Tech CEO: What to look for HIMSS 2018

HIMSS — (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is an excellent yearly gathering in the healthcare technology field to showcase, discuss, educate, and interact with- ideas and technology that represent the current and future states of tech in healthcare.

As the leader of a technology firm that designs and develops custom software, I am most interested in the Interoperability Showcase . While breakthrough innovations are game changing, education seminars help us do our jobs better, and demo booths help show us devices of the future…my interests are in a subject that’s persisted for decades. Some might say what’s old becomes new, and the same holds true here. Interoperability remains a critical component of healthcare technology and I am keenly interested on this year’s views on the matter..here are a few reasons why:

1. Interoperability creates the foundation for all innovation to occur at scale. The interweavings and micro view are important, which include things like systems talking to each other, portable records, universal platforms for multiple devices, and more.
2. Interoperability is like sidewalks and parks. To get here takes a “team effort” of altruism and a sense of greater good for our population health. Anecdotally speaking, the entities with money (think hospitals) are not incentivized to share their data, while the entities who want the data (think startups) do not have the money to invest into shared systems because it would be considered an inefficient use of capital. Getting to full interoperability is akin to a public goods investment. It benefits all, but no one specific enough to make it worth them investing into it directly.
3. Even then, it is hard, because “healthcare” is not Google. While healthcare spend is large enough to be the 5th or 6th largest GDP in the world, it is still strapped for resources just like any industry. Adding the weight of regulation uncertainty and pricing pressures, and it is not hard to comprehend that healthcare is not Google, which is a massive company that has enough resources to constantly invest into new ideas and new technology. So once everyone buys in, then everyone needs to have resources and bandwidth to execute and that will take time.

Healthcare technology has many challenges. My hope is that HIMSS 2018 gives us insights into how our thought leaders view Interoperability, the backbone on which innovation can occur, will become more prevalent in the year and years to come.

Are you going to HIMSS? Hit me up in the comments!

Interested in building something cool? Email our team biz@smashingboxes.com