Located at 2701 Chestnut Station Court in a Jeffersontown industrial park off Blankenbaker Parkway, the 41,000-square-foot facility, named Norton Pharmacy – Blankenbaker, officially opened on July 20. Healthcare leaders gathered on Aug. 13 for a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the milestone investment.

Enhanced Centralized Fulfillment and Patient Services

The centralized hub operates as both a full-service retail pharmacy for walk-in pickups and vaccinations and as the organization’s high-volume central fill operation. Managed by Norton Pharmacy pharmacists, the facility uses 12 automated dispensing robots, automated conveyor systems, and RFID tracking-enabled equipment to prepare thousands of prescriptions daily.

The system is capable of processing up to 7,000 prescriptions during a single eight-hour shift. Centralizing the preparation of retail prescriptions allows Norton Healthcare to standardize consistency and accuracy across its network.

“We’re so proud of this facility because there is no reason going forward that any of our patients don’t have an easy way to get access to the medication that they need,” said Russell Cox, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare.

Expanding Regional Access with Home Delivery

For the first time in the 140-year history of Norton Healthcare, the health system is offering free home delivery for prescriptions to patients across Kentucky and Indiana. While the system aims for delivery within 72 hours of a prescription being issued, initial operations have achieved an average turnaround time of approximately 28 hours.

“After years of having to travel a long distance for my prescriptions, I am thrilled for the option of home delivery,” said Vanta Lewis, a patient who spoke at the ribbon cutting. “This additional pharmacy creates convenience and access for patients across the region.”

Strategic Location and Operational Growth

Norton Healthcare acquired the property in July 2025 and brought the location online within one year. Positioned less than a mile from the future 150-acre Norton Children’s pediatric campus, the site fits strategically into ongoing expansion plans in Jeffersontown.

“We know that we have more growth in the J-Town area, so this was really kind of an ideal situation,” said Amanda Castle, system vice president of pharmacy services at Norton Healthcare.

The automated pharmacy currently operates with 30 full-time equivalent employees on a single shift. Operations are expected to expand within the next five years to include a second shift and dozens of additional staff members as patient adoption grows.

This operational transition reflects a broader regional trend among healthcare providers seeking to increase medication accessibility. Competitor Baptist Health opened a centralized pharmacy facility two years ago in June.

“We talk a whole lot in healthcare about new treatments, new discoveries, new whiz bang ways to do things and what we miss sometimes, if we would just improve the process for the wonderful things that we already have, that removes the friction from patients and it will make for better outcomes,” Cox noted. “This is the best example of that.”

By automating repetitive filling tasks, the health system intends to free up pharmacists to focus on direct patient care across clinical settings.

“At the end of the day every prescription represents a patient, someone who needs to get their medication … and have their healthcare team make that process a little bit easier,” Castle said. “That’s really what this pharmacy is about. …The goal is to ensure our (teams) can spend more time providing the personal care that our patients deserve.”

LiGHT 26, the UK’s only trade show dedicated to high-end lighting specification, returns to the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, on the 18th and 19th of November 2026, bringing together the lighting and design community for two days of product discovery, expert insight and valuable industry connection.

Whether specifying an upcoming project, searching for new suppliers, discovering the latest technologies or simply looking to stay ahead of emerging trends, LiGHT 26 provides a unique opportunity to explore the very best of the lighting industry – all under one roof.

Since launching in 2022, LiGHT has quickly established itself as a key date in the calendar for architects, interior designers, lighting designers, engineers, consultants and specifiers, offering a dedicated platform to discover new products, meet leading manufacturers and connect with the people behind some of the most innovative lighting projects.

For two days, the Business Design Centre will become a hub of creativity, collaboration and conversation, with hundreds of leading architectural and decorative lighting brands showcasing the latest products, technologies and solutions. From cutting-edge lighting systems and controls to decorative fittings, technical innovations and smart building technologies, visitors will have the chance to experience new ideas first-hand and discover products before they are specified on future projects.

Returning for LiGHT 26, the Technical Zone will provide a dedicated area for brands specialising in lighting controls, emergency lighting, OEM components, lamps, gear, connected technologies and more. Reflecting the growing importance of intelligent and integrated lighting solutions, the zone offers visitors the chance to explore the technologies driving the future of sustainable and efficient design.

Beyond the exhibition floor, LiGHT 26 will deliver an inspiring programme of talks and discussions, bringing together influential voices from across the lighting, architecture and design communities. Curated by [d]arc media, the [d]arc thoughts talk programme will explore the latest challenges, opportunities and ideas shaping the future of lighting, with speaker announcements for this and the splinter talks programme in the Associations Lounge to follow.

Adding another creative dimension to the show, planning is already well underway for the LiGHT 26 Art Installation, which will once again bring together lighting, creativity and design to create a memorable centrepiece for visitors to experience during the exhibition. Further details will be revealed in the coming months, with visitors invited to experience this unique feature during the show.

Networking remains at the heart of the LiGHT experience. From conversations with exhibitors and industry experts to informal catch-ups with peers, the event provides the perfect environment to build relationships, exchange ideas and discover new opportunities. The popular late-night drinks reception will also return, offering visitors and exhibitors the chance to continue conversations in a more relaxed social setting after the first day of the show.

LiGHT 26 also marks the first edition of the exhibition under the ownership of Messe Frankfurt UK, following the acquisition of LiGHT Expo London. Now part of Messe Frankfurt’s internationally recognised portfolio, the exhibition will continue to build on the strong foundations established since its launch, while retaining the community-focused identity that has made LiGHT such a valued event within the lighting industry. [d]arc media will continue to support the exhibition through promotional activity and the curation of its content programme.

Simon Albert, CEO of Messe Frankfurt UK, said: “LiGHT has become one of the most important meeting places for the UK lighting specification community, and we’re delighted to welcome the industry back this November. As the first edition under Messe Frankfurt UK, LiGHT 26 will continue to deliver what visitors and exhibitors value most – exceptional brands, inspiring content and meaningful connections – while benefiting from the international reach and expertise of the wider Light + Building portfolio.”

With thousands of professionals expected to attend, LiGHT 26 is set to once again bring together the brands, ideas and individuals shaping the future of lighting. Completely free to attend, it offers an unmissable opportunity to discover new products, gain fresh inspiration and connect with the wider lighting community.

If lighting plays a role in your projects, LiGHT 26 should be in your diary.

Register now for free and be part of the UK’s leading event dedicated to lighting specification.

These FDA clearances support the company’s efforts to help clinical laboratories transition beyond basic digitization into fully connected, standardized, and scalable diagnostic workflows. The updated portfolio introduces Aperio iQC DX software, adds the Aperio GT 180 DX scanner, and incorporates enhanced features for the Aperio GT 450 DX scanner.

AI-Assisted Quality Control Software for Clinical Workflows

The newly cleared Aperio iQC DX software is the industry’s first FDA 510(k)-cleared quality control software designed for AI-assisted digital pathology in a clinical environment. Whole slide images are frequently subject to quality issues caused during tissue preparation, staining, coverslipping, or scanning. These issues include air bubbles, pen marks, clipped tissue, missing tissue, out-of-focus regions, and image striping.

By automatically detecting these six common slide artifacts while slides remain on the scanner, the software allows laboratories to recognize and resolve potential quality issues earlier in the process. This automated capability reduces the necessity for rescanning or rework, limits downstream delays, and promotes reproducible image review.

In a real-world data study conducted with the Institute of Pathology at Heidelberg University, the AI models identified up to 24% more artifacts missed by histotechnicians and reduced hands-on review time by 69%, enabling laboratories to reallocate skilled personnel to higher-value operational tasks.

Expanding Clinical Scanning Capabilities Across Laboratories

To accommodate diverse laboratory caseloads, Leica Biosystems is extending its clinical scanning systems. The high-throughput Aperio GT 450 DX clinical scanner, which features a 450-slide capacity and small operational footprint, now includes new manual scan capabilities for complex slides, advanced DICOM capabilities, and z-stacking functionality for clinical environments.

Additionally, the company has added the Aperio GT 180 DX clinical scanner to serve mid-volume laboratories. Featuring a 180-slide capacity alongside the same scanning speeds and core feature set as the GT 450 DX, the GT 180 DX assists laboratories in constructing streamlined clinical scanning procedures tailored to their specific operational needs and staffing models, furthering connected diagnostic workflows across institutions.

“Every improvement in the pathology workflow matters because patients and clinicians are waiting for answers that guide care,” said Naveen Chandra, Vice President and General Manager of Digital Pathology at Leica Biosystems. “These FDA 510(k) clearances demonstrate Leica Biosystems’ leadership in advancing digital pathology beyond individual products toward connected, standardized workflows that help laboratories operate with greater confidence and consistency. By embedding AI-assisted quality control directly into the scanning workflow and expanding clinical scanning options, we are enabling laboratories to scale digital pathology in ways that support timely diagnosis, pathologist efficiency and better care for patients.”

As part of Danaher’s connected ecosystem of life sciences and diagnostics companies, Leica Biosystems supports nearly 2 million cancer tests globally each week, providing end-to-end solutions spanning from initial biopsy to final diagnosis.

Addressing Operational and Regulatory AI Demands

As healthcare systems accelerate technology transformation, managing the expansion of healthcare AI across clinical workflows and operational systems requires new oversight frameworks. Vitea’s platform equips Mercyhealth with centralized policy orchestration, continuous drift monitoring, and performance oversight tailored for complex multi-site clinical operations spanning northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

The system deploys over 100 out-of-the-box healthcare-specific policies that operate in real time across every prompt and response. This structure ensures that rapidly expanding technology initiatives protect patient safety and maintain data integrity across all care locations.

“At Mercyhealth, we’ve always held ourselves to a high bar when it comes to technology and security,” said Ali Olia, Chief Information Officer at Mercyhealth. “But AI introduces a new category of risk that traditional security tools simply weren’t built to address. These are non-deterministic systems — they don’t behave the same way twice — and that requires a fundamentally different approach to governance. Vitea gives us the infrastructure to stay ahead of that risk and continue innovating boldly.”

Strengthening Patient Safety and Oversight

Operating across multiple states with differing regulatory standards, Mercyhealth required a central infrastructure capable of maintaining unified compliance. The implementation of Vitea allows deviations in model behavior to be identified early in the clinical workflow, safeguarding data integrity and operational consistency.

“The moment AI touches patient care, the bar for data integrity and accountability goes up significantly,” said Jeremy Colson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Mercyhealth. “With Vitea, we have visibility into how our AI applications are performing and the ability to enforce policy across them, so deviations surface early rather than after the fact. For a health system at our scale, that level of oversight isn’t optional.”

Embedding Governance into Strategy

The partnership highlights an industry-wide evolution toward integrating a dedicated AI governance platform directly into core technology strategies, prioritizing long-term patient safety while advancing clinical efficiency.

Shantanu Nigam, CEO of Vitea, said, “Mercyhealth is building and adopting real AI capabilities, both through partners and in-house applications. They understand the risks and they are committed to doing this right for their patients, their staff, and their communities. We built Vitea for organizations like this: forward-thinking teams that want to move fast without leaving governance behind. We are proud to be their partner.”

The joint initiative addresses the operational gap between modern technology investments and total cost of care reduction. By combining PwC’s healthcare consulting, operations, and transformation capabilities with Zyter|TruCare’s Vertical AI Execution Platform, agentic AI orchestration engine (Zyter Symphony), and clinical services, the partnership seeks to convert enterprise software assets into governed operational execution.

Addressing Systemic Operational Challenges

The collaboration targets persistent structural issues facing health plans and health systems, including rising medical expenses, administrative overhead, workforce constraints, and fragmented data. Despite significant investments in upgrading legacy enterprise systems, clinical and administrative functions such as utilization management, care coordination, and appeals processing frequently rely on manual and reactive processes.

To resolve these friction points, the partnership embeds governed, auditable, and API-native artificial intelligence directly into daily operational workflows. The scope of core administrative and clinical workflows covered includes:

• Utilization management and care management triage
• Appeals and grievances processing
• Comprehensive care coordination across legacy systems of record

Vertical AI Orchestration and Integration

The technical framework pairs business process redesign with automated software orchestration. Zyter Symphony and Praxis Orchestration function as a vertical AI execution plane operating across legacy transactional cores, including claims, electronic health records (EHR), and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. The software automates complex multi-system workflows while enforcing policy guidelines and maintaining decision auditability.

Modular API integration allows native connectivity into existing transactional platforms, including Zyter’s TruCare foundation or third-party enterprise systems, to capture real-time clinical and financial data. Complementing this technology, PwC provides operational assessments, operating models redesign, analytics governance, and change management to align workflow automation with quantifiable financial and clinical performance.

Leadership and Strategic Vision

Executive leadership for the initiative includes Thom Bales, National Health Services Advisory Leader at PwC US, and Sundar Subramanian, CEO of Zyter. The joint efforts are structured to assist healthcare organizations in moving away from high-friction manual management toward policy-compliant, proactive automation.

“Healthcare organizations are under intense pressure to improve outcomes while reducing total cost of care, and that requires more than technology implementation,” said Thom Bales, National Health Services Advisory Leader at PwC US. “Working with Zyter|TruCare, we can help health organizations redesign operating models, embed governed AI into clinical and administrative workflows, and turn transformation programs into measurable performance improvement.”

Through these integrated measures, the alliance supports broader industry efforts to optimize care cost management while enhancing operational efficiency across enterprise healthcare systems.

InterSystems, a creative data technology provider powering more than one billion health records globally, today announced the successful deployment of InterSystems TrakCare® across iKang Outpatient，the premium healthcare services brand of iKang Healthcare Group. The TrakCare deployment establishes a unified electronic health record (EHR) solution, resolving issues such as data duplication and data silos, and lays the foundation for iKang Healthcare Group to realize its health management vision.

iKang Healthcare Group is a leading AI-powered digital healthcare management platform in China, leveraging cloud-based medical big data services. Through its portfolio of brands, iKang provides high-quality health management and medical services to corporate clients, families, and individuals, including health screenings, disease testing, dental care, private physician services, workplace healthcare, vaccinations, anti-aging programs, and rehabilitation services.

A Single Source of Truth​ for iKang Outpatient’s Facilities

The TrakCare unified EHR solution features a single user interface, a single codebase, and a single high-performance data platform that stores and shares all patient records. Data requires entry only once to become instantly available across the entire system. TrakCare also supports modular deployment to meet the needs of different clinics.

Across iKang’s nationwide outpatient network, TrakCare establishes a single source of truth​ and a unique patient identification system. This enables seamless data continuity, ensuring the integrity and consistency of patient records. By standardizing clinical workflows, medical record templates, and foundational data standards, TrakCare supports tiered management strategies and enables unified and efficient national operations.

Additionally, TrakCare will achieve deep integration with iKang’s Health Checkup Cloud. This enhances the consolidation of health checkup and other clinical data, supporting iKang’s vision of comprehensive, full-lifecycle health management.

Key Benefits

Currently, TrakCare has been deployed in 28 outpatient facilities, with full completion expected this year. The deployment of TrakCare delivers significant value to iKang Outpatient, enhancing both clinical outcomes and operational management.

1. Clinical Impact

The visualization of patient data allows physicians to gain a holistic view of client health, thereby enhancing diagnostic continuity and precision. Leveraging TrakCare, iKang Outpatient has achieved:

(1) Standardized clinical workflows, ensuring uniform compliance across all outpatient facilities, thereby effectively mitigating medical risks; and

(2) Standardized care delivery processes, optimizing the end-to-end patient journey, improving operational consistency, and enhancing patient convenience and satisfaction.

2. Managerial Impact

TrakCare empowers iKang Outpatient to implement refined operational management. Based on a consolidated data foundation, the group can conduct more precise business analysis and strategic optimization, leading to better resource allocation.

”InterSystems is committed to providing clean, healthy data for better healthcare,” said Luciano Brustia, Managing Director of InterSystems Asia Pacific. “We are thrilled to support iKang Healthcare Group’s vision of delivering full lifecycle health care to its clients a goal made possible through unified, clean, and healthy data.”

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to standard regulatory review. Owen Tripp, CEO of Included Health, noted that the goal is to merge Firefly’s clinically integrated health plan with Included Health’s AI-native navigation and clinical scale. “Over time, the goal is to bring together Firefly’s clinically integrated health plan with Included Health’s AI-native navigation, clinical platform, and scale to create a single, connected benefits experience for employers and members nationwide,” Tripp stated. He added that the combination is designed to integrate plan design, administration, and comprehensive care to reduce friction and improve employee health.

Strategic Integration of Primary Care and Navigation

The acquisition follows Included Health’s recent launch of a new plan design centered on primary care and transparent upfront costs. This model leverages an AI assistant named Dot for 24/7 member support, ensuring that patients can access immediate answers or be seamlessly transitioned to human support when necessary. By incorporating Firefly’s ecosystem—which includes more than 2,300 in-person, in-home, and specialty partners—Included Health can offer a more robust infrastructure for alternative health plans. This architecture aligns financial incentives so that high-quality, primary care-led interventions become the most affordable choice for both the employer and the member.

Firefly Health CEO Fay Rotenberg highlighted that the traditional healthcare model often fails to deliver the results employers require, necessitating a shift toward dynamic plan design. “Firefly flips the traditional model on its head. We’ve built a true health plan alternative where advanced primary care, data-driven navigation, and dynamic plan design work in harmony,” Rotenberg stated. She observed that together with Included Health, the organization is bringing a trust-first model to a national stage, providing the technology and clinical reach required to serve employers across various geographies.

Addressing Rising Healthcare Costs for Employers

The move comes at a time when employers are facing record-high healthcare expenditures. According to data from the Business Group on Health, approximately 17% of employers have already adopted non-traditional or alternative health plans, with another 36% considering such models for the near future. Included Health’s strategy aims to leverage network optimization and a concierge member experience to create a sustainable path to long-term savings. Tripp emphasized the shared belief that investing in primary care and navigating members toward high-quality providers are the primary levers for reducing unnecessary medical costs while maintaining access to essential services.

While the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, the combined entity is positioned to provide a unified benefits experience that simplifies administration for HR leaders. By bringing together care delivery and plan architecture, the partnership seeks to deliver clinical and financial results that follow naturally from aligned incentives. As the healthcare industry continues to move toward value-based models, the integration of Firefly Health into the Included Health platform represents a significant expansion of the available tools for employers seeking to modernize their health benefit offerings and stabilize their long-term clinical outcomes.

With a workforce of over 7,500 employees across 250+ locations, and expansion across India as well as international markets including Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Dubai, Neuberg Diagnostics has been steadily modernising its people operations to support scale, consistency, and real-time visibility. As the organisation moves towards a projected workforce strength of 10,000 employees, managing multi-location teams, diverse employee categories, and complex compliance requirements has made unified HR infrastructure increasingly critical.

Following the implementation of OfficeNet’s AI-enabled HR ecosystem, Neuberg Diagnostics has achieved a significant operational shift, reducing manual HR tasks by up to 90% while improving process efficiency and workforce visibility across locations. Rather than relying on fragmented systems, the organisation has transitioned towards an integrated, AI-enabled HR framework designed to streamline workforce management across functions.

OfficeNet now serves as the digital backbone for key HR operations, enabling automation-led processes across attendance, payroll, recruitment, and workforce analytics. The platform’s AI-powered attendance system with facial recognition-based check-ins has improved workforce tracking across locations, particularly in diagnostic centres where traditional biometric infrastructure is limited.

In addition, geo-enabled workforce tracking and mobile-first access have strengthened visibility for field-based teams, while automated payroll and compliance workflows have improved accuracy and reduced manual dependencies. The system also leverages AI-driven resume parsing to accelerate hiring cycles and predictive HR dashboards that provide real-time insights into workforce distribution across locations, roles, and business units.

A significant portion of Neuberg Diagnostics’ workforce, nearly 60% operates in field and distributed roles, including doctors, scientists, technicians, and collection agents. For such a structure, real-time coordination and mobility-driven HR processes are critical. OfficeNet’s mobile-enabled ecosystem allows employees to manage attendance, travel, expenses, and incentive claims seamlessly, improving transparency and reducing administrative delays.

Sonali Chowdhry, CEO of OfficeNet, added, “As organisations scale rapidly, HRMS platforms are evolving from administrative systems into integrated operational ecosystems. For dynamic and fast-growing industries such as healthcare and diagnostics, real-time workforce visibility, automation, and process intelligence are becoming critical. We are pleased to support Neuberg Diagnostics with a flexible and scalable platform that simplifies complex workforce operations while enabling smarter and more efficient people management.”

With a growing clientele of over 500 brands, including LG Electronics, Havells, Prince Pipes, Bajaj Auto, JBM Group, LT Foods, Wings Pharma, Patanjali Ayurveda, Vishal Mega Mart, Amber Electronics, ACGL Goa, and ITC Hotels across healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and enterprise sectors, OfficeNet continues to strengthen its position as a trusted HRMS partner for large-scale organisations managing complex and distributed workforce ecosystems.

New Generative AI extension simplifies how teams explore, analyze, and visualize enterprise data