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In healthcare, every second matters—and so does every workflow improvement that helps information move faster, more reliably and more intelligently. That is why Ascom continues to deliver regular software maintenance and feature releases each year, helping customers benefit from the latest advancements across the Ascom Healthcare Platform.
Each year, Ascom delivers two maintenance releases and two feature releases, giving customers access to ongoing enhancements that support performance, reliability, usability and clinical workflow evolution. Many of these improvements are inspired by real-world customer feedback, turning individual requests into capabilities that can benefit the broader Ascom customer community.
As we reach the midway point of 2026, several new software enhancements stand out for their ability to strengthen alert handling, reduce unnecessary workflow friction and help caregivers respond with greater flexibility.
Here are three highlights.
One of the new capabilities introduced in 2026 expands how external information can enter Ascom workflows. With new SMTP functionality, incoming emails can be routed directly to the appropriate recipient field or treated as external events that can then be passed through escalation workflows.
For example, a bed management system could send an email requesting patient transport. That message can become an actionable alert for transport staff. If the first transporter is unavailable or busy, the alert can escalate to the next designated team member, helping ensure requests continue moving through the workflow instead of remaining static in an inbox.
This enhancement helps organizations connect email-based notifications with operational workflows, supporting faster awareness, clearer accountability and more consistent follow-through.
Some systems connected to the Ascom Healthcare Platform can notify Ascom when an event starts, but they may not communicate when that event has ended, such as an RTLS event or events integrated through the Unite Event API. Without a clear message from the source system, the event can remain active longer than intended.
The new transient event clearing capability helps address this challenge by allowing transient events to clear automatically after a configurable amount of time or it enters the unhandled state. Depending on the organization’s workflow needs, the timing can be set for a defined period such as 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes or another appropriate duration.
This update can support cleaner alert views and reports, reduce avoidable distraction and improve confidence that active events reflect current workflow conditions.
– A transient workflow handles events where there is no guarantee that the source device clears the event, for example events from an RTLS system or the Event API.
– Transient events can be cleared a configurable number of seconds after the alert is accepted or enters the unhandled state.
– The delay for clearing the alert can be set independently for “Accept” and “Unhandled” in number of seconds. If the delay is set to 0, the alert will be cleared immediately.
– You also now have the ability to cancel RTLS events from handset (if you configure a cancel option in your message).
The Q2 2026 Ascom Healthcare Platform software release introduces additional IHE Patient Care Device (PCM) Alert Communication Management (ACM) fields in the payload of WCTP alerts to further enhance its outbound WCTP interface with Epic. IHE PCD ACM is an interoperability profile that standardizes how medical device alerts and alarms are communicated across healthcare systems. This expanded set of fields enhances WCTP alerts with additional patient and contextual information in support of the EPIC Toolbox Alert Manager blueprint specifications.
When alarms are received from IHE compatible source devices connected to Ascom Digistat, the full set of new IHE ACM fields will now be supported: Device Identifier; Location Identifier; Patient Identifier; Source Identifier; Event Identifier; and Alert Timestamp. When alarms are received from devices which do not provide these fields, the WCTP alert can still include a subset of this information based on other available identifiers within Unite such as Patient ID or Location.
IHE PCD ACM Identifiers are leveraged for dynamically linking alerts received in Epic applications such as Hyperspace, Rover, Haiku and Canto with relevant contextual patient information within Epic. Providing further alert context, the IHE Event Identification field provides alert subtyping information, such as Patient Monitoring, that allows Epic to customize alert notification behavior based on the type of alert . When this field is not available from the source device, it will be populated with Event Type information from Unite. For example, nurse call alarms could provide a value of “Nurse Call” or “Code Call” based on the workflow configuration in Unite.
For more information on this enhanced WCTP alerts capability please contact your Ascom representative.
These updates reflect an important part of Ascom’s product development approach: continuous improvement shaped by customer needs. Healthcare organizations use Ascom solutions in complex, high-stakes environments, and their feedback helps identify opportunities to make workflows more practical, more adaptable and more aligned with the realities of care delivery.
When customers request enhancements, those ideas often inform broader platform improvements. The result is a cycle of innovation where one organization’s workflow challenge can contribute to capabilities that benefit many customers over time.
From SMTP functionality that helps turn emails into actionable alerts, to configurable transient event clearing and a new level of interoperability, Ascom’s 2026 software updates demonstrate how incremental improvements can make a meaningful difference in daily workflows.
As Ascom continues its regular release cadence, customers can expect ongoing enhancements designed to help clinical teams stay connected, informed and ready to act—while supporting the evolving needs of modern healthcare environments.
Want to learn more? Contact your Ascom representative to discuss the latest software updates and how they may support your organization’s workflows.