HIMSS Kicks Off With a Focus on Validation

As the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference and exhibition opens in Chicago this week, attendees are looking for ideas and programs that have proven their value in addressing care gaps.

As HIMSS 2023 kicks off this week in Chicago, the topics of conversation are familiar to healthcare executives: Workforce shortages, using AI to automate back-end functions and improve workflows, and the growth of remote patient monitoring.

The annual conference and exhibition hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society is the largest of its kind, though the pandemic and strategically placed competing events have had some effect on attendance. But the activity taking place in and around McCormick Plaza this week will still pack a punch.

Healthcare organizations know where their pain points are. They've listened to ideas around the redefining of healthcare at HLTH, caught a glimpse of some cool new toys at CES, learned about the expansion of telehealth at ATA, and seen how innovation and technology can be applied to those pain points at ViVE. Now, they want to see those ideas validated.

In the exhibit hall and in sessions over the next few days, the focus will be on how health systems have addressed stress and burnout in the workforce, how they've improved the prior authorization pathway, how they're using AI to smooth workflows, and how they're launching RPM or Hospital at Home programs to care for patients at home. Many press releases or announcements this week will likely focus on strategic partnerships to embed AI in administrative or care pathways, and new functions in products or platforms that reduce the burden on the provider and the patient.

All of these strategies are vital to a healthcare industry that's struggling to stay afloat and ahead of new competitors.

"Listen, respect, engage," Aaron Miri, senior vice president and chief digital and information officer at Jacksonville-based Baptist Health said during a pre-HIMSS presentation, noting that far more than half of their patients are expecting the same experience in healthcare that they're now getting at Amazon, Domino's and Dunkin. "If you do that, your patients will appreciate it."

Keynote speakers at HIMSS reflect the changing landscape of healthcare. They include executives from Amazon, Best Buy, VillageMD, and Microsoft, alongside HealthPartners CEO Andrea Walsh and Mayo Clinic CIO Christopher Ross.

The key to pushing value-based forward, these executives say, is to make the process more intuitive, and help both consumer/patient and provider/care team make the journey easier. Brad Reimer, CIO of the Sanford Health network, noted during a presentation that the most progressive virtual care and RPM programs won't work unless patients want them to work. And Shannon Crotwell, a clinical nurse navigator for Atrium Health, pointed out that health systems have to design programs that fit their patients, rather than trying to shoehorn a patient into an existing model.

In many cases, the conversations at HIMSS were started at HLTH, or ATA, or most likely at ViVE. They carry over to Chicago as more organizations get involved and new ideas are tested out. The strategies that work will have the data to support adoption—a key factor at a time when ROI is at the top of the list.