Openix Solutions company became a participant in one of the largest events in the field of medical IT technologies, The HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, which was held in August 2021 in Las Vegas.
The HIMSS has been held for 60 years. The event is dedicated to healthcare infrastructure and information management systems and demonstrates the latest achievements in the field of digital healthcare.
The conference, according to the organizers ‘ estimates, covered several Las Vegas resorts, gathered about 19,300 in-person attendees and 5,000 digital ones, and approximately 700 exhibitors stood up booths on-site.
In this article, we will explore the main topics that were covered at this conference.
At HIMSS, experts shared their thoughts on the future of digital healthcare, applied AI and machine learning, cybersecurity issues, research in bioinformatics and medical informatics, remote monitoring of patients, venture investments in medical startups, and the general situation in the field of healthcare after the pandemic.
The COVID-19 was one of the themes that threaded through all topics and discussions, as participants discussed the changes caused by the pandemic and how they will affect public health in the coming years.
Among the speakers are the former director of the National Security Agency and the US Cyber Command, Michael Rogers, the former director of information security at Twitter, Michael Coates, and the former director of information security at Facebook and Yahoo, Alex Stamos.
The main theme of the exhibition was the prospects of using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in medicine. AI lowers risks, reduces costs, accelerates research, and increases safety in many areas of healthcare.
Surveys of HIMSS respondents show that industry players are watching the emergence of AI-based medical applications with interest, and almost all assess the increase in organizations ‘ interest in AI as high or medium. Meanwhile, the majority of clinicians (62%) have not yet started working with AI tools, but are interested in it much.
Experts say that one of the new areas where AI is being used is emergency forecasting to predict future public health crises. Many companies have already started developing in this area. Optum Research Director Danita Kieser said that the medical services business owned by UnitedHealth has created an algorithm for predicting infectious diseases.
Rush Medical Center, for example, is developing predictive models to try to strengthen its social determinants of health screening platform so that it can better connect patients with resources in the community, said Bala Hota, Rush’s chief analyst.
Similarly, Tanuj Gupta, vice president of Cerner Intelligence, said that his hospital’s customers are looking for more AI-enabled tools to perform the same tasks that its software has been performing for many years. This interest has led the healthcare IT service provider to rapidly ramp up the release of its clinical model.
Some companies presented their innovative developments in the field of AI, such as: ”smart operating rooms”, which collect log information at the beginning and end of medical procedures, counts and tracks all surgical protocols, devices, and materials. And also, microscopy using AI, analysis of large amounts of data, tracking patient safety, for example, patient’s fall or washing hands.
According to HIMSS experts, digital healthcare will play a key role in solving some of the biggest problems facing the US medical system today. Chartis Group, a management consulting company, published a survey in which 52% of healthcare managers said that they have not progressed beyond the experimental stages of digital integration, although they understand the need.
Almost half (47%) of the 220 executives surveyed said that digital technologies are the “top priority of the organization”, while 80% said that they plan to increase their digital investments in the future.
Telemedicine received a huge boost during the pandemic, when many outpatient visits switched to virtual almost overnight, and regulators and providers struggled to create a structural framework to support them.
Wherever usage eventually stabilizes, early evidence suggests that the number of telemedicine visits is rising again in combination with COVID-19 cases. According to experts, the sector may experience another short-term surge.
In general, as part of planning for the near future, all the speakers talked about the same thing: expanding the capabilities of artificial intelligence, increasing the information maturity of medical organizations, and reducing treatment costs.
Also, much attention was paid to the topics of cybersecurity, discussion of the experience of vaccination and treatment after the pandemic, and problems of mental health and diagnosis of mental diseases of the population.
The next exhibition will be held in Orlando, 14/03/2021-18/03/2021. Save the date!
