Every February, approximately 40,000 health IT professionals from across the country gather at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference to discuss the future of healthcare and the new tech innovations in the pipeline. Like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for the tech world, HIMSS sets the stage for the coming year in health IT, showcasing new innovations and setting the themes that will define the months to come. This was my first time attending the conference, and it was filled with some of the most prolific health IT innovators in the world.
In previous years, trends like artificial intelligence, machine learning and population health have dominated the headlines, keynotes and breakout sessions. This year, however, the theme “champions of health unite,” calls not for a greater focus on technology and our health as a nation, but for an increasing emphasis on what matters most in healthcare: the patient.
The past year was a roller-coaster in health tech. Some of technology’s biggest players – including Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft – threw their hats (and dollars) into the ring, announcing a significant focus on healthcare and health tech. Not only are they spending big dollars on R&D, they’re also employing medical researchers and even toying with the idea of building primary care clinics for employees. Changing healthcare regulations are also shaking up the playing field with new announcements dropping nearly every month – just before HIMSS kicked off this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced new regulations surrounding interoperability, which aim to improve electronic access to health information. The long and short of it is that we’re entering a brave new world for healthcare and the year ahead is going to be an interesting one.
With these changes imminent, HIMSS19 places a renewed focus on the patients and caregivers who are at the center of the healthcare equation. After many conversations at the show surrounding this refocused healthcare paradigm, I see the following trends emerging.
Prediction #1: Renewed Focus on Patient Engagement and Digital Health
Book appointments online, compare drug prices side-by-side and request prescription refills
While “patient engagement” might at first sound like just corporate jargon, it’s much more than that. In the coming year, patient access to digital tools that empower them to take charge of their health will increase dramatically. For example, digital health platforms will allow patients to book appointments, pay outstanding bills and review test results and physician instructions for care – all from web-based platforms that patients can access at their convenience. Patients will also see changes during in-person physician visits. For example, capabilities like e-prescribing and price transparency tools will allow patients to compare pricing information for different medications with their doctor, select the best option for their budget and health condition, and then send the script directly to their pharmacy of choice. Additionally, in the near future, wearable healthcare devices and telemedicine will further augment these capabilities to provide patients with even greater autonomy over their care.
While some providers have already started to offer these convenient tools, there is ample room for improvement industry-wide. The coming year will see an increased focus on tangible, patient-centered changes in how care is delivered, communicated and coordinated.
Prediction #2: Increasing Spotlight on Price Transparency
Compare pricing between hospitals for different therapies to avoid “surprise medical bills” and manage spending amidst increasingly common high deductible plans
Similar to the capabilities some digital health platforms offer for prescription medications, rising healthcare costs are placing a growing spotlight on price transparency across the entire care spectrum. Driven by increased demand, providers and payers will be asked to provide cost comparisons for different therapies and procedures prior to them taking place. With value-based care initiatives, patients will expect to see where, why and how their money is being spent.
In fact, as of January 1, 2019, hospitals are required to publicly list standard charges for various procedures. However, many consumers have found that not only is it hard to find where these prices are listed, but also the information provided can be nearly impossible to understand. On top of that, the information may not even represent what a patient will actually pay. Regardless, there’s no doubt that there is an increasing focus on price transparency, and that conversations – and hopefully real change! – will be a big focus in the coming months.
Prediction #3: The Importance of Interoperability and Data Sharing
Share medical records, test results and imaging among providers with the click of a button
Over the course of a few years, a patient may see their primary care doctor a handful of times, visit an urgent care center for treatment of a minor ailment, or book an appointment with a specialist to get a second opinion. While each of these visits is part of a patient’s medical history, the electronic health records documenting patient outcomes and prescribed therapies don’t always end up in one place. Additionally, medical records may be incomplete because a patient moved or changed primary care providers, saw a different doctor while attending university, used a different version of their name or even changed insurers.
In the future, healthcare may see a renewed focus on promoting interoperability among healthcare providers, hospitals and medical centers – especially with the recent announcements by ONC and CMS. In addition to streamlined data sharing formats and record-keeping practices, the HIMSS 2019 healthcare prediction report suggests that blockchain or “distributed ledger technology (DLT) is going to be leveraged as a part of the broader interoperability ‘toolbox’ to remove the redundancy and friction points that currently exist within the [healthcare] system.” Overall, this may take much of the record-keeping burden off the patient and provide physicians with greater visibility into the patient’s full history of care, ultimately leading to higher quality care and improved outcomes.
Prediction #4: The Continued Consumerization of Healthcare
Genetic testing? Telemedicine? AI-enabled doctor bots? Unprecedented healthcare innovations are on the horizon
Value-based care, increasing consumer awareness and big brands entering the healthcare market will change the very nature of how we think about and access healthcare – and indeed they already are. Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway’s proposal to create primary care clinics for employees in order to reduce healthcare costs and improve quality has shaken up the industry. While not immediately clear what affects these big brands will have on healthcare, they undoubtedly will speed up the pace of change, resulting in more rapid integration of AI, ML, chatbots and wearables.
Beyond 2019, big consumer tech brands – or startups backed by a big player – may lead the charge for items such as genomic testing for personalized medicine, as 23andme already has. Genetic testing can usher in a new realm of individualized care, where a patient’s genetic makeup is used to select the best medication or therapy and individualized risk profiles help prescribe preventive action when a patient is predisposed to a certain disease.
While therapies and innovations certainly sound promising, practice caution when viewing this new ecosystem as a healthcare silver bullet. When it comes to healthcare, nothing is ever that simple. According to the HIMSS 2019 predictions report, “Though these companies [Amazon, Google and Walmart] have a sophisticated understanding of buyers’ needs and expectations, they come lacking a real understanding of the depth and complexity of healthcare delivery.”
Cha-cha-cha changes
There’s no doubt we live in an interesting time for healthcare innovation, and the year ahead seems poised as a major inflection point. Overall, positive changes seem to be in the pipeline as recent innovations and regulations shift focus back to the patient and pave the way for a more streamlined, coordinated healthcare landscape. As we march further into 2019, keep an eye out for more big news, because constant disruption seems to be the one consistent factor in today’s healthcare landscape.
