HIMSS19 focus on value-based care

At HIMSS19, one theme seems to filter through all the buzz and activity: delivering value-based, patient-centred care.

The HIMSS conference taking place this week at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida, attracts tens of thousands of professionals working in healthcare around the globe. The broad scope of the conference tracks reflects the wide-ranging interests and activities of its delegates. One theme seems to filter through much of the buzz and activity: delivering improved patient outcomes at a lower cost of care, or simply put, value-based, patient-centred care.

Samsung Electronics America is going to some lengths to show how its technology is underpinning many companies’ products. These products are enabling healthcare providers to reduce cost by helping to keep people healthy and out of hospital, and so demand for them is rapidly expanding. The global market for digital health solutions in out-of-hospital settings is expected to grow by 30% in 2019, exceeding $25 billion, according to the Frost & Sullivan Global Healthcare Market Outlook 2019.

Wearables and other devices are proving effective tools for managing chronic conditions at home. Remote patient monitoring, enhanced with AI, is increasingly substituting in-person follow-up visits that are both costly to the healthcare provider, and burdensome to the patient. Such telehealth solutions are likely to be a key driver in the growth of digital health.

These patient-centred solutions are enabled by some fundamental data-processing technologies. Companies are already looking beyond the electronic health record to give physicians a complete health history of the individual, while enabling health IT systems to share and use data in real-time. It’s vital for this data to flow seamlessly across existing workflows and legacy systems.

“Providers must be empowered with tools that can deliver a complete view of even the most complex individuals”, according to Netsmart CEO Mike Valentine.