Measures the Change-Response Gap: how fast industries are changing versus how fast companies are responding. 50 means they are even. Higher means the gap is wider.
October 2026: Healthcare & MedTech scores 61 (Significant Gap), with a Change Score of 71 and a Response Score of 49. OpenAI connected ChatGPT for Healthcare to Epic's record system, with UCSF Health as a pilot partner. The FDA kept AI radiology software under premarket review. Drug-discovery company Enveda raised $311 million, and Medtronic won clearance for a new tool on its Hugo surgical robot.
Healthcare & MedTech companies are keeping up with about 70% of the change. Evidence: Moderate (6 sources).
History: May 66 · Jun 66 · Jul 64 · Aug 63 · Sep 61 · Oct 61
The ledger holds no new in-window evidence on how patients use AI this month. Last month, on August 25, Pew Research Center, a research group, reported that about 34% of US adults have used an AI chatbot for a health reason. OpenAI added an Epic integration to ChatGPT for Healthcare on September 1, with UCSF Health, a university health system, as a pilot partner (TechTarget). Epic is the electronic health record company.
The ledger holds no new in-window evidence on health care jobs or AI roles this month. Last month, on August 5, Becker's Hospital Review, a trade publication, listed 20 health systems with a chief AI officer or equivalent. On August 27, National Nurses United, a nurses union, protested in eight cities over hospital ties to Palantir, the data company. Those two signals, AI leadership and labor friction, are the latest on record.
Enveda, a drug-discovery company, closed a $311 million Series E round on September 23 (Crunchbase News). Investors included Catalio Capital Management, Durable Capital Partners, ICONIQ and Lightspeed. It is the one funding round in the ledger this month. Last month, on August 4, Hinge Health, the digital health company, agreed to buy Cylinder Health for $105 million in cash.
An FDA final order took effect on September 17 (PYMNTS). It requires AI-enabled radiology detection and triage software to keep getting 510(k) premarket clearance. The order formalizes the agency's denial of an exemption petition from Harrison.ai, an AI radiology company. Last month, the FDA opened a request for public input on generative AI medical devices, with comments due October 19.
The ledger holds no new in-window evidence on how patients or clinicians feel about AI this month. Last month, Pew Research Center found that 29% of people who use chatbots for health are extremely or very comfortable sharing personal health data with one. On August 31, Healthwatch England, the NHS patient watchdog, warned that AI scribes were recording wrong drug names and diagnoses. Those are the most recent readings on record.
OpenAI added an Epic integration to ChatGPT for Healthcare on September 1, with UCSF Health as a pilot partner (TechTarget). That puts a general AI assistant inside the record system many hospitals already use. The FDA order of September 17 keeps AI radiology triage software under premarket review (PYMNTS). Last month, Epic said more than 85% of its customers already use its AI tools. Epic's figure is self-reported.
The ledger holds no in-window earnings call evidence for health care companies this month. Last month, on August 6, Doximity, the physician network, said use of its AI scribe grew 10 times from a year earlier. On August 5, CVS Health, the pharmacy and insurance company, said AI cut claims processing time by more than 20%. Both figures are self-reported.
The ledger holds no new in-window hiring evidence for health care operators this month. Last month, Becker's Hospital Review listed 20 health systems with a sitting chief AI officer or equivalent, including Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente. Northwell Health, a New York health system, also planned a clinical informatics residency. Nothing this month adds to that count.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, a group of health insurers, said hospitals' AI claims tools added $942 million in spending over two years (TechCrunch). TechCrunch reported the analysis on September 26. This is an insurer's claim about hospital behavior, not hospital budget data. Last month, Doximity told investors that AI computing costs will squeeze its margins in the near term.
Rush University System for Health, a Chicago academic medical center, launched a long-term partnership with nference, an AI company, on September 2 (PR Newswire). They plan a Rush-hosted clinical analytics platform. Rush is the first Illinois academic medical center to partner with nference. Medtronic, the device maker, won FDA clearance on September 17 for a LigaSure vessel-sealing device on its Hugo robot (MedTech Dive). That clearance covers a surgical tool, not an AI product.
The ledger holds no direct in-window measure of response speed this month. Last month, Abridge, the AI notetaking company, reached more than 300 health systems about four months after launching clinical decision support. Hims & Hers, the online health company, reported results on August 10 from AI care tools it deployed in early July. Those are the latest timing readings on record.
The score of 61 reflects a Change Score of 71 and a Response Score of 49. Change leads response by 22 points. Each indicator is rated 0 to 5 in half points by two independent reviewers, and the ratings shown are their average. How we score.