On April 9, 2026, federal leaders, innovators, and industry stakeholders gathered for the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem“First Wave” launch event, marking a turning point in how the nation is approaching interoperability, patient access, and digital health innovation.
Held alongside the White House’s “Make Health Tech Great Again” initiative, the event brought together hundreds of organizations committed to building a next-generation digital health ecosystem designed to improve patient outcomes, reduce provider burden, and accelerate value-based care.
With more than 700 organizations now engaged and over 120 actively developing tools, the initiative reflects growing alignment across government, industry, and infrastructure leaders. But beyond the scale, what stood out most was the shift from vision to execution, and the critical role Civitas Networks for Health® (Civitas) members are playing in making that shift possible.
Knowing that several Civitas members were in attendance, the Civitas team caught up with three members (Connxus – Texas, Orion Health – one of our Strategic Business and Technology members who partners with several HIEs, and SYNCRONYS – New Mexico) who shared some takeaways.
Here is what they found:
Turning Policy Into Practice
While interoperability has long been a policy priority, this event marked a shift toward real-world implementation. CMS leaders showcased a series of tangible tools and initiatives designed to modernize how data is accessed, shared, and used across the health care system.
Key initiatives included:
- “Kill the Clipboard”: Digital check-in tools that allow patients to securely share their health information via smartphone, thus eliminating redundant paper forms and manual intake processes
- Medicare App Library: A centralized hub of vetted applications that enable beneficiaries to manage their health records, access data, and support chronic condition management
- Interoperability in Workflow: Tools designed to move data directly into clinician workflows, ensuring information is exchanged and usable at the point of care
- Identity Verification Infrastructure: Integration with trusted services like ID.me, CLEAR, and Login.gov to enable secure, patient-directed access to health data
- Ecosystem Demonstrations: More than 50 companies demonstrated solutions spanning patient access, data aggregation, and care management
Together, these efforts reflect CMS’ broader goal to move health care away from outdated, manual processes, including fax-based exchange and toward a digital-first, app-enabled experience centered on the patient and, eventually, providers.
For SYNCRONYS’ President and CEO, Terri Stewart, these demonstrations reinforced what interoperability looks like when it is fully realized. Terri noted that the focus on patient-centered access was not theoretical – it was operational, supported by real tools and patient stories that underscored the urgency of making data accessible and actionable.
A Broader Ecosystem with Civitas Member Expertise at the Center
The event made clear that this transformation is not being built in isolation.
Civitas members, including SYNCRONYS, Connxus, and Orion Health, are actively contributing to this evolving ecosystem, bringing the infrastructure, experience, and trust frameworks needed to move from concept to reality.
Lori Steger, Marketing Lead U.S. for Orion Health, said her team considers one of the clearest signals to be the level of alignment emerging across regulation, reimbursement, and innovation. This convergence creates a more viable path for scaling digital health solutions – something the industry has struggled to achieve in the past.
At the same time, Connxus CEO Eliel Oliveira highlighted the administration’s urgency in pushing health care to match other industries in adopting advanced technologies.
The message was clear: organizations that participate in and help shape this ecosystem will lead the next era of health care, and those that do not risk falling behind.
As attendees of the event, Terri, Lori, and Eliel shared some common findings, with five standing out.
Takeaway #1: Interoperability is the Foundation, Not the Finish Line
One of the most important shifts highlighted during the event is a reframing of interoperability itself. Interoperability is no longer looked at as the end goal for health technology – instead, it’s the foundation upon which everything else is built.
Federal leaders reinforced the role of TEFCA as the backbone for nationwide data exchange, with exchange volumes growing dramatically in recent years. But as Lori noted, the conversation is evolving beyond connectivity to focus on usability, timeliness, and impact.
For Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) and Health Data Utilities (HDUs), this shift is significant.
Organizations like SYNCRONYS and Connxus are already demonstrating how data can move beyond exchange into real-time workflows, supporting care coordination, improving decision-making, and enabling more complete longitudinal health records. The expectation is no longer just to connect to and with systems, but to ensure that data is available where and when it is needed.
Eliel echoed this perspective, emphasizing the importance of building networks that can support secure data exchange and access at scale for patients, providers, and payers alike.
Takeaway #2: Patient Data Access and Control is Key
Another central theme of the First Wave launch was the move toward patient-controlled access to health data. As Terri observed, many of the demonstrated solutions focused on enabling patients to retrieve and manage their data through applications, rather than relying on traditional patient portals. CMS made it clear that the future lies in app-based ecosystems, supported by secure identity verification and real-time data exchange.
This shift has important implications for how infrastructure must evolve.
Eliel highlighted the emerging concept of a national provider directory, combined with identity verification tools, to enable secure and auditable access to data across networks. This approach extends beyond patient access to include providers and payers, creating a more unified and scalable ecosystem. Connxus has committed to full production that supports data sharing and access across these key use groups by the expected July 4, 2026, go-live date.
At the same time, these developments raise important questions for HIEs, such as:
- How to support individual-level queries
- How to ensure appropriate access controls
- How to align with emerging CMS-aligned network requirements
Takeaway #3: AI and Data are Only as Effective as the Infrastructure That Upholds Them
Another key signal from the event was the growing maturity of AI in health care. AI is beginning to move out of the pilot phase and into practical, scalable use cases – but its success depends on access to high-quality, longitudinal data. This dependency places HIEs and HDUs at the center of the AI conversation.
As Lori noted, AI is only as effective as the data infrastructure behind it. HIEs, with their ability to aggregate, normalize, and distribute data across fragmented systems, are uniquely positioned to enable the next generation of AI-driven care.
Looking ahead, Eliel pointed to conversational AI and patient-facing tools as the next frontier, raising important questions about how infrastructure will support new use cases such as care navigation, scheduling, prior authorization, and fraud detection.
Rather than punting these questions down the road as future priorities, we must look at these issues as emerging realities that will require coordinated action across the ecosystem.
Takeaway #4: Civitas Members Can Chart a Collaborative Path Forward
At its core, the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem is fundamentally a collaborative effort – one that will only succeed if the right voices are at the table.
The event highlighted strong public-private partnerships and an open call for continued industry participation. However, as Terri noted, many of the current CMS workgroups are heavily populated by vendors. This creates a clear opportunity and responsibility for Civitas members to bring their perspectives, operational experience, and community-centered approach into the conversation. This is especially critical as new standards, governance models, and technical expectations are being defined in real time.
Civitas members bring something distinct to this work: trusted, community-based infrastructure that connects providers, public health, payers, and social care organizations. Their experience in governance, consent management, and cross-sector data exchange is essential to ensuring that this ecosystem is not only scalable, but also grounded in trust, accountability, and real-world applicability.
As Eliel emphasized, the opportunity for HIEs extends far beyond participation. There is a clear path for HIEs to lead, particularly as the concept of CMS-aligned networks continues to evolve. In a fully realized, aligned ecosystem, providers could access nearly any patient record nationally in real time, and patients could retrieve a complete, longitudinal view of their health data through trusted HIE infrastructure.
This is where HIEs have a distinct advantage. Unlike many emerging solutions, they already have the ability to aggregate and deliver data from hospitals, primary care, behavioral health, post-acute providers, and more at scale and with increasing quality. While early pilots showcased patient access tools, questions remain about the completeness and reliability of the data behind them. Civitas members are uniquely positioned to close that gap.
The risk, as Eliel noted, is not a lack of capability, but a lack of visibility. If HIEs do not actively engage and demonstrate their value in this evolving ecosystem, other entities may step in to fill the narrative – even if they cannot deliver the same depth, quality, or trust.
The path forward is clear: Civitas members have both the infrastructure and the expertise to help shape this ecosystem. The opportunity now is to ensure their voices and value are fully realized.
Takeaway #5: Together, We Have to Move from Participation to Leadership
The First Wave launch event was more than an announcement – it was a signal.
A signal that health care is entering a new phase, where 1) interoperability enables real-world impact, 2) patients are at the center of data access, and 3) infrastructure must support increasingly complex and dynamic use cases.
Civitas members are not new to this work. They have been building the foundation for years.
Now, as organizations like SYNCRONYS, Connxus, and Orion Health demonstrate, they are helping lead the next phase, ensuring that national innovation efforts are grounded in real-world experience, trusted governance, and operational excellence.
The opportunity ahead is clear: to move from participation to leadership, and to help shape a future where data is used to improve care, reduce cost, and empower patients.
Watch the Full Event
To hear directly from CMS leaders, industry partners, and innovators shaping this work, watch the full recording of the First Wave launch event. To learn more about how Civitas members are uniquely positioned to support this work, please reach out to .
Thank you to Terri Stewart, Lori Steger, and Eliel Oliveira for contributing to this piece.
