THMA CIO Forum 2026 turns AI strategy into action.

AI should remove rework instead of automating it.

A productive AI discussion starts with the workflow, not the tool. Map where avoidable touches originate across patient access management, prior authorization, clinical documentation integrity, medical coding and denials management and appeals. Then test whether automation eliminates the defect, routes an exception more intelligently or simply accelerates work that remains inaccurate. McKinsey’s 2025 healthcare AI analysis cautions that fragmented point solutions can create new operational friction when organizations automate existing inefficiencies.

First-pass performance should define enterprise value.

Technology value becomes easier to defend when leaders connect adoption to operational and financial outcomes. Rather than measuring model deployments alone, examine whether First-Pass Performance improves, whether the organization can accelerate cash, reduce revenue leakage and lower cost to collect. The stronger business case shows which manual work disappears, which exceptions still require human judgment and how quickly those changes reach the income statement.

Open accountability should extend to every vendor and handoff.

As AI enters core platforms and connected workflows, governance must cover internal development, third-party tools, data access, model performance and human oversight. The American Hospital Association frames the convergence of AI, cybersecurity and clinical risk as an enterprise governance priority. Translate that principle into inspectable ownership: who validates outputs, who can pause a workflow and who corrects the source when performance drifts. Open Accountability should keep decision rights and results visible while the health system retains control.

Evidence can sharpen the comparison. Review how a physician enterprise reduced accounts receivable, how an end-to-end operating cadence sustained zero backlog and how Diagnosis-Related Group validation protected cash and compliance. These examples make it easier to distinguish technology activity from governed performance.

Bring one enterprise decision to the forum.

Choose one AI, cybersecurity, integration or operating-model decision that requires cross-functional alignment. Bring the current workflow, the financial or clinical outcome it should change, the risk controls that cannot be compromised and the evidence that would justify scaling. That structure turns a broad technology conversation into a decision other CIOs can test, challenge and improve.