Arizona Tribune - 2026 State of Digital Healthcare in Oncology Report Reveals Cancer Programs Are Rewiring Buying Around Speed to Treatment, Infusion Economics, and Precision Workflow - Black Book

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / April 23, 2026 / Black Book Research today announced the release of its new 2026 State of Digital Healthcare in Oncology Centers of Excellence, Chemotherapy and Infusion Networks, and Cancer Centers, a comprehensive market intelligence report examining how U.S. cancer programs are redesigning digital strategy across access, authorization, infusion, specialty pharmacy, pathology, genomics, navigation, analytics, research, and reimbursement.

The report is based on approximately 1,280 qualified U.S. participants spanning 244 NCI-designated and academic cancer centers, 226 integrated health-system oncology programs, 157 hospital-owned cancer centers and institutes, 220 community oncology groups, 239 hospital-owned outpatient infusion networks and provider-based departments, 101 radiation and multimodality partner networks, and 93 specialty cancer hospitals and centers of excellence.

Black Book found that oncology IT procurement in 2026 has become sharply pragmatic, service-line-led, and intolerant of workflow disruption. The report identifies the dominant operational pain points as referral-to-treatment delays, prior authorization backlog, infusion-chair under utilization, fragmented oral oncology monitoring, disconnected pathology and genomics results, slow clinical trial matching, and labor overload across nursing, pharmacy, navigation, access, and revenue cycle teams.

The timing is significant. Black Book notes that the oncology market enters 2026 under the pressure of 2,114,850 projected new U.S. cancer diagnoses and 626,140 cancer deaths, while survivorship continues to rise, extending the need for digital coordination across longer and more complex care journeys. The report also highlights the strategic role of 73 NCI-designated cancer centers across 37 states and the District of Columbia, supported by an FY 2026 National Cancer Institute budget of $7.35 billion.

Policy and reimbursement changes are now directly influencing oncology IT priorities. Black Book points to CMS's Enhancing Oncology Model running through June 30, 2030, including Monthly Enhanced Oncology Services payments of $110 per beneficiary per month and $140 for dually eligible beneficiaries, alongside early CMS findings that 79% of participants generated savings in the first performance period.

The report also outlines the impact of CY 2026 OPPS payment changes affecting off-campus hospital-owned infusion economics, mandatory oncology-specific CAUTI and CLABSI reporting beginning January 1, 2026, CMS-0057-F prior authorization response requirements of 72 hours for expedited requests and seven calendar days for standard requests, and HTI-1 and HTI-4 rules elevating expectations for USCDI v3 readiness, AI transparency, electronic prior authorization, e-prescribing, and real-time prescription benefit functionality.

"Oncology leaders are no longer buying technology to digitize a department. They are building an operating model for cancer care that must move patients from referral to treatment with fewer delays, tighter payer coordination, better infusion readiness, and more usable diagnostic intelligence," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "What is changing right now is that reimbursement pressure, prior authorization reform, oral oncology growth, precision medicine, and workforce strain are converging all at once. The winners in oncology IT over the next several years will be the platforms and partners that can connect access, pathology, genomics, infusion, pharmacy, navigation, trials, and reimbursement into one accountable workflow spine."

Among the report's central findings:

• Oncology is no longer buying software as isolated clinical tools, but as a connected digital operating model across the full patient journey.

• Inpatient and outpatient oncology providers are buying differently, but high-performing organizations are aligning both settings through a shared service-line infrastructure.

• Infusion operations, financial clearance, specialty pharmacy, navigation and ePROs, precision medicine, analytics, and research workflow are now core strategic investment areas.

• Black Book's analysis covers 16 oncology IT and services segments, with category publication standards on 18 oncology IT specific KPIs:

Top Client-Rated Vendors by Category, 2026

• Inpatient Oncology EHR: Epic Beacon

• Ambulatory Oncology EHR: Flatiron OncoEMR

• Inpatient Oncology RCM / Financial: Waystar

• Ambulatory Oncology RCM / Financial Software: Waystar

• Oncology Pathways and Clinical Decision Support: Elsevier ClinicalPath

• Digital Pathology and Computational Pathology: PathAI

• Precision Oncology / Genomics Workflow: Tempus

• Clinical Trials Matching and Research Informatics: Tempus TIME

• Patient Navigation, ePROs, and Symptom Monitoring: Canopy

• Financial Navigation and Affordability Platforms: TailorMed

• Specialty Pharmacy and Oral Oncolytic Management: Shields Health Solutions

• Access, Intake, Referral, and Scheduling: DexCare

• Infusion Operations, Pharmacy Workflow, and Chemo Safety: BD Cato

• Oncology Analytics and Value-Based Performance Tools: Flatiron Insight

• Radiation Oncology Information Systems and Planning Ecosystem: Varian ARIA

• Outsourced and Managed Oncology End-to-End RCM Services: ASCENT

The 2026 State of Digital Healthcare in Oncology Centers of Excellence, Chemotherapy and Infusion Networks, and Cancer Centers report is available gratis to all oncology industry stakeholders via download at:
https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/state-of-digital-healthcare-in-oncology-centers-of-excellence-chemotherapy-and-infusion-networks-and-cancer-centers-2026

About Black Book Research
Black Book Research is an independent healthcare market research and polling firm dedicated to transparent, vendor-agnostic, market intelligence since 2004. The firm's methodology is built on independently sourced respondent participation, with no vendor sponsorship, no supplier influence on survey design, and no paid inclusion in rankings or analysis. Black Book has maintained a longstanding commitment to the cancer center and oncology provider sector, delivering insight across clinical, operational, financial, digital health, and service-line performance domains. Its research framework also incorporates the perspectives of healthcare consumers and patients to reflect satisfaction, access, experience, and real-world care journey outcomes alongside provider priorities. Media contact: [email protected] 1.800.863.7590 https://www.blackbookmarketresearch.com

SOURCE: Black Book Research

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