Congratulations to you and your colleagues as we celebrate another year working together to improve the quality of healthcare by developing the people who deliver care. Before we get too far into planning what we'll accomplish together in 2026, we thought you may like a recap of all things HLC over the last year+: Navigate by Timeline | Navigate by Topic
If you want to reminisce with us a bit more: Review key releases (2024-25) for My Team.
To stay in the know this year and beyond, be sure you subscribe to applicable HealthStream product and courseware notifications: Services tab > Product and Courseware Notifications.
Navigate by Timeline:
|
Navigate by Topic:
|
2025 | 4th Quarter (Oct - Dec)
hStream Benefits: Added NIH Stroke Scale Certifications
In February 2025, we added one more course to your hStream benefits: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) Certification. Thanks to your valued feedback, we already improved and expanded this initial offering:
- Live: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) Certification (2-year)
New course version removing pediatric content and increasing CE credit – 2.5 ANCC contact hours and a maximum of 2.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. NOTE: Any learners in progress with the previous version must complete by January 31, 2026; otherwise, an administrator must unenroll/reenroll them in the new content.
- Live: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) Certification (1-year)
New adult NIHSS certification course providing a 1-year certification, accredited for 2.5 ANCC contact hours and a maximum of 2.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.
- Expected Spring 2026: New PedNIHSS certification courses with pediatric-only test patients – 1-year and 2-year certification options with both ANCC and AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™provided (CE amount pending).
*As a reminder, these courses permanently expire on August 5, 2026:
- APEX Innovations: NIH Stroke Scale Training and 1-Year Certification (free course)
- APEX Innovations: NIH Stroke Scale Training and 2-Year Certification (free course)
Smart Notes: Added Doc Editing & Learner Banner
- Edit/Update Documents: Administrators with the Smart Notes Manager role can now edit/update the title, URL, document name, and/or attached file within the Documents section of any Smart Note, including previously created Notes.
- Re-Acknowledgement Banner for In-Progress Learners: If an administrator updates a Smart Note with “Require read acknowledgement” enabled, any learners in progress with the associated course(s) must review the updated Note, including downloading/viewing any documents and then clicking Confirm again. To help ensure in-progress learners are aware of this requirement, a red banner now appears at the top of any updated Note – view here. NOTE: Learners that have already completed the course(s) will not be alerted to Smart Note updates; however, when viewing the course(s) from their Completed tab the updated Note is shown.
Insights: Added 4 Datasets to Custom Reports
Over the coming months, you'll progressively see more Insights “Standard Reports” and datasets in “Custom Reports,” like these 4 new datasets:
- Student Group Metadata – Containing fields related to the Student Group, like: Student Group Name, Student Group Type, Student Group Visibility, Created By, Created On, Last Updated By, Last Updated On, etc.
- Student Group Criteria – Containing fields related to the criteria you selected when setting up the Student Group, like: Departments, Job Titles, Job Categories, Job Functions, etc.
- Student Group Listing – Containing fields showing what students belong to a Student Group, like: Student Group Name, User ID, User Department, User Institution, etc.
- Class Metadata – Containing fields related to Classes, like: Class Name, Class Start/End Dates, Instructor(s), Number of Students Signed Up for Class, etc.
Top
2025 | 3rd Quarter (Jul - Sept)
Insights: Updated Scheduling Functionality
- Enhanced Scheduling Functionality: Users are no longer required to have Insights administrator access in order to receive/view an Insights report. In addition, you can paste multiple emails into the recipient box and remove yourself as a default recipient.
- Enhanced User Management: We improved the overall layout to be more intuitive. In addition, “Schedule Reports” is now a separate permission/option from “Access Reports.”
- User-Friendly Column Names in Scheduled & Exported Reports: For example, we renamed “user_assignment_created_by_full_name” to “Assignment Created By” and “department_org_node_code” to “Department Code.”
- Session Timeout Warning & HLC Redirect: When working in Insights, you’ll receive a time-out warning after approximately 1 hour, so you can easily extend your session or sign out. Upon session expiration or logout, HLC users are redirected to the HLC.
Updated Admin View of “Certifications” & “Resuscitation Credentials”
When viewing the student profile (People > Manage Students) and selecting “Certifications” or “Resuscitation Credentials,” administrators now have additional options to more easily view active, expired, and/or retired items – review here. Key changes include:
- Expired items are visible by default with their expiration date highlighted in red text. As desired, use the Hide option.
- Retired items are hidden by default. As desired, use the Show option.
- In addition to “(Retired)” being auto-added to any retired item’s name, a new Retired column can further assist with easily identifying.
Insights: Brand-New Admin Reporting
All Enterprise and hStream Administrators now have access to Insights – to access, click “Apps” in the upper right (Training│Help).
- First Look: When initially accessing Insights, you’ll see the Assignment Progress report (review here), as well as the ability to build your own custom reports.
- Newly Added: When building your own custom reports, you now have Student Certification and License data in addition to Assignment, Assignment Progress, and Student metadata.
- Reports Tab Changes: In general, once a report is available in Insights, its equivalent(s) on your Reports tab will be retired after 12 months. Because Insights’ Assignment Progress report will be updated in early 2026, we do not plan to retire these HLC reports before early 2027:
- Assignment Completion – Schedulable
- Assignment Completion - Drill-Through
- Delinquent/Past Due - Drill-Through
- Delinquent/Past Due – Schedulable
- Student Assignment Completion
- Enterprise Assignment Completion
- Additional Features: More Timely Data (refreshes every 3 hours), Federated Single Sign-On Integration with the HLC, Export Reports, Schedule Reports, Add Recipients to a Report, Improved Report Management, SFTP Integration
Added hStream ID Visibility & Streamlined Password Reset
If you contract for the American Red Cross Resuscitation Suite, we added an hStream ID link in the upper right of the HealthStream student login – review here. Hovering over the hStream ID displays a reminder of its purpose*, and upon clicking the pop-up or the hStream ID, users can reset their hStream password via these steps:
- Select “Sign In”
- Enter their hStream ID and click "Continue"
- Select "Forgot your password?"
- Enter their hStream ID and select "Send Reset Link"
*The hStream ID is the account individual learners use to access a growing number of HealthStream applications and services, such as the Resuscitation Skills mobile app and the HealthStream Community. The hStream ID uniquely identifies a learner in the HealthStream ecosystem and includes the information the learner uses to sign-in (email and password) as well as the contact and security details they'll use across HealthStream services.
Smart Notes: Associate Multiple Courses to Any Note
Administrators can associate multiple courses (up to 25) to any Smart Note. When updating a Note associated with multiple courses, any edits will be reflected across all courses.
Top
2025 | 2nd Quarter (Apr - Jun)
New Support Phone # for Faster Call Routing
In addition to the exciting benefits below, we now have a new Customer Support phone number: 1-877-301-HSTM (4786).
- Faster Call Routing: Get connected to the right specialist more quickly.
- Seamless Case Integration: Your account and case details are readily available to our specialists, leading to faster resolutions.
- Screensharing for Better Support: Specialists can send a secure link to see what you see, helping resolve complex issues faster.
Top
2025 | 1st Quarter (Jan - Mar)
Smart Notes: Added Data to Acknowledgement Report
We added several data columns to the “View Acknowledgments” report that is available for any Smart Note that has enabled the “Require read acknowledgment” option (review here):
- Learner's job title
- Learner's department
- Learner's supervisor
- Supervisor's email
Top
2024 | 3rd Quarter (Jul - Sept)
Added “All” Checkboxes for Enterprise-Level Profile Student Groups
If you made a selection within an Enterprise-Level Profile Student Group filter, there was previously not a way to select the All criteria again. If you want to remove selections and include All criteria, you can now select these All checkboxes: Institutions, Departments, Job Titles, Custom Fields.
Smart Notes: Added Reporting, Archive, & Read Acknowledgement
- Reporting: After selecting Courses > Manage Smart Notes, you now see a new link in the upper right: Generate Smart Note Report. Data included (Owner, Created Date/By, Last Updated Date/By, etc.) can assist with management and maintenance. NOTE: Within a hierarchy, you only see Notes created at your log-in level and below.
- Archive Notes: For Smart Notes with an active status (vs. draft), you now see Archive in the lower right (vs. Delete). Once archived, the Note is immediately removed from its associated course for all learners. For audit/historical purposes, you cannot edit an archived Note’s information or documents; however, you can create a copy. To access archived Notes, select “Show Only Archived Notes” under the search bar.
- Require Read Acknowledgement: You now have the option to include a read acknowledgement at the bottom of any Smart Note (review here). Learners must Confirm before they can start any learning activities. If learners are in progress with a course, and an administrator adds/edits a Note with a read acknowledgement, the learner must Confirm before they can proceed to the next learning activity or complete the course. Admins can generate a listing of learners that have confirmed, including timestamps, via the “View Acknowledgements” link in the upper right of each Note.
New Support Portal for Faster Support
We hope you’re enjoying our new Customer Support Portal for faster, more efficient support! As a reminder, you can no longer open support cases via customer.service@healthstream.com. If you need assistance accessing the Portal, call 1-877-301-4786. Also, please note these security protocols:
- Portal accounts are deactivated after 12 months of inactivity (no log in).
- If a colleague no longer needs Portal access, we recommend opening a case to immediately deactivate the account.
Updated “Expiring Certification” & “Expiring Resuscitation Credentials” Reports
- Run at the Enterprise/Org Level: You can now run both reports at the Enterprise/Org Level. Also, Institution is now an optional filter as well as a new data column in your results.
- Include Retired Items: As a reminder, you can now retire certifications or resuscitation credentials that employees are no longer pursuing (review here). By default, these items are not included on either report; however, you now have the option to include them.
- Additional Data: For the Expiring Resuscitation Credentials report, you now have more options in the Certifying Body filter: AAP, AHSI, National Safety Council, Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Top
2024 | 2nd Quarter (Apr - Jun)
Smart Notes: Added "Copy" Feature
When editing a Smart Note, you can now copy the Note and quickly apply it to another course.
Retire “Old” Certifications & Resuscitation Credentials
For staff that are not renewing certifications or resuscitation credentials, you can now manually retire these items (review here). Once retired, leaners are removed from applicable Intervals and Certification-Based Assignments. In addition, retired items do not trigger any applicable Alerts that your organization has enabled, like “Student Certification Expiration Date Approaching.” By default, retired items are also excluded from applicable reports, such as the Expiring Certification report.
NOTE: You can only delete or retire items at the organization they were first earned; e.g., Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) credentials earned via the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) or at a previous organization cannot be retired.
hStream Benefits: Added Maternal Health CE Courses
In partnership with the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM), we added a Patient Safety Bundle (PSB) to your course library. PSBs are a structured way of improving processes of care and patient outcomes, including actionable steps that can be adapted to a variety of facilities and resource levels (learn more). Content is geared toward leaders and policy makers, and each module awards 1 ANCC or 1 ACCME CE credit:
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Cardiac Conditions in Obstetric Care
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Care for Pregnant and Postpartum People with Substance Use Disorder
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Obstetric Hemorrhage
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Perinatal Mental Health Conditions
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Postpartum Discharge Transition
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Birth
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Sepsis in Obstetric Care
- AIM Patient Safety Bundle: Severe Hypertension in Pregnancy
Smart Notes: Add Custom Info to Any Course with "Smart Notes”
Enterprise and hStream Administrators* now have a new “Smart Notes Management” feature on the Courses tab that allows you to add custom information (formatted text, tables, images, videos, documents) on the start page of any course. Once learners click on the course, they’ll see this information above any learning activities (pre-/post-test, content, evaluation, etc.) – review here. You can use Smart Notes regardless of whether you’re assigning courses individually or as part of a learning plan, curriculum, or course bundle. NOTE:
- Course Versioning: Smart Notes follow the course, not a version of the course.
- Learning Plans: If staff test-out of a course that has a Smart Note, they will not see that Smart Note. Consider Custom Notes for information all learners must see.
- Courses/Curriculums with Pre-Assessments (PA): This workflow is different from Learning Plans. Staff must complete a pre-assessment for each course, and Smart Notes are on the same page as all Learning Activities, including pre-assessments. Before viewing the option to launch a pre-assessment, learners are shown your Smart Note.
- Hierarchies: You can create Smart Notes at the organization and facility level. However, only one Smart Note per course can be visible to learners. If a Smart Note is associated to a course at the organization level and at Facility A, users at Facility A will not see the organization-level Smart Note. A pop-up warning appears if an administrator tries to add a Note to a course that already has a Note associated at a higher level with the hierarchy.
*Access to Smart Notes Management is controlled by two new roles that Enterprise and hStream Administrators will automatically receive – Smart Notes Manager and Smart Notes Viewer. They can then choose to add these roles to others as needed.
Top
