Yesterday on Capitol Hill, Vizient® hosted a congressional policy briefing titled, “Patients, Providers & Progress: Innovations Transforming the Hospital of Tomorrow,” at the Rayburn House Office Building. The standing-room-only event drew more than 80 congressional staff and industry stakeholders and featured several health system executives’ perspectives on the innovations changing how hospitals deliver care and the policies needed to bring them to patients in every community.

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From left, Lisa Yerian, Shannon McAllister, Alexandria Icenhower, Helen Hughes, and Thomas Schwaab participate in the policy briefing, “Patients, Providers & Progress: Innovations Transforming the Hospital of Tomorrow” at the Rayburn House Office Building October 14, 2026.

From left, Lisa Yerian, Shannon McAllister, Alexandria Icenhower, Helen Hughes, and Thomas Schwaab participate in the policy briefing, “Patients, Providers & Progress: Innovations Transforming the Hospital of Tomorrow” at the Rayburn House Office Building October 14, 2026.

“The hospital of tomorrow is being built today,” said Alexandria Icenhower, senior government relations director at Vizient. “Together, we see a connected system of care with far more personalized treatment, more advanced precision medicine, technology built into every workflow, and services tailored to different patient populations.”

Moderated by Icenhower, the panel featured key healthcare leaders, including:

  • Helen Hughes, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Office of Telemedicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine

  • Shannon McAllister, MBA, FACHE, Assistant Vice President, Virtual Care, WVU Medicine

  • Thomas Schwaab, MD, PhD, Physician Executive, Cancer Services, Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, ChristianaCare

  • Lisa Yerian, MD, Executive Vice President & Chief Improvement Officer, Cleveland Clinic

The panel highlighted how hospitals are putting new tools to work to improve patient outcomes and expand access to care. Speakers shared examples from their own organizations, including telemedicine in every clinical specialty, virtual nursing, and AI that helps recognize patient risks and needs. They noted that workforce shortages and financial pressures make this work harder to sustain and scale, and stressed that lasting progress will require policies that keep pace with innovation while protecting patient access and safety.

Learn more about Vizient’s advocacy and public policy efforts.

About Vizient

Vizient® enables healthcare providers to deliver better, more affordable care by improving financial sustainability, enhancing system performance, and accelerating strategic growth. More than two-thirds of the nation’s acute care providers and more than one-third of ambulatory providers rely on Vizient solutions and services. By combining the nation’s most influential healthcare leader networks with industry-leading data and analytics, comprehensive solutions, and advisory services through Kaufman Hall, Vizient helps providers achieve financial, clinical, and operational excellence. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at vizient.com.

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