Key Takeaways from HIMSS 2023

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Chicago this year was attended by more than 40,000 healthcare and technology professionals, including UCSF Health and the CDHI team.

Here are several key highlights we took away from the conference: 

AI

The integration of AI into products was a top-of-mind topic, and many companies were embracing it. The Nuance-Microsoft demo showcased impressive features that could make a significant impact on provider productivity, burnout, and patient care if they continue to execute and roll out these features. Epic was also quick to integrate some of these features, and it is hoped that they will be available soon.

Given the speed of release and user adoption of generative AI, it is critical for healthcare systems to adopt an AI strategy early on, upskill their staff, groom and deliver high-quality data, and start small by focusing on a few operational and clinical use cases. For example, healthcare systems could consider automating revenue cycles, appointment scheduling, and staff assignment management. On the clinical side, they could introduce intelligent augmentation to streamline care journeys, improve RPM triaging and devices, clinical transcriptions, and bedside care. Microsoft has already announced integration into Epic, and Google has released a language model, Med-PaLM 2.

AR/VR

AR/VR was also a popular theme, with multiple companies using these technologies to demonstrate their products. The experience was immersive and engaging, and we watched a demo of nursing education using AR/VR from Baxter, which recently acquired Hillrom.

Virtual Nursing

Virtual Nursing emerged as one of the top themes, with multiple vendors providing solutions for enabling it, such as cameras for patient rooms, ambient AI, and virtual nurse workflows. Epic mentioned working with camera vendors to enable virtual nursing, but we need more details to understand if they are just using the camera hardware or if there is more. We also learned about Epic's progress on patient engagement, including their MyChart Bedside feature. However, privacy may be a big concern for providers with the use of cameras instead of Real-time location systems for detecting providers coming into the patient room.

Data Security

There was also lots of discussion around data security. As health entities increase digitization, threat actors are becoming more strategic and penetrating various angles of the digital ecosystems. Major compromises have disabled pharmacy prescriptions, records access, and appointment scheduling. Threat actors are monetizing on stolen patient data, which becomes a financial liability to health entities. Cloud providers that handle patient data and reside downstream as second and third-party vendors are vulnerable to attackers. Security vendors are advocating for controls up and down the value stream to diminish and mitigate breaches.

Continued Growth in Virtual Care

Wearables and remote patient monitoring were highlighted as tools to support patient care at the hospital bedside as well as in the home. To meet the growing device data output and analysis, command centers are being stood up to monitor patients in mass. Generative AI models are being deployed to streamline data analysis and treatment. We see the convergence of device and generative AI technology as a tool in patient care.

Big Tech in Healthcare

There was more evidence of interest from big tech in healthcare, with Microsoft seeming to have the most conspicuous presence and the most aggressive approach, with a location of booth and talking about AI. We also spoke with a GM of Analytics at Microsoft, who said they are working with various provider organizations to enable AI use cases. And Amazon’s Alexa in the patient room is also gaining traction, enabling patients to make requests and change room controls.