With Disneyland a short car ride away, you may be surprised to hear that all the excitement and energy this week was concentrated at the Langham Hotel and Resort. But there was a distinct crackle of enthusiasm during the 13th annual Healthcare IT Institute as several trends and key focus areas were discussed in great detail over the course of 3 days.

The Institute gathered over 30 subject matter experts, more than 20 partners and 80 senior Healthcare IT Professionals. Mix in some professional networking time, social team building, and general meetings of like-minded professionals and you have a formula that would make any apothecarist envious.  In fact, one of the closing exercises that we conducted with the group was a “word cloud” to describe the most prominent topics discussed. The results were unsurprisingly aligned with industry trends that affect those in Healthcare IT the most.

Telehealth – Telehealth may have seen its burgeoning growth because of the Covid-19 pandemic but it is anything but a passing fad. Doctors and Clinicians need the same mobility and hybrid work models that other office-based workers benefit from. But these medical professionals have requirements that go above and beyond your typical knowledge worker, like instant access to patient medical records, and even stronger and more specialized security enhancements to keep those same patients and their data protected.  Gone are the days of simply providing someone with a VPN connection and reliable network. These clinicians require a familiar and consistent end user experience that matches, if not exceeds, what they receive inside the confines of the healthcare’s brick and mortar.

Security – Along those lines, security was a dominant theme with attendees at the conference. Over the past three years 60% of healthcare organizations report being the victim of Ransomware and Malware attacks. These healthcare orgs have a greater propensity for being attacked due to the very nature of the data that they maintain. One event presenter recounted that the average healthcare record was valued at over $1,000 USD on the dark web. Compared to other data that is perceived as valuable such as social security numbers which fetch under $1.  Additionally, these care units are frequently attacked because of their likelihood to pay the ransom to recover the encrypted data. And all too often we have inadequate security to respond to the ever-evolving threat vectors. As several attendees stated, “Cash is King, but Data is Queen”. In other words, it is the Queen that holds all the power and influence.

Consumerization – Another big trend discussed during the Institute was the consumerization of healthcare and specifically how it impacts those in the Information Technology world. Patients expect an experience that transcends beyond the patient portal. Patients seek innovative and patient centric care delivery models. And it is not limited to the use, and misuse of Dr. Google, but extends to an expectation for personalized medicine and even genomics-based care. One of the struggles tackled this week as well was how to use Artificial Intelligence appropriately and responsibly, or Generative AI. Most of today’s AI models leverage and are based on Large Language Models (LL) but the challenge is how can patients’ medical records be harvested or searched for the data that drives AI?

Mergers & Acquisitions - It may come as no surprise that one of the driving forces behind the increase in M&A activity in Healthcare is not necessarily the enhanced care of the patient or reaching communities which may be underserved. Regulatory demands and budget pressures are driving the concentration and acquisition of smaller providers into larger for-profit or IDN organizations.  The impact of M&A affects Healthcare IT professionals with additional concerns. The technology that they employ is also subject to mergers and acquisitions. When those EMR / EHR or other technology stacks get acquired, it is those technologists in IT that often have to deal with and make work the evolution of the software.  Obfuscating this complexity from the doctors and clinicians is often job number one. The true art lies in the simplicity to the end user but extending that simplicity and centralization to the Admin is just as critical.

IoT / AI / MI – No, it’s not just the explosive growth of acronyms that is disrupting the traditional healthcare environments. It is the technology that they represent. Tech like connected devices (Internet of Things) that have experienced exponential growth over the past several years. Most hospitals started with connected devices that performed janitorial tasks like mopping the floors. Those same hospitals are now seeing TUG robots delivering medications, connected hospital beds, automated medicine dispensing and more.

To contribute to the June 2024 Healthcare IT Institute, whether sharing some insights and experiences as a member of the Speaker Faculty, suggesting topic areas for the agenda, or joining the waiting list for attendance, please contact Nas Panwar at npanwar@ipmionline.com