On this episode of FINN Voices, host Beth Friedman sits down with Phil Sobol, Chief Commercial Officer at CereCore, a healthcare IT services company specializing in application support, advisory, infrastructure, and staffing solutions.
Planned during Becker’s 2025 Health IT + Digital Health + Revenue Cycle Management Conference in Chicago, Beth and Phil unpack the latest insights from CIO conversations, focus groups, and industry media to forecast what’s ahead for health IT purchasing in 2026.
They tackle the pressing questions hospital and health system CIOs face today: how to make smarter IT investments, deliver measurable ROI, and align technology decisions with organizational goals. The discussion also dives into the unique challenges of smaller hospitals, where CEOs and CFOs often double as IT decision-makers. Finally, Phil highlights how several CereCore clients empower their IT leaders to make confident, data-driven technology decisions. He shares the newest strategies to navigate the 2026 buying cycle with clarity and impact.
Listen to the Conversation
Takeaways
- CIOs prioritize cybersecurity above all, alongside a focus on major investment optimization (like EHRs) and application rationalization to reduce cognitive burden and operational costs.
- Application rationalization (App Rat) is a key strategy to reduce both costs and the organizational cyber-risk footprint, but it demands a strong governance structure to succeed.
- Post-pandemic IT decision-making is more collaborative, as it expands beyond the CIO to include CFOs (who require a strong business case) and demands board-level alignment.
- The rise of AI creates new C-suite roles (like the Chief AI Implementation Officer) and forces new governance questions about data management, access, and internally developed tools.
- Organizations, especially smaller ones, leverage remote workforces and managed service partners (like virtual CISOs) to access specialized talent and capabilities they cannot afford to maintain in-house.
About the Show
FINN Voices
Amplifying the power of health innovation to improve people’s lives.
FINN Voices amplifies the power of health innovation and information technology. Hosted by health experts from FINN Partners, each episode offers a peek behind the curtain of innovation with healthcare’s leading changemakers. We talk about their ideas and challenges along the way; continually shaping critical conversations and introducing the new health technologies that lie ahead.
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