{"id":62784,"date":"2021-08-19T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/industry\/blog\/?p=62784"},"modified":"2023-05-31T16:37:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:37:49","slug":"be-the-change-for-himss21-digital-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/healthcare\/2021\/08\/19\/be-the-change-for-himss21-digital-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Be the change\u2019 for HIMSS21 Digital and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With a theme of \u201cbe the change,\u201d HIMSS21 had something for everyone, whether participants attended in person or online. We\u2019re always happy to connect with the HIMSS community and merge our respective missions of \u201cempowering every person and organization on the planet to achieve more\u201d with \u201creforming the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.\u201d What an extraordinary partnership with Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society members around the world to reimagine health!<\/p>\n

Microsoft was honored to \u201cbe the change\u201d as the sponsor of HIMSS21 Digital<\/a>, offering convenient access to a personalized and compelling virtual experience. Rather than recap this unique dimension of the HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition, I thought I\u2019d share some of my key takeaways that will last beyond the August 9-13 event.<\/p>\n

Empowering health data and AI in the cloud<\/h4>\n

Before HIMSS21 began, our team was privileged to have leaders from Humana and Johns Hopkins University participate in a pre-event webinar on Empowering health data and AI in the cloud<\/a>. These customers shared actual examples of how they\u2019re using Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare<\/a> and we announced expanded capabilities with Azure Healthcare APIs<\/a>, which allow organizations to bring multiple types and formats of structured, unstructured and imaging data into our trusted platform. This purpose-built technology enables healthcare organizations to aggregate and standardize protected health information (PHI) from multiple sources in a consistent and secure manner, accelerating its use for machine learning and obtaining insights.<\/p>\n

My takeaways: Microsoft is empowering our health and life sciences customers and partners to do more with their real-world data, transforming it into tangible evidence, leading to action and positive outcomes throughout the industry. Don\u2019t miss this enlightening on-demand webinar and our Azure Healthcare APIs news<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resilience and agility<\/h4>\n

Prior to joining Microsoft, I founded and led a strategic advisory and information management services firm called Resigility, a melding of \u201cresilience\u201d and \u201cagility.\u201d Opening day of HIMSS21 Digital seemed to channel the health community\u2019s resilience and agility during sessions bundled under the fitting titles of \u201cThe Year That Shook the World\u201d and \u201cReasons for Hope.\u201d In addition to the powerful stories of healthcare professionals going above and beyond in countless ways, rebounding with HIMSS21 in Las Vegas and via a digital platform clearly reflects resilience and agility, especially after last year\u2019s annual conference was canceled for the first time in 50 years due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

I also was struck by healthcare organizations demonstrating resilience and agility as they not only stepped up to the pandemic\u2019s unprecedented crisis but are now using lessons learned to continue delivering better experiences, insights and care. One session featured Dr. Ramin Davidoff, co-CEO of The Permanente Federation, Stephen Wellman of HIMSS and Microsoft\u2019s Julie Brill discussing how the healthcare field is evolving resilient models of care, improving health equity and ensuring lasting structural change. For Kaiser Permanente, part of accomplishing these goals is to expand health team collaboration with Microsoft Azure<\/a>. The alliance with Kaiser Permanente and Accenture<\/a> is now accelerating coordination of care and simplifying complex workflows in our secure cloud.<\/p>\n

My takeaway: Kaiser Permanente is innovating with the cloud to drive a resilient model of care, personalized digital services for members and more data-informed decisions by clinicians.<\/p>\n

Transforming the healthcare journey<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s appropriate that the World Health Assembly designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife to recognize the critical role they play in healthcare. From the initial coronavirus outbreak to now, we have seen nurses rise to each new challenge and tirelessly provide extraordinary care. To carry on celebrating this vital work, Microsoft sponsored the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Roundtable. It was inspiring to learn from prominent chief nursing information officers<\/a> at the forefront of using health informatics, artificial intelligence (AI) and leading-edge technologies to inform and enable decision-making across the continuum of care.<\/p>\n

My takeaway: The future is bright for transforming the healthcare journey with our industry-specific cloud and other advanced technologies helping clinicians make better decisions and deliver more efficient and effective care, while organizations maintain security, compliance and interoperability of health data.<\/p>\n

HIMSS21 highlights<\/h4>\n

HIMSS delivered stellar in-person and digital events\u2014congratulations and thanks to all involved in producing HIMSS21! <\/span><\/span><\/span>Here<\/span>\u00a0are some quick takes on additional HIMSS21 highlights:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n