Why this HIMSS newbie was impressed
During my first HIMSS, I saw many ways that health IT is transforming healthcare
I went to HIMSS for the first time this year. And I was incredibly impressed by all the innovation that’s happening in healthcare. As I perused the conference floor, I saw many ways that technology can empower patients and health professionals to improve health.
One of the key themes that really stood out for me was population health. Cloud computing, big data, and machine learning offer unprecedented opportunities to improve population health. For example, clinicians can bring together a patient’s history with worldwide clinical data to explore which treatments have been most effective for people with the same condition.
What’s more, with wearables and health apps, people can share more information about their health with their doctor. As a result, health professionals can provide more targeted recommendations to their patients. And, together, patients and their care teams can shift to a proactive approach to wellness.
It’s also exciting to see how technologies such as CRM and productivity tools such as Office 365 are empowering real-time care team collaboration and productivity, as well as improving patient relationship management.
A great example of how technology is enabling proactive, predictive healthcare is Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System’s ImagineCare—which was showcased at HIMSS. It harnesses advanced analytics, the Internet of Things, CRM technologies, and the cloud for personalized medicine.
Visitors to our booth were also able to experience how solutions from Microsoft and our partners work together so patients have more meaningful and convenient interactions during their entire patient journey—with the right security in place all along the way.
Because, as Neil Jordan recently wrote, in order for technology to empower health professionals and patients, they need to be able to trust it. At HIMSS, we brought to life our commitment to security, privacy, compliance, and transparency with real-world stories from customers and examples of end-to-end security features.
Being a sports and fitness fanatic, I especially enjoyed the RespondWell telerehabilitation demo in our booth. Powered by Kinect for Windows, it’s a great example of scaling health services with technology. It uses sensors and gaming technology to guide and motivate people to do exercises at home. Check it out:
RespondWell i’move & Microsoft
In addition to RespondWell, I was thrilled to meet with many of our other partners at HIMSS, including GE Healthcare, McKesson, Cerner, HP, and Siemens.
And having volunteered on an Operation Smile mission in 2015, I was delighted to meet up again with Chris Bryant—who is Senior Vice President of Enterprise Applications and Technology at Operation Smile. I always welcome the opportunity to explore how we at Microsoft can continue to empower Operation Smile with technology that helps scale the life-changing work it does to heal children’s smiles around the world.
Another highlight of my HIMSS trip was attending the 2016 Microsoft Health Innovation Awards and having dinner with the winners. I was impressed by how these industry leaders are taking advantage of intelligent technologies to enhance care delivery, harness the power of data and research, reduce costs, and streamline clinical and business processes.
What inspired you at HIMSS this year? Let us know via email, Facebook, or Twitter.
