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News & Updates
DECEMBER 2025
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Primary Care Innovation Challenge: Application Deadline Extended, Friday, Dec. 19 | |
For the Primary Care Innovation Challenge, MeHI is looking for digital health innovations that support primary care, specifically addressing administrative burden, workforce burnout and patient access. The challenge aligns with the goals of the Massachusetts Primary Care Access, Delivery and Payment Task Force established in 2025, co-chaired by the Health Policy Commission and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS).
Finalists selected for the program will compete for prizes worth a total of $300,000 to support validation projects or pilots with MeHI’s Digital Health Sandboxes. Selected companies will also participate in Mass Digital Health Connects, a two-month series of informative and interactive virtual workshops featuring prominent voices from across the ecosystem, including venture capitalists, state and federal policymakers, and leading researchers.
The application deadline has been extended to Friday, Dec. 19 at 5:00 p.m.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
| MeHI Seeks Implementation Partners for New Program | |
MeHI’s Stronger and Healthier communities through INtegration of Emerging Health Tech (SHINE-HT) program is designed to help Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Massachusetts adopt healthtech solutions that support their workforce and improve their care delivery. MeHI is seeking organizations with experience designing and leading implementations of health technologies for community-based health care organizations to act as Implementation Partners to support selected FQHCs.
Through the SHINE-HT program, MeHI plans to pre-qualify a group of Implementation Partners who will be eligible to receive funding to lead the design and rollout of pilot technology implementations at Massachusetts FQHCs. MeHI will award $70,000 to selected Implementation Partners to complete the scope of services for each pilot implementation. MeHI anticipates funding one pilot implementation this state fiscal year and additional pilot implementations in future fiscal years. Organizations will be pre-qualified through state fiscal year 2029.
Applications for Implementation Partners are due Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
LEARN MORE & APPLY
| | Health IT Mentorship Program | |
MeHI’s Health IT Mentorship Program pairs professionals currently working in the health IT field with students looking to enter the health IT workforce. Over the course of a semester, student mentees work on a health IT-related project with the guidance of their mentor.
MeHI is now recruiting mentors and mentees for the Spring 2026 session, which will run from early February through late April 2026. Applications are now open and can be found here. The deadline to apply is Friday, Jan.16, 2026.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mentorship Program Lead Lis Renczkowski.
| | Ecosystem Updates / Events | | |
AI in Action: Advancing Health Care Through Artificial Intelligence
Join the Lahey Innovation Hub and Middlesex3 Coalition (M3) on Friday, Dec. 19 from 9:30 a.m. to noon for an event focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) can advance health care. The event will feature keynote speakers and panel discussions, and Massachusetts AI Hub Director Sabrina Mansur will participate as a panelist. Attendees will have a better understanding of the real-world application of AI in health care, both globally and locally, as well as how AI can be leveraged to improve community health outcomes.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER
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Digital Frontiers in Frailty: Opportunities for Early Detection and Clinical Action
Join the Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease (MassAITC) on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for Digital Frontiers in Frailty: Opportunities for Early Detection and Clinical Action. The workshop will include plenary speaker sessions from frailty and technology research experts, contributed poster and technology demonstration presentations and a moderated discussion.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER
| | Health Care Cybersecurity News | | Health Care Provider Cybersecurity Call: Thursday, Jan. 8 | | |
Join MeHI and the MassCyberCenter for the monthly Health Care Provider Cybersecurity Call on Thursday, Jan. 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Representatives from the Commonwealth Fusion Center will provide updates on recent cyber threats and trends.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER
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Companies Using AI to Enhance Cybersecurity
Several health care vendors recently announced increased efforts to enhance cybersecurity and protect patients using AI.
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Expert Stresses Importance of Endpoint Defense
Endpoint detection and response tools, combined with expert monitoring, can help health care organizations avoid breaches.
LEARN MORE
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Forbes Announces 30 Under 30 Health Care 2026
Several of the entrepreneurs selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Health Care 2026 are leveraging AI to improve care, empower patients and make health care more efficient.
READ STORY
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Mental Health Apps Face Challenges Integrating AI
First-generation digital mental health companies face a new challenge: integrating generative AI into their clinical portfolios while weighing benefits and risks.
READ STORY
| | Cohere Health Leverages AI to Transform Prior Authorization | |
Cohere Health, based in Boston, doubled its client base over the past year. The company is leveraging AI to reimagine the prior authorization process.
READ STORY
| | Lumia Raises Funds for Device that Tracks Blood Flow | |
Boston-based Lumia, maker of a wearable device that monitors blood flow, continues to seek additional funding while fostering partnerships with Harvard University and Mass General Brigham.
READ STORY
| | Uwill Makes Technology Fast 500 List | |
Natick-based mental health startup Uwill is among 31 Massachusetts companies on Deloitte's North America Technology Fast 500 List, which ranks companies by their percentage fiscal year revenue growth.
READ STORY
| | MeHI Hosts Listening Sessions with Mass League | | | | |
MeHI recently co-hosted a series of listening sessions with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (Mass League). Through discussions with executive leaders, clinicians, administrative teams and patients, MeHI heard about obstacles to care, the strain on daily workflows, and the ways people are already using technology to stay informed and engaged in their health care. The listening sessions, held at several FQHCs throughout the state, will inform the design of MeHI's new SHINE-HT (Stronger & Healthier communities through the INtegration of Emerging Health Tech) grant program.
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