“We are going into the wilderness being led by a lunatic!” No, this is not a blog post about Venezuela. That’s a line from City Slickers, which captures how everyone feels when they enter into big conference mode in Las Vegas. Right now, a lot of people (~138,000) are recovering from the wild, wild west that was on display in Las Vegas for CES2026, the world’s largest consumer electronics show. The stunning display of “I can’t believe that exists” gadgets made it clear that tech engineers, who are clearly bored by reality, are leading us into a very different future. This futuristic wilderness is also a theme for health care policy, explained further in the One Thoughtful Paragraph.
The news shows that AI is quickly leading us into a futuristic health care system:
- Following a report showing that over 40 million users ask ChatGPT to answer health-related questions daily, OpenAI unveiled a new, dedicated space for health conversations. ChatGPT Health relies on separate memory from the general conversation platform and will allow users to connect medical records and wellness apps to better understand test results, explore care options, and prepare for appointments. OpenAI partnered with well Connected Health to manage data integration, and Function to allow people to receive summaries of lab test results.
- Hospital systems are adopting AI at triple the rate of the broader U.S. economy, with 27% now paying for commercial AI licenses to raise efficiency amid worker shortages and looming Medicaid cuts, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Approximately 80% of health systems seriously considered or implemented generative AI tools for revenue cycle management this year, according to hospital and health system CFOs in a Healthcare Financial Management Association and AKASA survey.
- Utah became the first state to allow an AI system to refill prescriptions for patients. It launched a pilot program for AI-enabled prescription drug management with startup Doctronic that offers AI-enabled refills only – physicians must do the initial prescribing. More here, here.
“You know, this was not in the brochure…” This is what I was thinking as I was looking around this week at CES, when I saw a very realistic-looking robot puppy that helps lonely seniors. But that’s actually a line delivered by Billy Crystal when his character helps a cow give birth to a real-live calf on his dude ranch vacation in the movie City Slickers. Being a health care policy wonk is like being a city slicker on a dude ranch right now – I often feel out of place and overwhelmed by the cow-roping I am supposed to suddenly know how to do. At CES, there were three new announcements: FDA’s two guidance documents about what gets regulated and what is the wild west for wearables and consumer decision support tools, and the CMS announcement that they want help deciding how to overhaul the Medicare claims system. (Amy Gleason, Dr. Oz, and Chris Klomp said so on a CES stage, but can’t find written proof of the announcement yet). It is a whole new and very busy day in health care policy, so we just need to keep focused on the one big thing. Like the late great Jack Palance (Curly) says to Billy Crystal (Mitch) in the movie City Slickers:
Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger] This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean sh**.
Mitch: But, what is the “one thing?”
Curly: [smiles] That’s what *you* have to find out.
What is Maverick Health Policy’s ‘one big thing?’ Join us for our FREE webinar on January 21st to find out. Register HERE.
