From February 11th to 15th, the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando hosted over 45,000 attendees from 90 countries around the world at the HIMSS19 Global Conference, the leading health information and technology conference.

Those who attended saw cutting-edge products, networked with industry professionals, and experienced world-class presentations with the aim of helping solve their organization’s biggest health information and technology challenges.

My President and I were among the attendees, and we wanted to share our top 5 takeaways. Read on to get the “cliff notes” of this 4-day gathering of the industry’s best and brightest

#5 – Interoperability and Health Information Exchange

Interoperability is the ability of different information systems to access, exchange and use data, with the goal of optimizing the health of individual patients and populations.

A recent National Health Information Exchange and Interoperability Landscape report found that 80% of providers saw increased efficiency and 89% saw improved care quality by using electronic data exchanges.

An efficient health interoperability ecosystem provides an information infrastructure that uses technical standards, policies and protocols to enable seamless and secure capture, discovery, exchange and utilization of health information.

The Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS was the highest trafficked area of the exhibit floor and was packed with demonstration areas, a large education theater, a product marketplace and more.

Upcoming virtual event: HIMSS Quarterly Spring 2019 Interoperability & HIE Community

Roundtable on April 10, 2019 at 11:30am-1pm EST. Click here to learn more.

Here are a few Interoperability Companies worth checking out:

• PointClickCare provides a new acute and post-acute interoperability solution
• Intersystems is  the engine behind the world’s most important applications in healthcare, finance, government, and other sectors where lives and livelihoods are at stake.
• Sansoro Health’s software allows digital health applications and EMRs to exchange real-time data seamlessly. 

#4 – Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity breaches include stealing health information and ransomware attacks on hospitals, and could even include attacks on implanted medical devices. Breaches can reduce patient trust, cripple health systems and threaten human life. Ultimately, cybersecurity is critical to patient safety.

…Not to mention, data breaches cost the healthcare industry over $5 Billion a year!

In 2018, 25% of healthcare providers faced mobile device breach according to a new Verizon report published in March 2019.

3 of the top growing security threats: mobile device exploits, cloud-based data breaches, and ransomware

Cybersecurity Command Center at HIMSS – attendees discovered cutting-edge technologies and learned how to defend their organization against security threats. The command center featured 80 companies exhibiting and 2 theaters which discussed a new topic every hour.

Some of the companies in the command center:

• Armis is the first agentless, enterprise-class security platform
• Bottomline Technologies provides solutions to make complex payment processes simple and secure
• Clearwater’s cyber risk management solutions that reduce the likelihood of a breach, save time and money, and meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

#3 – Data Analytics (big data and predictive analytics) 

Health data analytics, also known as clinical data analytics, involves the extrapolation of actionable insights from sets of patient data, typically collected from electronic health records (EHRs).

194 exhibitors (making this the largest category at HIMSS) displayed solutions to map and trace data from system to system in order to solve a business issue in healthcare organizations

There’s a huge need for big data due to rising costs in healthcare expenses (now 17.6% percent of GDP —nearly $600 billion more than the expected benchmark for a nation of the United States’ size and wealth).

Check out this article to read 12 examples of big data analytics in healthcare that can save people’s lives, not just their money.

A few data analytic companies who attended HIMSS:

• Definitive Healthcare provide comprehensive analytics on healthcare providers to help those in the industry better understand the market, support marketing campaigns, drive sales, and analyze industry trends
• Medecison and SPH are helping care managers track and close care gaps to improve quality

#2 –  Telehealth (including remote patient monitoring)

Telehealth is the use of digital information and communication technologies, such as computers and mobile devices, to access health care services remotely and manage your health care.

Patients are more connected than ever to their providers, even without physically stepping foot in a hospital or physician office. Currently, 31% of healthcare organizations use video-based telemedicine services and 34% offer remote patient monitoring, according to a KPMG survey conducted by HIMSS Analytics.

Under the telehealth umbrella is remote patient monitoring, which is the use of wireless technology by clinicians to track medical and health-related information from their patients in real time. This technology allows the remote management of chronic diseases (such as heart diseases and diabetes).

Kester Search Group partners with several telemedicine and remote patient monitoring companies. We have seen innovation and growth within this sector first hand!

For more on the state of the remote patient monitoring market in 2019, check out this blog written by Alana Moriarty at Definitive Health.

Some of the exhibiting Telehealth companies:

• American Well and Netsmart’s HER for addiction and behavioral health
• Avizia enables patient access to clinicians, provider collaboration from the onset of a condition, care coordination, and point-of-care devices
• Carena started as a primary care company focused on house calls but now they’ve moved to telemedicine
• Doctors on Demand allows consumers to gain access to a provider within minutes on a mobile device or a desktop or laptop with a camera
• Teladoc has been selling its telemedicine offering to large self-insured employers and then to health plans and over the last couple of years to hospitals and health systems

#1 – AI and Machine Learning

AI and Machine Learning stood out above all other trends due to a ton of buzz around the role they will play in revolutionizing healthcare, improving outcomes, and reducing costs.

This article predicts healthcare artificial intelligence market will top $35B by 2025 driven largely by a growing desire to automate tasks and harness deeper insights into clinical and financial issue.

Machine Learning can make useful inferences and predictions based on available data. As our population ages, these inferences and predictions can help improve healthcare and help people live healthier, longer lives.

Upcoming event in Boston June 13-14: HIMSS Machine Learning & AI for Healthcare Summit

What makes AI and Machine Learning so transformative is the impact it can have across all sectors of the healthcare and technology industries. The possibilities are truly endless.

A few AI and Machine Learning companies to check out:

• Change Healthcare is a claims lifecycle artificial intelligence to help improve payment accuracy, reduce denials, etc.
• Medstreaming: disease management platform using AI
• DataRobot’s platform automates, trains, and evaluates models in parallel, delivering AI applications at scale. DataRobot provides the fastest path to AI success for organizations of all sizes
• Pieces Technologies provides end-to-end monitoring, prediction, documentation & discovery software for health systems and community based organization

Bonus: Here are a few additional “buzzwords” that might be worth keeping on your radar!

• Patient experience – encompasses the range of interactions that patients have with the health care system, including their care from health plans, and from doctors, nurses, and staff in hospitals, physician practices, and other health care facilities. This includes patient portals.
• Population Health – The approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population
• Blockchain Technology is a permanent record of online transactions or exchanges (ex. Bitcoin) and it’s being used in healthcare, because it’s highly secure and resilient.

With all of these exciting new developments, one thing is very clear – The healthcare and information technology industry is growing rapidly and the competition for top talent is fierce.

Luckily, your problem is Kester Search Group’s passion. Let us build your team, so you can build the future.

As a boutique executive search firm, KSG specializes in connecting executives, sales & marketing leaders, and outside sales talent with leading healthcare and technology companies to ensure you get the most out of your most significant investment – your people.

Need help growing your team in 2019 or looking for a new opportunity? Click here to book a call today.

To learn more about our firm and how we can be a resource…

• Visit our website www.kestersearch.com
• Or contact Kate directly at kate@kestersearch.com or 864-417-2172.

Sources: HIMSS, Definitive Healthcare, and The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality