What HIMSS26 Revealed About the Evolving Prescription Ecosystem

Last week, HIMSS26 brought more than 25,000 healthcare leaders to Las Vegas, and the energy on the ground matched the urgency of the moment. 

Compared to ViVE just weeks earlier, HIMSS offered a more enterprise-wide focus. The conversations at our booth and across the expo floor reflected an industry moving beyond experimentation with innovative new technologies and toward real implementation, particularly in the systems that drive prescription access and affordability.

Here are four themes that stood out.

1. The Prescription Journey Has Outgrown Its Infrastructure

A prescription claim is no longer a simple, linear path from prescriber to pharmacy to payer. Today, multiple pricing checks, routing options, and eligibility determinations occur in real time, and the pace of change is only accelerating. 

Two forces are driving this shift: heightened demand for price transparency at every point of care, and the proliferation of alternative pricing models that operate alongside traditional insurance adjudication.

For health IT leaders, that shift means legacy assumptions about claims adjudication and pricing presentation are now sources of friction and, in some cases, introduce compliance risk. Organizations that closely map their current workflows and evaluate where real-time pricing fits into the process will be best positioned to adapt.

2. Transparency Belongs Upstream

Real-time price transparency can no longer live exclusively at the pharmacy counter. It must extend to physicians who are increasingly discussing medication costs with patients.

When patients can see their options earlier, whether copays, cash prices, manufacturer programs, or financial assistance offerings, the conversation changes. They can make informed decisions with their provider rather than encountering “sticker shock” at pickup or abandoning a prescription altogether. 

Each year, patients abandon 98 million prescriptions due to unexpected costs.  Embedding cost intelligence earlier in the care journey is one of the clearest ways to address that gap.

The goal is a future in which every available savings option is automatically surfaced before a patient reaches the pharmacy counter. Achieving that requires real-time, rules-based decisioning technology that integrates seamlessly into existing clinical and pharmacy workflows without added friction.

3. Adherence Demands a Broader View

Health plans face growing pressure to improve medication adherence metrics, and that pressure cascades through the entire healthcare ecosystem. When a member fills a prescription through a cash discount program instead of their plan benefit, that fill should still count toward adherence. However, it’s proven challenging to accurately capture and validate those transactions in a way that counts toward quality measures, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Star Ratings program.

Closing that loop represents a meaningful opportunity for plans to improve quality scores while lowering patient costs. It also reflects a broader industry shift toward cash and discount programs becoming strategic assets across the ecosystem. 

A decade ago, pharmacies viewed discount cards as an inconvenience. Today, many recognize that discount card transactions can reduce rejected claims, lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, and help retain pharmacy customers with improved satisfaction. Organizations that integrate cash programs into their broader benefit and adherence strategies will be better positioned to stay ahead of the curve.

4. Security and Compliance Remain Table Stakes

HIMSS26 reinforced that enterprise buyers are evaluating technology partners through a more rigorous cybersecurity lens than ever before. Certifications like HITRUST, HIPAA compliance, and SOC 2 Type 2 are now baseline expectations, particularly when sensitive patient and financial data moves across multiple systems. These credentials accelerate purchasing decisions, reduce risk, and signal long-term platform stability. For any organization evaluating prescription technology, these should be among the first questions asked.

Leaving HIMSS26, it became clear to me that the prescription ecosystem is undergoing a fundamental transformation. While the lines between insurance adjudication, cash discount programs, and marketplace models continue to blur, the greatest value will come from organizations that connect these components seamlessly, securely, and at scale. At Buzz Health, that is exactly the future we are building.