What You Need to Know:
Health IT thought leaders share what HIMSS20 would have focused On—if It had happened.
– Hot topics include health IT to address COVID-19; artificial intelligence; EHR interoperability and usability; and more.
–Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO of Biofourmis, Boston, Mass., which provides digital therapeutics that power personalized predictive care
“Remote monitoring platforms and clinical-grade wearables combined with artificial intelligence [AI]-based analytics is an area of health IT that will continue to capture the attention of healthcare leaders, especially as it relates to emergent applications such as COVID-19 monitoring. These technologies enable remote monitoring of patients quarantined with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, thereby limiting exposure to the virus for healthcare professionals and within the community. Remote monitoring with clinical-grade sensors to collect data on numerous physiological signals to which advanced analytics are applied can improve clinical decision-making. In addition, the learnings from AI-based algorithms can be combined with other information such as laboratory and imaging tests to create a composite mechanism to help clinicians understand COVID-19 better, which could ultimately lead to better detection or prediction of the early signs of infection.”
Robin Hill, chief clinical officer at Vivify Health, a provider of connected healthcare delivery solutions
“Coronavirus will continue to be a pressing topic, especially as it relates to how healthcare and health IT can help stop the spread of the disease. Telehealth and remote patient monitoring [RPM] are two examples of technology that can be used today to help with the safe treatment of COVID-19 patients.”
Simon Beaulah, senior director of healthcare for Linguamatics, an IQVIA company, a provider of an NLP-based AI platform for healthcare and the life sciences
“We will continue to hear more about advances in AI in healthcare that are helping users to make sense of the wealth of clinical data stored in EHRs. Healthcare stakeholders are hoping artificial intelligence [AI] technologies like natural language processing [NLP] can help with the identify at-risk cohorts, identify social determinants of health, improve patient engagement, and more. Expect to hear plenty of debate about which solutions are ‘hype’, and which can actually advance the delivery of patient care.”
Jason G. Cooper, SVP, chief analytics officer for HMS, a provider of healthcare technology, analytics and engagement solutions
“In 2020, a greater emphasis will be placed on shifting population health’s focus off of critical, high-risk patients because it’s just not producing the desired outcomes. Instead, health systems need to work towards preventing patients from ever getting to the critical state by prioritizing well care near the same level as sick care. Predictive and prescriptive analytics are enabling healthcare organizations to proactively engage patients and coordinate the right care intervention at the right time to address hidden and rising risk—subsequently arresting risk progression by getting ahead of issues before they become high-cost and less manageable.”
Colin Banas, MD, vice president of clinical product solutions at DrFirst, which provides technology, support, and services that connect people at touchpoints of patient care
“With the continuing emphasis on ‘patient engagement,’ it’s easy to lose track of what that means from the patient’s perspective. As efforts to increase patient engagement move beyond the four walls of the doctor’s office or hospital room, there is a need for solutions that can unite the entire health team to make collaboration easier, more productive, and more meaningful for all.”
Kevin Phillips, vice president, product management and marketing for Capsule Technologies, a global provider of medical device integration for hospitals and healthcare organizations
“As the ONC and CMS continue to focus attention on reducing regulatory and administrative burdens related to use of health IT, we will see a growing emphasis on technologies that give clinicians more time for what matters most—caring for patients. For instance, utilizing a technology that automates the capture of streaming patient data from almost any medical device and transforms that data into context-rich information reduces burdensome, time-consuming documentation and patient surveillance activities. Technologies such as this have potential to increase patient safety and the satisfaction of clinicians by advancing collaboration, communication and efficiency.”
Benjamin Kanter, MD, FCCP, chief medical information officer at Vocera, a developer of clinical communications and workflow solutions based in San Jose, California
“In the midst of sensory overload from alerts, alarm notifications, texts and calls, clinicians are constantly being interrupted and distracted. This type of chaotic environment impacts the well-being of patients, families and care teams. We are going to start seeing the industry move towards more intelligent integrations and alarm management solutions that filter out non-emergent noise and prioritizes actionable information to help clinicians do their jobs better while making their lives easier and their patients safer.”
Toni Laracuente, RN, Chief Nursing Officer at Medicomp Systems, a provider of clinician-driven point-of-care solutions that fix EHRs
“This year we celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Expect to hear more about what nurses need from EHRs and other systems. Nurses comprise more than 40% of the healthcare workforce, and they should also have a voice in the role of technology and how it fits into their workflows to enable better care.”
