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HIMSS19: A Sunny Outlook for Virtual Care

February 27, 2019


HIMSS19: A Sunny Outlook for Virtual Care

Last week, myself and some of our Fabric team had the privilege of attending HIMSS19 in Orlando, Florida – a global conference bringing together over 45,000 health information and technology professionals, clinicians, executives and market suppliers. Due to the rapid changes in today’s current healthcare climate, this year’s event had a strong focus on innovative ways to improve the patient experience, monitor the patient journey and drive synergy across the industry. In the face of change, the brightest minds convened on ways to generate new efficiencies while improving levels of convenience, safety and accessibility across the healthcare continuum.

As innovation builds, policy changes and trends surface. Sometimes this can make the healthcare industry look cloudy at best. Below are three major takeaways from HIMMS19, giving way to a much sunnier forecast, especially when it comes to the evolution of virtual care:

Utilizing Data in a Turbulent Atmosphere

Often times, salient trends are a direct result of major legislation. Day 1 at HIMSS19, the Trump administration released its proposed interoperability and data blocking rules. It’s no coincidence that a major theme at the conference this year revolved around the idea of data-sharing and new technologies to support the free flow of data between patients and physicians. As data is integrated and utilized, it’s vital that it also be safe guarded.

Cybersecurity and the idea of securing actionable data was a prominent theme at HIMSS19. When it comes to virtual care, both the exchange and safety of patient data is key. We need to assure patients that their health data will be used responsibly, while also finding new ways to free data previously locked in silos to do our part to advance population health and provide more personalized care.

Making it a Breeze to Personalize the Patient Experience

Another major theme prevalent at HIMSS19 was the overarching idea of empowering patients to make more informed decisions about their health. What patients want today, is interactions that are as specific and personalized as possible, but also innately human. Ironically, humans alone often struggle to create the type of personalized experiences that patients today crave. As such, wearables and other devices were once again prevalent at this year at HIMSS, with many innovators demonstrating how these technologies are empowering patients to take control of health experiences.

Leaning on AI and innovation to continue to address complexities across the healthcare continuum is something we will continue to see more of as personalization becomes increasingly important. For virtual care, adaptive interviews are a game-changer: asking patients only the most relevant questions determined by demographic information and previous responses. Aside from the convenience of virtual care, patients also receive personalized and clinically impactful interactions that are synonymous with the typical doctor’s visit to keep that human touch alive and well.

Spotting the Reimbursement Rainbow

As strategies to engage patient populations change, it’s important to consider the impact of these programs on reimbursement models, which are shifting to accommodate the rise of virtual care. At HIMSS19, while various sessions focused on the power of technology to improve patient care outcomes, many also focused on helping providers execute on a future-forward vision. Improving payment accuracy and developing a reimbursement strategy that is supportive of new technologies is essential to changing the public perception of newer methodologies. Capturing reimbursements that prop up provider budgets as justified by the utilization of virtual care will be essential moving forward.

HIMSS19 made it quite apparent that the healthcare industry is changing rapidly to make patient/provider interactions more personable, streamlined, cost-effective and more efficient than ever before. In today’s digital age, it’s important to consider how our strategies and processes can be enhanced with innovation. While a storm of change is inevitable amidst intense innovation and policy modifications, like with every storm, once it’s over the sky and our future will become clear once again.


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