Misdiagnoses due to artificial intelligence and rural communities’ limited access to care should be front of mind for healthcare organizations looking to minimize preventable harm and improve patient outcomes in 2026, warned ECRI in a report released this week. The two issues were at the top of the healthcare safety group’s annual ranking of top patient safety concerns, which spanned a broad range of focus areas, including technology, public health, staffing, organizational culture and structural barriers to care.
The goal of the pilot is to create a clearer path to integrated, data-driven team-based care that enables primary care to thrive in advanced payment models. Building on lessons from NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home program, pilot participants will evaluate draft standards that emphasize proactive population health, behavioral health integration, strong care team coordination and data-enabled decision-making. They will test the standards in real-world settings, report electronic clinical quality measures and participate in a mock survey to inform future program design.
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to launch an automated fraud-detection tool to scan more than a million disability benefits questionnaires for evidence of fabrication or other problems that could force a new medical exam and impact compensation, according to a VA official. James W. Smith, a deputy executive director at the Veterans Benefits Administration, told lawmakers that the tool will have the capability to quickly review submitted questionnaires — known as DBQs — that document medical evidence to determine a disability rating and monthly compensation. The VA’s new automated tool is expected to launch in fiscal 2026 and is part of a larger push to fortify the benefits system against fraud and abuse, according to the VA.
Hospital expenses grew twice as fast as prices in 2025: 4 AHA findings
American hospitals saw expenses grow 7.5% in 2025, more than twice the rate of growth in hospital prices that year, according to the American Hospital Association’s annual “Costs of Caring” report. The findings, which were drawn from industry benchmark data compiled by Strata Decision Technology, point to a system under mounting strain: Hospitals are treating more patients, those patients are getting sicker and the cost of supplies from drugs to disposable gloves is increasing quicker than reimbursements can keep up with.
HL7 Launches FHIR Accelerator Focused on Medical Device Interoperability
HL7 has launched a FHIR accelerator implementation community focused on improving how data from medical and personal health devices is exchanged, integrated, and used across healthcare systems. The Caliper Accelerator builds on HL7’s 2025 initiative to help founding members define a collaborative implementation community addressing long-standing challenges in device interoperability across acute care settings and emerging care environments.
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