Interview: HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf talks about 2026 conference

In less than a week, more than 25,000 healthcare leaders will be attending the HIMSS 2026 Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas.

The conference is expected to draw more than 25,000 healthcare leaders, with nearly one-third coming from the C-Suite. Hundreds of sessions are scheduled, with nearly 1,000 companies exhibiting their latest high-tech offerings.

Even so close to the big event, Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS, exhibited his typical enthusiasm and affability in a conversation with Chief Healthcare Executive® Tuesday afternoon.

“This has been such a remarkable year,” Wolf says. “There has been globally, a lot of investment and a lot of acceleration and innovation.”

“What I'm very excited about this year, in particular coming into HIMSS 26, we've really been transitioning from theoretical to actual implementation of a lot of AI, a lot of operational fixes. I think people have really caught on to how we can start to approach digital health in earnest and at scale,” he says.

The conference will feature a heavy focus on AI in the healthcare industry, along with other cutting-edge tools. Wolf points to the rapid advances in technology in recent years, noting that video in telehealth wasn’t used too often before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, agentic AI is playing a bigger part in the industry. And healthcare organizations are boosting their investments in digital transformation, and that’s occurring globally.

“You do see the investments taking place,” Wolf says. “But people aren't just putting in electronic medical records in Europe and things of that nature. They're looking two steps down the road.”

Wolf sees growing interest in AI from health systems as they look to serve more patients, even as they already face shortages of doctors and nurses.

With growing financial pressures and workforce shortages, healthcare leaders are thinking differently by necessity, he says.

“It's not a silver bullet itself,” Wolf says of AI. “But there are the components of a silver bullet in there that definitely can weigh itself into making improvements and change and kind of relieving some of the pressures that we have inside the ecosystem.”

Wolf will be appearing on a panel at the conference with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and other federal officials. The discussion will include CMS’ efforts to improve Americans’ access to health data, greater transparency in pricing, and using AI.

“​​They're working very hard to figure out how to use digital tools in order to extend care, extend access quality,” Wolf says. “They're counting on some of those investments to really pay off. So I'm looking forward to being on stage with them and having those conversations about where CMS is.”

But Wolf also says that conference will also feature conversations about how hospitals and health systems are expected to see more challenges even as they are expecting less federal aid in the future. Wolf says he’s concerned about the impact of Medicaid cuts slated to go into effect over the next decade, particularly on rural hospitals and community hospitals in vulnerable communities.

“They've all been under financial stress, and now we're going to squeeze that even harder,” he says.

The conference will feature discussions on using AI in patient care and in business operations, federal policies, cybersecurity and telehealth, among other topics.

Wolf is also enthusiastic about another panel discussion that will be examining how AI applications are designed and how that can influence their value. Wolf is participating in that conversation.

“When you go to select an application, it's really important to understand what attitude it's walking into your shop with,” Wolf says.

The “attitude” of those AI apps, either to reduce costs or to help improve services to customers, matters a great deal, he says.

“This is something that a lot of people don't think about. It's a critical layer, though, in the way that you think about the value proposition of what to select when you're going into the market,” Wolf says.

“This is no longer about whether or not we should,” he adds. “It's, so what's the attitude walking in? And it's actually going to be pretty interesting.”

Coming tomorrow: Look for our full discussion with Hal Wolf on the next episode of “Changes,” a new video series and podcast from Chief Healthcare Executive®.

Chief Healthcare Executive® will be reporting from the HIMSS conference in Las Vegas. Look for our coverage from the event and more previews in the coming days.

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