Healthcare and social services data sharing has evolved quickly over the last several years as supportive policy, funding, and technological advancements have converged. Combined with a whole-person care approach, California’s healthcare and social services landscape has recently demonstrated incredible outcomes for patients and clients.
As we look to the year ahead, we expect this transformation to continue as federal and state policies and funding evolve, organizations build on early data-sharing learnings, and innovation in health tech accelerates.
Here are the trends that will affect healthcare and social services in 2026.
Policy will impact interoperability adoption
With the implementation of SB 660 (Menjivar) and CMS’s vision for data sharing through the CMS Interoperability Framework announced in 2025, there will likely be continued momentum for data exchange in both adoption and choice in 2026. Health systems and other entities will see more incentives and a clearer ROI for data sharing, especially as adoption continues across the state and nation. The drive for patient access, along with the continued consumerization of healthcare, may further accelerate growth as individuals increasingly expect a connected experience from their providers.
Expect digital health options to expand
Remote patient monitoring, particularly wearables and home health monitoring, will be used more frequently for early detection of disease and emerging issues. This has the added benefit of preventing unnecessary hospital visits, as providers will be able to see and respond to changes before emergencies occur. As technology continues to become more prolific, affordable, and connected, this trend is likely to extend well beyond 2026.
AI advancements will more meaningfully support providers
As we saw in 2025, AI is increasingly trusted with administrative tasks, and we expect ambient clinical AI to be used more widely in 2026 for transcribing and interacting with EHR systems—driving greater efficiency, effectiveness, and reduced administrative burden. Rather than repeatedly completing the same forms, human-machine interactions will also become more context-specific in the year ahead, supporting data consistency and completeness.
Data quality will become a priority
If 2025 was the year of data ingestion, 2026 will be the year of data refinement. The need to rely on data to demonstrate Value-Based Care (VBC) models will fuel business intelligence (BI) initiatives. Larger organizations, such as health systems, will create and use data lakes to support BI and AI projects, which will ultimately depend on high-quality data to be effective.
Prior authorization will evolve
In 2025, dozens of health plans committed to simplifying prior authorization, and some of the specific terms of those agreements will begin to take effect in 2026. Among other benefits, these changes could reduce barriers providers face when delivering medically necessary care and improve care coordination when patients switch plans. One thing is clear: the ability to access and share data is essential to the evolution of prior authorization.
HIEs will lead whole-person care data sharing
As whole-person care (the patient-centered integration of healthcare, behavioral health, and social services) continues to be adopted in California and beyond, we will see HIEs and community-based organizations (CBOs) sharing more information in 2026. While the benefits of whole-person care under CalAIM are not new, the digital transformation of CBOs is making it easier for both types of organizations to share information and coordinate care for the benefit of patients and clients, regardless of the composition of their care teams.
Together, these trends indicate the future of health in California will be more connected, data-driven, and person-centered. In 2026, progress will be defined not just by new policies or technologies, but by how effectively organizations translate them into coordinated care, measurable outcomes, and better experiences for all.