-term interest in healthcare systems.

After leaving the military, Leamon moved into corporate technology roles before joining InterSystems, where he has spent more than two decades working on healthcare data integration and digital transformation initiatives, including AI-enabled solutions that connect information from disparate systems.

Navigating the complexity of U.S. healthcare

Leamon described the U.S. healthcare ecosystem as highly fragmented, comparing it to “wrangling an octopus.” Providers, regulators, and agencies all operate under different rules and priorities, making it difficult to implement unified technological solutions.

Unlike the military’s hierarchical structure, healthcare technology initiatives require consensus among numerous stakeholders. As a result, introducing new systems often depends as much on change management and communication as on technical capability. Building trust among clinicians—whose decisions directly affect patient safety—remains a central challenge when deploying new digital tools.

Voice-driven workflows to reduce EHR burden

In a separate interview, Carl Osborne discussed a voice-first approach to clinical workflows designed to reduce the documentation burden associated with electronic health record platforms such as Oracle Health and Epic.

Drawing on 17 years of consulting experience optimizing EHR implementations, Osborne described how excessive clicking and fragmented workflows can pull clinicians’ attention away from patients. His approach allows providers to retrieve patient data, place orders, and document care using natural speech while maintaining safety checks such as drug-interaction verification and patient identity confirmation.

Toward ambient, screenless care environments

Osborne said his voice-driven clinical platform integrates with InterSystems IRIS for Health and supports multilingual interaction, wearable devices, and shared displays that allow clinicians and patients to review health data together. The system is designed to interpret natural speech across languages and dialects while enforcing clinical safeguards and evidence-based decision support.

The longer-term vision is an ambient care environment in which clinicians interact with health systems conversationally rather than through keyboards and screens. In such settings, voice interfaces, wearable devices, and projected visualizations could enable hands-free workflows while allowing patients to actively participate in reviewing and understanding their health data.

That’s all for this year’s edition. Thanks for following along. See you next year.

Header image credit: Danielle Siarri

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HIMSS26: Day 1 highlights

HIMSS26: Day 2 highlights

Governance and accountability take center stage

Sessions and briefings across the conference highlighted the growing importance of governance as AI tools become more widely integrated into healthcare systems. Speakers discussed how organizations are evaluating AI models, establishing oversight structures, and defining responsibility when AI tools influence clinical workflows or decision-making.

Operational gains, but broader challenges remain

At a morning press briefing, Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS, described the current stage of AI adoption in healthcare. He noted that many organizations are seeing the most immediate benefits in operational areas such as supply chain management, bed utilization, and workforce deployment.

Wolf also placed the technology’s adoption in context, noting that AI in healthcare moved from largely experimental use four years ago to broader integration in clinical systems, including electronic health records, in recent years. However, he emphasized that successful implementation depends on governance structures, workforce training, and organizational change, rather than technology alone.

Workforce training and multidisciplinary oversight

Wolf highlighted the role of clinicians—particularly nurses—in the design and evaluation of digital health tools. HIMSS maturity assessments now examine whether different clinical disciplines are involved in governance and decision-making around AI deployment.

He also emphasized the need for expanded digital and AI literacy programs for healthcare professionals. While many incoming medical and nursing students are digitally fluent, institutions often need to invest in training for faculty and mid-career clinicians adapting to new technologies.

Policy, infrastructure, and misinformation concerns

The briefing also touched on policy issues affecting digital health adoption, including healthcare access in rural areas and the importance of digital infrastructure such as broadband and 5G connectivity. Wolf noted that technology is increasingly viewed as a way to support care delivery in regions where hospitals and clinicians are in short supply.

He also raised concerns about the challenge of verifying health information in an environment where AI tools can generate realistic but inaccurate content.

Latin America AI governance initiative discussed

Later in the day, a roundtable at the LATAM Pavilion explored expanding the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) into Latin America. The discussion, led by Brian Anderson, examined how regional stakeholders could collaborate on AI governance frameworks and policy development.

Participants from Brazil and other Latin American countries discussed potential priorities such as governance standards for AI procurement, model monitoring, and clinician education.

Regional chapter under consideration

Organizers indicated that a Latin America chapter of CHAI could launch in mid-2026, potentially aligned with regional healthcare events. Early coordination efforts are underway among healthcare organizations, technology companies, and policy stakeholders to define the initiative’s structure and priorities.

Stay tuned for day three...

Header image: LATAM Pavilion at HIMSS26. Credit: Danielle Siarri

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HIMSS26: Day 1 highlights

HIMSS26: Day 3 highlights

Several sessions on the first day examined the growing use of artificial intelligence in healthcare operations, including governance, clinical implementation, and cybersecurity.

AI governance and implementation

Speakers discussed how some health systems are developing internal governance models to manage AI use. Examples included ambient AI tools that assist with clinical documentation and AI-based triage systems used in home care settings.

Policies governing the use of internal AI platforms versus commercial AI tools were also addressed.

A session featuring representatives from Mass General Brigham outlined the organization’s approach to managing AI deployments through a tiered risk framework that applies different levels of oversight depending on the potential impact of an application.

Nursing informatics

The Nursing Informatics Forum focused on the role of nurses in reviewing and validating AI-generated outputs used in clinical workflows.

Topics included automation bias, data quality, transparency in AI-generated documentation, and training initiatives aimed at improving AI literacy among clinical staff.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity sessions addressed attack patterns affecting healthcare organizations. Analysts referenced the MITRE ATT&CK Framework when discussing incident timelines and approaches to prioritizing protection for systems with the greatest impact on patient care.

Recommendations discussed during the sessions included network segmentation, vulnerability management for connected devices, and security testing of systems outside live clinical environments.

Bonus podcast: We discuss our respective career paths and the evolution of nursing informatics.

Stay tuned for day two…

Header image credit: Danielle Siarri

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HIMSS26: Day 2 highlights

HIMSS26: Day 3 highlights