HIMSS26 Executive Summit
Navigating the Headwinds of Healthcare Change: Using Digital Health Transformation as a Strategic Lever
In an era where today’s global healthcare environment is pressure-filled and dynamic, the HIMSS26 Executive Summit program delivers strategic guidance for healthcare information and technology executives who are committed to leading through digital health transformation.
Our carefully selected themes, developed by the HIMSS26 Executive Summit Advisory Board, amplifies healthcare’s fundamental purpose: improving patient outcomes and delivering positive impact through exceptional care. By addressing digital health technologies including AI, innovation, virtual care models, patient-centered excellence, and others, we will position executive leaders to convert the challenges presented by today’s “headwinds of healthcare” into meaningful experiences.
The HIMSS26 Executive Summit invites qualified* health information and technology executives to engage with peers who have successfully leveraged people, processes, and technologies to navigate industry disruption and drive sustainable results. Please join us to gain pragmatic approaches, insights, and tangible recommendations that will continue to shape the future of healthcare delivery.
*Qualified healthcare executives must be part of organizations designated as providers, payers, non-profits, government, pharma, associations, academic organizations, or other similar non-commercially based organizations. Market Suppliers are excluded.
Register for the Executive Plus Pass and get access to the exclusive Tuesday evening VIP Networking Event.
Overall Learning Objectives
- Analyze the ways that the “headwinds of healthcare change” are being addressed through technology enablers.
- Evaluate the digital health transformation strategic levers that are supporting the very mission and vision of healthcare organizations globally.
- Recognize not only the power of AI, innovation, virtual care models and other technologies, but also the need to ensure that sound governance is established and maintained.
- Examine the ways that organizations are addressing delivering exceptional care and service excellence across the people, processes, patients, and technologies in use.
- Apply experiences gained in one’s own healthcare environment beginning on Monday morning and beyond.
Agenda At-A-Glance
Monday, March 9 | Level 2 | Venetian E
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Breakfast
7:00 AM
Fuel your day with breakfast beginning at 7:00 AM and connect with fellow executives before the summit sessions begin.
Sponsor
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Opening Remarks
8:00 AM – 8:15 AM
HIMSS President and CEO Welcome and Senior Executive Changemaker Awardee Recognitions
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Welcoming Keynote
8:15 AM – 8:45 AM
Leading Through Healthcare’s Perfect Storm: Addressing the Headwinds of Systemic Change
Healthcare executives face a convergence of critical challenges today: workforce sustainability crises, shifting federal funding landscapes, persistent inflationary pressures, and evolving demands. In this dynamic environment, forward-thinking healthcare executives are positioning their organizations not just to weather current uncertainties, but also to emerge stronger and more capable of delivering exceptional care to the communities they serve.
Learning Objectives
- Review the most pressing issues for today’s healthcare environment
- Discuss strategies for maximizing technology, care delivery and operational investments to lessen the impact of mounting pressures
- Identify ways for cultivating organizational resilience grounded in a culture of optimism and innovative thinking
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Executive Summit Opening Keynote
8:45 AM – 9:15 AM
Thrive in Change: The WILD COURAGE to be Resilient
In an era of AI disruption, economic swings, and shifting markets, resilience is your team’s competitive edge. Jenny Wood—New York Times bestselling author of Wild Courage—led major operational shifts at Google as the company grew from 6,000 to 180,000 employees. Over her 18-year rise from entry-level to executive, she learned that thriving in change takes more than grit. It takes nine unexpected traits that most of us were taught to dial down. Jenny shows how to use them wisely to stay adaptable and high performing. Because inspired people don’t wait for change—they lead it. Learning Objectives- Discuss the importance of aligning strategic financial and technical competencies to maximize resources
- Identify proven strategies that demonstrate an ongoing, committed and collaborative relationship between the two areas
- Examine tactics that ensure value realization of technology investments like ROI
Jenny Wood
NYT Bestselling Author, Former Google Executive, Expert in Driving Transformational Business Change, Influencing Customers, and Improving Team Engagement
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Discovering New Sources of Revenue from Within: Using AI as a Strategic Driver
9:15 AM – 10:00 AM
With intense pressure to maximize resources while demonstrating positive impact and patient outcomes, strategies that maximize existing technology investments, demonstrate strategic alignment for new technology initiatives, and discover new sources of revenue within the healthcare organization have become a team sport between the CIO and the CFO.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss the importance of strategic aligning financial and technical competencies to maximize resources
- Identify proven strategies that demonstrate an ongoing, committed and collaborative relationship between the two areas
- Examine tactics that ensure value realization of technology investments like ROI
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Peer-to-Peer Networking Break
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Recharge and reconnect during our strategic 15-minute networking break, an opportunity to exchange insights between sessions.
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Revolutionizing Oncology Care and Patient Experience with Agentic AI
10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment planning demands precision across a complex workflow involving disparate healthcare systems and multidisciplinary teams. This session explores how agentic AI is transforming oncology care through autonomous decision-making capabilities and adaptive learning in complex healthcare environments, with particular emphasis on enhancing the patient experience across fragmented systems. We will explore how agentic AI addresses the aggregation and interpretation of multimodal data from imaging studies, pathology reports, genomic sequencing, clinical histories, and real-time monitoring.
The session demonstrates how multi-agent solutions employ distributed problem-solving approaches to process different aspects of complex clinical data while coordinating care across multiple touchpoints, creating a unified view of the patient’s condition. Through real-world examples, we will illustrate how the orchestration design pattern enables asynchronous workflow management, dynamically coordinating complex tasks by intelligently planning, decomposing, and delegating subtasks to specialized worker agents. The presentation emphasizes the critical importance of human-in-the-loop design, ensuring AI serves as a powerful augmentation tool rather than a replacement for clinical expertise.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate how agentic AI integrates multimodal data, improving diagnostic precision
- Design a multi-agent collaborative workflow by mapping distributed problem-solving approaches when coordinating oncology care across multiple touchpoints
- Implement “human-in-the-loop” by configuring AI task delegation and decomposition strategies that correctly maintain clinical expertise as the primary decision authority
Sponsor
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The Convergence of AI, Cyber, and Data Science: Scaling Responsible Solutions to Protect Patients and Data
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM
With the explosive adoption of AI at the point of care, AI brings great promise but known and unknown risks to patient safety, intellectual property, privacy, and security. The healthcare industry has seen this pattern before with EHR adoption, connected devices, and the evolution of cybersecurity: innovation that outpaces sound governance can erode patient and provider trust and lead to costly compliance failures.
Let’s get AI right. This session shows how to apply those lessons and available frameworks to manage AI responsibly. You will learn how leading organizations use AI governance, cybersecurity, and data science to responsibly support clinical decision-making, improve patient and population health, enhance the patient experience, and unlock AI’s strategic advantages.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the legalities of non-compliance with the use of AI
- Receive examples of risk and compliance issues with ineffective data governance policies
- Examine post implementation tactics
Amy Leopard
Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Health IT and AI Counsel, Certified AI Governance Professional
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Peer-to-Peer Networking Lunch
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Engage with providers and other executive decision-makers during our curated networking lunch.
Sponsor
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Executive Perspectives – Sponsored Panel
1:15 PM – 2:00 PM
Fostering a Culture of Innovation: Reducing Burden while Driving Digital Health Excellence Through Connected Technologies
As organizations continue to navigate healthcare uncertainty in unprecedented and tumultuous times, developing a posture that embraces innovation as a strategic lever for digital advancement is a game-changer. Today’s digital health landscape encompasses connected devices, telehealth platforms, hybrid care models, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence applications that are transforming how healthcare is delivered and documented.
Learning Objectives
- Identify best practices in developing an organization-wide culture of innovation that embraces emerging digital health technologies
- Evaluate case studies of impactful digital health excellence utilizing connected devices, telehealth, hybrid care models, and predictive analytics
- Discuss how AI-powered documentation and digital health technologies reduce administrative burden, address workforce burnout, and create new revenue opportunities
Tessa Cook
Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Practice Transformation in Radiology, Penn Medicine
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Executive Perspectives - Sponsored Panel
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
Clinical Performance Excellence: Data Modernization as a Mission Critical Strategy
Maintaining high standards of clinical care is a strategic and regulatory imperative. Progressive healthcare organizations are proactively addressing data platform modernization, not as “once and done” but rather viewing it as mission critical. By building and maintaining a robust data platform that exceeds the growing care delivery needs of patients, providers, and their families, organizations can ensure operational excellence while meeting evolving regulatory requirements and patient-centered care initiatives. Learning Objectives- Examine the critical need to actively engage in data platform modernization efforts
- Identify the foundation infrastructure, automation methodologies, and the measurable impact across the organization
- Examine integrated approaches to data governance, process methodologies, and other strategies that intersect with both clinical quality and platform resilience
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Peer-to-Peer Networking Break
2:45 PM – 3:15 PM
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Hospital Meets Hospitality: Elevating Patient Care Through Service-Oriented Principles
3:15 PM – 4:00 PM
A leading healthcare organization has pioneered an innovative approach by incorporating hospitality principles into its medical services. This strategic initiative transforms traditional patient care by introducing elements of luxury hospitality—emphasizing comfort, personalization, and attentive service—across its extensive network of practices and outpatient facilities.
Learning Objectives
- Examine the principles of luxury hospitality and evaluate their impact on patient satisfaction, staff engagement, and operational efficiency within healthcare settings
- Develop strategies to implement service-oriented models inspired by hospitality principles in healthcare organizations, focusing on personalization, comfort, and attention to detail to enhance the patient experience
- Assess the scalability and sustainability of the approach to integrating hospitality into healthcare operations, and identify key factors for successful adoption across diverse hospital networks
Andrew Rubin
Senior Vice President, Clinical Affairs and Ambulatory Care, NYU Langone Health
Nader Mherabi
Chief Digital and Information Officer, Executive Vice President, Vice Dean, NYU Langone Health
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Closing Keynote: The Power of Buy-In: How Leaders Create a Culture of Excellence
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
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HIMSS26 Opening Reception
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM


Carahsoft Charity Golf Tournament
Before HIMSS26 kicks off, join Carahsoft for a charity golf tournament supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer! Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is the largest independent childhood cancer charity in the U.S., funding critical research and providing support for families impacted by childhood cancer.
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Sunday, March 8
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Provider executives are invited to play free of charge, and sponsorship opportunities are available for industry partners.
For more information on the event, please reach out to the Carahsoft team.
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Executive Summit Opening Reception
Kick off the Executive Summit beneath the stunning sunset ceiling at the authentic Italian restaurant in the heart of St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian Hotel Resort Casino.
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Sunday, March 8
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM


Tuesday Night VIP Special Event
Join us for an exclusive Executive Tuesday Night VIP Special Event, featuring a private reception inside the iconic Sphere. Experience a behind-the-scenes presentation of cutting-edge technology, followed by an immersive screening of the brand-new Wizard of Oz production. This exclusive event offers exceptional networking opportunities among industry executives in an intimate, sophisticated setting.
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Tuesday, March 10
5:45 PM – 9:15 PM
Sphere Las Vegas
55 Sands Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89169
Private Reception in “Emerald City”
5:45 PM – 7:45 PM
This is a VIP space inside the Sphere.
Wizard of Oz
8:00 PM – 9:15 PM
Great seats to the show!