Straight Outta Health IT

Highlights from 2026 TX HIMSS Regional Conference

What happens when healthcare innovation is shaped not only by technology, but by the real human experiences behind it? In this SOHIT HIMSS 2026 episode of Straight Outta Health IT, Christopher Kunney speaks with healthcare leaders, informatics experts, entrepreneurs, and innovators at the Texas HIMSS Regional Conference about how technology, AI, data, and human experience are transforming healthcare. Erica Olenski, Founder of Monarch Futures and August’s Artists, shares how her experience as a caregiver and the loss of her son inspired her work in healthcare innovation. She emphasizes the importance of treating patient and caregiver experiences as valuable data that should inform the design of digital health solutions. The discussion continues with Elsie Gori, Nurse Informaticist and Program Chair for the Texas HIMSS Regional Conference, who explains how nursing informatics can improve care delivery through better workflow design, data utilization, AI, and smarter alert systems that help reduce alarm fatigue. Nayan D. Patel, SVP and General Manager for Transformation at Neteera, adds the perspective of both a former healthcare CIO and technology executive, highlighting the potential of contactless vital sign monitoring and the need for AI solutions that solve real clinical challenges without adding complexity to existing workflows. Katherine Taylor Pearson, President of the American Nursing Informatics Association, discusses her journey from military nursing to informatics leadership and explains why clinicians remain essential in guiding AI adoption and interpreting healthcare data. Closing the episode, Ted Lindsley, CEO of CognomIQ, explores how modern healthcare data platforms can replace fragmented systems, transform static data into actionable insights, and create the foundation needed for more effective operations, clinician innovation, and the future of healthcare AI. Tune in to hear how healthcare leaders are connecting lived experience, clinical insight, AI, and data infrastructure to build a more human and effective future for health IT. Resources * Connect with Erica Olenski on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaolenski/]. * Follow Monarch Futures on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/monarch-futures/]. * Connect with Elsie Gori on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/elsiegori/]. * Follow Lone Star Communications Inc on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/lone-star-communications-inc-/] and visit their website here [https://lonestarcom.com/]. * Connect with Nayan Patel on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nayandpatel/]. * Follow Neteera on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/neteera/] and visit their website here [https://www.neteera.com/]. * Connect with Katherine Taylor Pearson on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ktaylorpearson/]. * Follow the American Nursing Informatics Association on LinkedIn and visit their website here [https://www.ania.org/]. * Email Katherine here [katherine.taylor-pearson@ttuhsc.edu]. * Connect with Ted Linsley on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedlindsleydfw/]. * Follow CognomIQ on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognomiq/] and visit their website here. [https://cognomiq.com/]

2025 Highlights Patient At The Center Symposium

What happens when healthcare leaders, innovators, and technology experts gather around a single mission: keeping patients at the center of every decision? At the Patient at the Center Symposium, hosted under the Straight Outta Health IT program, Christopher Kunney guided a series of conversations with healthcare leaders, innovators, and executives focused on redefining patient-centered care. The event featured Eugene Greyfer, founder and CEO of Advocaid and Chief Operating Officer at Veritas Health Services, who shared how his work in Texas Medicaid exposed a critical gap in access to diabetic supplies. He explained how Advocaid combines connected hardware and software, including a dual blood pressure and glucose monitoring device with built-in cellular connectivity, to help underserved patients transmit real-time health data to providers, fully covered through Texas’s remote patient monitoring (RPM) program. The symposium then expanded into broader system-level innovation with Jeffrey Heenan-Jalil, founder and CEO of hunterAI, who entered healthcare innovation after losing his brother to cancer and now focuses on healthcare financial transparency through AI-driven spend analytics. He described how his platform analyzes millions of transactions across hospital systems to identify inefficiencies, duplicate payments, and misaligned supplier contracts, with the goal of returning value back into hospital systems for reinvestment in patient care. Mitali Paul, Administrator for the Department of Surgery at Houston Methodist and board member of the Southeast Texas chapter of ACH, emphasized that patient-centered care is not a philosophy but an operational standard, reflected in her organization’s nationally recognized outcomes and commitment to quality, compassion, and culturally competent care. Additional perspectives came from Ini Ekiko Thomas, Vice President at Memorial Hermann Health System and leader of its Innovation Hub, who highlighted the challenges startups face when working with large health systems, particularly around compliance, cybersecurity, vendor vetting, and aligning technology to real clinical or operational problems rather than “shiny object” solutions. Finally, event organizers Brittany Jones and Verndon Samuel of Gozio Health, alongside Josh Sol of FTI Consulting, explained that the symposium's purpose was to bridge the gap between providers, IT leaders, and innovators in a local setting where real collaboration could occur beyond large national conferences. Tune in to hear how today’s healthcare leaders are turning innovation into real-world impact by putting patients at the center of everything they do!  Resources * Connect with Jeffrey Heenan-Jalil on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyheenan-jalil/]. * Follow hunterAI on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/hunterai/] and visit their website here [https://www.hunterai.com/]. * Connect with Mitali Paul on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitalipaul/]. * Follow Houston Methodist on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/houston-methodist/] and visit their website here [https://www.houstonmethodist.org/]. * Connect with Ini Ekiko Thomas on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/iniekikothomas/]. * Follow Memorial Hermann on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/memorialhermann/] and visit their website here [https://memorialhermann.org/]. * Connect with Brittany Jones on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyb-jones/]. * Follow Gozio Health on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/gozio-inc-/] and visit their website here [https://www.goziohealth.com/]. * Connect with Josh Sol on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshsol/]. * Follow FTI Consulting on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/fti-consulting/] and visit their website here [https://www.fticonsulting.com/].

When the Mind Meets the Machine - AI, Mental Health, and the Fight to Keep Humanity at the Center of Care

AI is changing mental health care fast, but Dr. Fred Moss believes the real question is not whether technology can become human. It is whether humans can keep their humanity intact. In this episode of Straight Outta Health IT, Christopher Kunney speaks with Dr. Fred Moss, psychiatrist, mental health advocate, keynote speaker, podcaster, coach, and founder of the Welcome to Humanity movement. Drawing from more than 40 years in psychiatry and over 40,000 patient encounters, Dr. Moss challenges the way society has come to rely on diagnoses, medications, and technology to define human experience and emotional well-being. He reflects on how modern healthcare systems often prioritize efficiency, labels, and treatment protocols over genuine human connection, listening, and understanding. Dr. Moss explains why authentic communication remains central to healing, how AI can be useful when used as a tool rather than a replacement for human responsibility, and why clinicians and patients must be careful not to hand over their agency to machines. He also explores the growing role of telehealth, the risks of becoming emotionally disconnected in an increasingly digital world, and why preserving empathy, presence, and personal accountability matters now more than ever. Tune in to hear a bold conversation on AI, mental health, telehealth, and what it means to preserve the human soul in a rapidly evolving digital age. Resources * Connect with Dr. Fred Moss on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drfredmoss/] and on Facebook here [https://www.facebook.com/welcometohumanityfb].  * Visit Dr. Moss’ website here [https://welcometohumanityretreat.com/].

The Full Picture: Why Fragmented Data is Healthcare's Most Expensive Problem

Healthcare doesn’t suffer from a lack of data; it suffers from a lack of connection between it. In this episode of Straight Out of Health IT, Philip Wickline, cofounder and CTO at Zus Health, talks about how fragmented patient data continues to limit care quality, increase costs, and create unnecessary risk across the healthcare system. He explains how deeply complex, specialized, and distributed healthcare data has become, making integration far more difficult than in other industries. Drawing from personal experience with his father’s long health journey, he highlights the real human consequences when providers lack a complete picture of the patient. He also emphasizes that solving fragmentation is not just technical, it’s foundational to improving outcomes. Wickline introduces the concept of a patient-centric “common patient record” that aggregates data across systems into a real-time, longitudinal view of each individual. He contrasts this with the traditional provider-centric model, where each organization operates in isolation with incomplete information. By connecting dozens of data networks and enabling shared access based on treatment relationships, this model creates the conditions for more proactive, coordinated care. Ultimately, it shifts healthcare from episodic encounters to continuous, data-informed decision-making. He also explores the role of AI and policy in accelerating this transformation, while acknowledging their limitations. AI can help normalize and extract insights from complex data, but only after that data is accessible and aggregated in the first place. Emerging frameworks like TEFCA signal progress toward broader interoperability and patient access, though adoption remains uneven and early. Wickline underscores that real change will require not just better technology, but alignment across systems, incentives, and culture. Tune in to hear how unlocking connected, patient-centered data could redefine how care is delivered, and why the future of healthcare depends on getting this right! Resources * Connect with Philip Wickline on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipwickline/]. * Follow Zus Health on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/zus-health/] and visit their website here [https://zushealth.com/].

Right-Sized: How Unified Communications Can Transform the Small Healthcare Practice

What if the biggest risk to patient care isn’t clinical, but simply the inability to reach someone? In this episode of Straight Out of Health IT, Damon Covey, General Manager of Unified Communications & Collaboration at GoTo, discusses how fragmented communication systems are failing small- and mid-sized healthcare practices and impacting real patient outcomes. He explains that most practices rely on 5–7 disconnected tools, which create inefficiencies and missed interactions. He highlights how these gaps lead to staff burnout and poor patient experiences. He emphasizes that this is not just an operational issue, but a clinical and safety concern. He also explores the value of unified communications as a solution to this growing problem. By bringing calls, texts, scheduling, and data into one platform, practices gain visibility and control over patient interactions. This reduces context switching and administrative burden for staff. It also enables faster, more consistent responses for patients. Finally, he discusses the role of AI in transforming healthcare communication workflows. He shares how AI can automate routine tasks like scheduling and call routing while analyzing sentiment in real time. He stresses that AI works best when embedded into existing workflows rather than as a separate tool. He also warns against adopting too many point solutions, predicting consolidation into trusted platforms. Tune in to learn how simplifying communication, not adding more tools, can transform patient care and practice performance! Resources * Connect with Damon Covey on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/damoncovey/]. * Follow GoTo on LinkedIn here [https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto/] and visit their website here [https://www.goto.com/].