AI Healthcare News That Matters
Hospitals Advance AI-Enabled Prevention at Scale
New data shows that 93% of patients engaged with AI-guided programs compared to 83% for human-led ones, overcoming scheduling barriers. For community health nurses, this means the AI handles the “routine check-ins,” allowing the nurse to focus on the 10% of high-risk patients who require intensive clinical intervention.
Sutter Health Integrates AI Decision Support Into Epic EHR Workflows
In a major leap for point-of-care efficiency, nurses at Sutter Health can now ask natural language questions directly inside the patient’s chart to retrieve current protocols. This “Digital Preceptor” eliminates the need for nurses to leave the bedside to search through separate policy manuals or medical databases.
Empathetic AI Nurses Can Vastly Improve Nurses’ Work and Patient Care
A sweeping study published in February 2026 found that patients consistently rate AI chatbots and robotic avatars higher on empathy scales than human clinicians. This “empathy gap” suggests that robots can handle emotionally taxing intake processes, freeing human nurses to provide the deep, complex human connection that AI cannot replicate.
Many health care leaders are leaning into agentic AI as adoption hurdles ease
Health care organizations are accelerating investment in agentic AI, shifting from small pilots to enterprise‑level adoption as technical, cultural, and data‑related barriers begin to ease. Deloitte’s research suggests that agentic AI could reshape operating models across clinical care, consumer engagement, workforce capacity, and administrative workflows—delivering significant cost savings and competitive advantage for early adopters.
Can Medical AI Lie? Large Study Maps How LLMs Handle Health Misinformation
A massive study analyzing over a million prompts found that current LLMs can repeat false medical claims if they appear in realistic-looking hospital notes. This reinforces the 2026 nursing role of “Strategic Authenticator,” where nurses must verify all AI-generated summaries against their clinical observations to ensure accuracy.
American Nurses Foundation Announces New $10,000 Microgrants for Research on AI and Innovation in Nursing
With applications due by February 17, 2026, these grants empower nurses to build and test their own AI tools. This initiative ensures that future technology is designed by those at the bedside, focusing on “nurse-friendly” automation that enhances rather than complicates the clinical workflow.
AI in Healthcare Administration: A Complete Overview
Administration comprises 25% of all healthcare costs, making it a key target for automation. Organizations are using AI to support documentation, coding, scheduling and more.
Getting Smart With Virtual Assistants in Healthcare
Instead of sifting through massive clinical manuals, Mayo Clinic’s new in-house AI assistant curates instant, location-specific policy summaries. For float-pool or travel nurses, this eliminates the “information lag” when working in unfamiliar units.
https://healthtechmagazine.net/article/2026/02/getting-smart-virtual-assistants-healthcare
The year ahead will test how quickly health care organizations can turn AI ambition into real change.
The American Association of Medical Colleges underscores that “AI Literacy” is now a core onboarding requirement. Nurses are expected to understand privacy, transparency, and “human-in-the-loop” expectations, moving the profession toward a model where the nurse is the ultimate governor of AI-generated care outputs.
https://sullivancotter.com/ai-and-the-future-of-health-care/
AI predicts blood transfusion needs for trauma patients before hospital arrival
This machine-learning model uses pre-hospital data to predict transfusion needs for trauma patients. This enables trauma nurses and surgical teams to prepare blood and operating suites earlier, saving life-critical minutes upon patient arrival.
Wolters Kluwer adds UpToDate Lexidrug’s comprehensive drug information to GenAI-powered clinical decision support, UpToDate Expert AI
This integration provides real-time, evidence-based medication decision support directly within the workflow. Nurses can now access expert-vetted drug information in seconds, reducing medication errors and streamlining complex titration processes.
How AI Will Shape the Future of Health Care In 2026
New reports highlight that 2026 is the year “Ambient AI” moves from pilot to mainstream. These AI agents listen to patient-nurse interactions and draft clinical notes in real-time. This technology aims to eliminate the “administrative time sink,” which currently consumes twice as much time as direct patient care.
https://sullivancotter.com/ai-and-the-future-of-health-care/