If You Are Still Talking About “Your AI” You Missed the Point of HIMSS26

By Kristin Deuber, APR, MBA, Senior Group Director, Digital Health

At HIMSS26, AI was simply the cover charge to get in the room. While AI was all over the conference, it’s clear that the conversation has matured and AI is no longer being discussed as a standalone feature, but as shared infrastructure within a larger ecosystem. The most compelling narratives walked through specific journeys from prior authorization, revenue cycle, clinical documentation and patient communications, showing how a network of agentic systems plugs into EHRs, CRMs, payer platforms and partner tools to continuously run those workflows.

A similar shift could be felt in how people spoke about collaboration. Speakers repeatedly acknowledged that no single vendor can own an end‑to‑end experience anymore and that, to fix real problems, competitors must interoperate, share data responsibly, and sometimes even co‑design workflows. The tone moved away from walled gardens toward a recognition that everyone must make solutions work together to advance access, equity and financial sustainability, and that sense of mutual dependency between humans and AI agents, and across the ecosystem itself, is now central to the story.

For communications and marketing leaders, that evolution has four key implications:

1. Stop selling an algorithm and start telling an operating-model story

It’s not about adding AI to improve X, it’s about orchestrating a team of agents that continuously runs this workflow, with humans in the loop where it matters. That requires being explicit about the workflow, the handoffs and how this changes the day‑to‑day reality for clinicians, staff and patients.

2. Move governance from the appendix to the front door

When AI agents start acting on behalf of your organization, governance and safety are part of the value proposition, not fine print. The strongest stories name the guardrails, monitoring and override mechanisms up front. They treat safety, accountable and compliance as a differentiator, not a defensive slide at the end.

3. Lead with a small set of hard proof points

Vague promises of efficiency and better experiences don’t cut it anymore. The companies that stand out have two or three metrics they can repeat in every conversation, such as percent of encounters handled, minutes saved per clinician per day, reductions in denials or call volume. Communications teams need to do the internal work to find and align around those numbers, then build them into PR efforts, sales narratives and executive talking points.

4. Make partnership part of your core narrative, not an afterthought

If the work now depends on multiple vendors, data sources and care settings, your story should too. That means showcasing real examples of co‑innovation with health systems, joint solutions with ecosystem partners and proof that you can coexist with competitors. Instead of pretending you can do it all, lean into the value you bring to a shared, interoperable picture.

If HIMSS26 was any indication, “we have AI” is now the most forgettable thing you can say. The health tech stories that will resonate in 2026 will be those that clearly describe workflow, guardrails, integrations, partnerships and outcomes. If your messaging still stops at “our AI,” you’re not just behind on technology, you’re behind on how the industry is organizing to move healthcare forward.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn. You can view the original post here and learn more about the author on LinkedIn here.