What was the Buzz at HIMSS24?

HIMSS24 just wrapped in Orlando FL this year. After the partnership and management takeover of the annual conference to Informa Markets last August, and the struggles since the 2020 cancellation, everyone had been curious to see just how their go to health IT conference would look this year. Thanks to our friend from FINN Partners, Olivia Schlabach we got some reactions and takeaways.

Jeff Fallon, CEO, eVideon
LinkedIn: Jeff Fallon

Reflecting on HIMSS, it’s evident that the demand for innovations that drive measurable improvements in both nursing efficiency and health outcomes has reached unprecedented levels. HIMSS continues to be a pivotal event for the healthcare industry as it offers a platform for those at the forefront of innovation to share their progress, while also facilitating collaboration across multiple stakeholder groups to accelerate transformation. Central to discussions were strategies to alleviate the burden on nurses through system integrations that create both clinical and operational efficiency, highlighting the imperative to foster more meaningful interactions between patients and their care team. Emerging trends at HIMSS underscored the industry’s commitment to interoperable solutions that seamlessly work together to ease the burden on patients, families, nurses, and healthcare staff throughout the healthcare journey, with a growing emphasis on achieving clear and rapid ROI as exemplified by platforms like eVideon’s Vibe Health hospital smart room.

Yana Ankudinova, VP of Product Management, MRO
LinkedIn: Yana Ankudinova
LinkedIn: MRO

Generative AI for healthcare continues to gain steam with multiple partnerships and use cases being developed; from freeing up physician time for patient care (Epic EHR and Microsoft Azure OpenAI collaboration) to reducing administrative burden and the hand off between shifts for nurses (Meditech EHR and Google Health AI partnerships). Generative AI can be used in the release of information space to automate redundant tasks and spur data aggregation, standardization, and augmentation to promote interoperability. MRO is on a mission to deliver clinical data to the right place in the right format, on time, every time, enabling plans and providers to drive better patient and financial outcomes leveraging modern technology including recent innovations in GenAI.

Jeff Becker, Vice President, Portfolio Marketing, FinThrive
LinkedIn: Jeffrey Becker, MBA
LinkedIn: FinThrive

At HIMSS 2024, healthcare leaders converged in Orlando for a dynamic exchange of ideas. Cybersecurity emerged as a pivotal concern, transitioning from reactive recovery to proactive prevention strategies, including the establishment of redundant clearinghouse services for future resilience. AI stole the spotlight, showcasing its potential to streamline workflows, enhance revenue cycle management, and elevate patient care through ethical implementation. Additionally, there was a palpable emphasis on optimizing automation in prior authorization processes, with a call for intelligent solutions to drive efficiency gains. As we navigate this transformative landscape, the focus remains steadfast on advancing high-quality patient care and fostering a smarter healthcare ecosystem.

Danielle Esquivel, Event Experience Lead, Corti
LinkedIn: Danielle Esquivel
LinkedIn: Corti

Coffee service in your exhibit hall booth works! We had long lines every day to grab a cup of joe. And gave us the chance to introduce ourselves as we are a new company to exhibit at HIMSS.

Nadaa Taiyab, Principal Data Scientist, Tegria
LinkedIn: Nadaa Taiyab
LinkedIn: Tegria

At HIMSS24, there was a clear emphasis on the importance of a strategic approach to integrating AI, including transforming business challenges into AI problem statements to effectively address risks, mitigation strategies, and governance. It’s clear that traditional methods for evaluating machine learning models fall short with the advent of LLMs (learned language models) for generative tasks. The conference highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive evaluation frameworks and ongoing monitoring.

Eyal Zimlichman, MD, Founder and Director of ARC Innovation and Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, Sheba Medical Center
LinkedIn: Eyal Zimlichman, MD

HIMSS remains an epicenter for healthcare leaders to converge and shape the future of health. Here, innovation isn’t just showcased—it’s ignited. GenAI serves as the perfect example of a transformational technology highlighted in conversations throughout this year’s HIMSS. This technology is poised to significantly improve care access in the coming year. Illustrating this, ARC Innovation and Sheba Medical Center, in collaboration with KPMG and based on Microsoft technology, announced LIV, a GenAI patient-facing mental health tool at HIMSS. Able to serve as a decision support system to screen, triage and diagnose a broad range of psychiatric conditions, including PTSD, we believe LIV is a perfect example of this transformational technology in action, improving access to mental health services in settings where they are most needed.