By Terry Edwards, President and CEO, PerfectServe
Twitter: @perfectserveCEO
Twitter: @PerfectServe
Each year, thousands of health IT leaders come together over one week to network, collaborate and shine a spotlight on industry accomplishments, challenges and innovation at HIMSS. I’ve attended the show for the past ten years, and I’ve seen trends evolve over time – some fading quickly, others becoming a constant theme throughout the years – all representing the ever-advancing healthcare landscape.
This year, as I walked the HIMSS show floor and had conversations with other executives, physicians and vendors, I noticed the following:
- The market is shifting beyond secure messaging – For three years I’ve been talking about the fact that secure messaging is an essential feature of an organizations clinical communications strategy, but it’s not sufficient in and of itself. We talked to more than one organization that experienced a failed secure messaging deployment. Having learned, those organizations and others are realizing that a secure comprehensive communication solution that can improve workflow is what is required. (It’s about time!)
- Security continues to evolve as a top priority – Healthcare CIOs are viewing security as a major challenge, and one that must be addressed holistically. I spoke with one CIO who shared that one set of lost physician network credentials caused through a phishing scam required the reset of 20,000 user credentials – a major disruption to the entire organization. We also discussed the challenges for keeping information protected; it’s clear that more comprehensive security solutions are needed to avoid the disruptions and other setbacks caused by breaches. Healthcare security today must extend past the surface level and become integrated into workflow, communications, technology, etc.
- Moving beyond Meaningful Use to optimization – For nearly a decade, Meaningful Use was king. Now that most providers have implemented EMRs, the conversation has shifted from fear of non-compliance to how we can do more with the EMR. More and more providers are looking for ways to optimize their EMR investment to leverage data, extend its usage and refine the technology so that it works more seamlessly within clinician workflow. Workflow plays such a critical role in care and physician coordination, and providers need platforms that are smart and holistic – ones consistent with reality.
- Shifting viewpoints on the future of the industry – Depending on who you talk to, conversations around the state of the healthcare industry and its future, which were in no shortage over the course of the week, differ in tone. With many factors, such as regulations, driving change in the industry, it becomes easy to take on a negative mindset – physicians in particular become frustrated with balancing patient care, compliance, data and technology. One notable challenge is providers are having to figure out how to take responsibility for a whole episode of care when the patient’s full team of physicians may not all be in one system. However, innovation continues to lead the way, and this, too, was reflected in many positive conversations about the healthcare landscape today.
Healthcare will continue to build on what we have today, optimizing our existing technology to address broader issues, and do so much more comprehensively – raising new trends and challenges just in time for HIMSS 2017. See you there!
Save the date: HIMSS 2017, February 19-23 in Orlando, Florida
About the Author: Terry Edwards is the visionary founder, president and CEO of PerfectServe. As chief executive, Edwards has dedicated himself to helping clinicians provide the best and most efficient patient care—while delivering most satisfying customer experience in the healthcare industry. This article was originally published on The Connected Clinician and is republished here with permission.