2026 Outlook: 5 Trends Every HTM & HFM Professional Should Know

Experts predict that healthcare costs will increase sharply in 2026, as the industry faces increased expenses across the board. For healthcare technology management (HTM) and healthcare facilities management (HFM) professionals, balancing this predicted increase in costs adds challenges to an already complex landscape.  

From navigating key changes to Joint Commission compliance to adopting new technologies, there are five key trends that HTM and HFM professionals should prepare for to support their initiatives and key performance indicators for the year to come.  

Shifts in Compliance: Changes to the Joint Commission Requirements

On June 30, 2025, the Joint Commission announced a significant consoldation to its national accreditation standards. In reviewing the changes, there are a few key areas of focus that will be important for HTM and HFM leaders to address in 2026.  

The requirements recognize the new Physical Environment (PE) chapter, that now holds the Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) chapters. By aligning the Elements of Performance (EP) with the Conditions of Participation (COPs) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the updated standards substantially shifts documentation and surveying requirements for HTM and HFM teams. 

This change has a downstream impact to how regulatory performance is tracked, documented, and reported. The standards are focused more on how asset management and facilities teams are executing a maintenance strategy that meets compliance standards on a proactive basis, rather than checking a box. For instance, the new requirements will require that documentation references the regulatory code in the work performed to ensure compliance and overall survey readiness. 

For many teams preparing for the changes to Joint Commission requirements, their focus should start with identifying some critical elements, including: 

• Codes/values that need to be migrated  
• Reporting and other analytics that use these codes/values that will require updates 
• Required documentation that may not have been called out by the Joint Commission, but are required by other regulatory agencies  

And, for teams using FSI’s CMMS, they can rely on key product changes to help streamline data capture, reporting, and overall compliance requirements in order to facilitate compliance to existing requirements and the updates to the compliance requirements.

Emphasizing the Role of Rounding in Meeting Compliance Requirements

Over the last several decades, rounding has become an essential component within CMMS to help HTM and HFM teams manage corrective work orders to stay in compliance with the Joint Commission and other regulatory bodies.  

The changes to Joint Commission requirements emphasize the need to show – and track – proactive maintenance. This is where FSI's CMMS Rounding product shines. By giving technicians a tool to generate deficiency work orders with a click of a button, they can easily monitor, track, and report on what’s happening with the Elements of Performance.

At the core of the rounding application within FSI’s CMMS: Custom Rounding Libraries. With the pending changes from the Joint Commission, teams can update and modify as needed to adhere with the shifts to the compliance standards. In doing so, it can automate any updates. On the established date (as defined by your team), the software can then implement the updated libraries and apply the new requirements to ensure compliance.  

And, let’s not forget the reporting that’s part of rounding. This real-time visibility helps you keep a pulse on what’s happening and why. As the changes get put into place by the Joint Commission, this will become imperative to ensure that your processes and systems are working as needed to align with regulatory requirements.  

Building a Single Hub for All Data via Integrations

Recent estimates show that nearly one third of the world’s data volume comes from the healthcare industry. For HTM and HFM teams, this immense amount of data provides deep insights into the performance of critical assets and facilities.  

The technology stack within the organization can make it challenging to access all information in one place, to get a complete view of what’s happening and why. Leveraging a CMMS built for healthcare can turn it into a hub of information that can inform decisions to solve bigger issues, like resource constraints and aging equipment.  

Key integrations with your CMMS can pull essential data into the system, including:  

• Online healthcare marketplaces for mission-critical products and services to seamlessly order parts and materials within a work order 
• Cybersecurity platforms to manage connected medical devices and identify vulnerable assets 
• Solutions to automate workflows across teams, devices, and assets to drive efficiencies  
• Digital transformation tools to maximize efficiencies, reduce the costs of projects, and optimize financial performance 

Advancing Data Usage with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) topped the headlines for all industries and regions for several months in 2024 and 2025. While much of the initial surge of interest has tamed down, technology leaders are now tasked with figuring out what it means for their teams, processes, and software.  

Within the healthcare industry, there has already been a focus on what this means to keep data contained and private to adhere to requirements around data privacy. For HTM and HFM leaders, this requirement may not be front and center – but there are still key areas to ensure that AI can fit into workflows.  

In 2026, AI will continue to find its footing within the healthcare industry. The immense data available within the industry makes AI a natural fit for automating processes and driving efficiencies throughout the healthcare value chain.  

Facilities and biomed teams will benefit from AI by leveraging information already available within their CMMS. With AI as a backbone of analytics tools, for instance, it can offer deeper insight into key trends of what’s happening across assets, teams, and processes. A more analytical layer fueled by existing data can inform critical decisions about what happens next.  

Focusing on Doing More with Less

Doing more with less continues to be a focus for many organizations – but what about doing less with less? As we look towards the technological advancements from this year, and to come in 2026, this concept becomes a reality for many HTM and HFM teams.  

Technology plays a critical role in helping teams meet the shifting dynamics of available resources within teams. In doing so, resource constraints no longer hinder teams. Instead, teams can adapt to the smaller teams and budgets by leveraging technology to empower them to do less – all without dropping the ball along the way.  

FSI’s Flow, for instance, offers smart workflow automations to help teams eliminate repetitive manual tasks, freeing them up to focus on more strategic and critical tasks to optimize asset and maintenance management.  

From reducing clicks to filling in repetitive details, workflow automations paired with other technological advancements help teams reduce manual and administrative burdens so they can focus on meeting compliance requirements, optimizing asset and facility performance, and working more efficiently. Doing less with less? A win-win in our book as HFM and HTM teams prepare for the year ahead.

Ready to see how FSI is transforming HTM and HFM teams in the year to come? Schedule a demo with our team to learn more.