Until Next Year ViVE!

Let's dive into the aftermath of ViVE, where opinions ranged from "a conference for healthcare vendors to sell to other healthcare vendors" to "a place to exchange inspiring ideas around how we fix a broken system". One issue that everyone seemed to agree on was the quality of the conference coffee (not good). Another thing I think most attendees would agree on is that those shiny, flash-in-the pan digital health offerings that were so ubiquitous in the past were fewer this year. Attendees are craving more substance and the appetite for practical healthcare solutions with real-world applicability and the ability to generate tangible and measurable results has grown. Forget the buzzwords; show us the results.

Discerning trends can be tricky, but we saw some key topics dominating both the stage presentations and show floor conversations over the course of the three-day event:  

The Realistic Application of AI in Healthcare is Finally Being Realized - While the promise and peril of AI in healthcare is still being debated, this year healthcare organizations stepped back from all the hype in order to ask the hard questions. How can the implementation of AI actually improve outcomes and processes? In the wake of point solution fatigue, clinicians will continue to demand more tangible examples of success prior to their investment and adoption of the technology, and they will require evidence of how it can realistically and seamlessly fit into their existing workflows. In 2024, trust will need to be deeply rooted at the center of any successful AI initiatives in healthcare and ultimately will play a critical role as to whether they ultimately succeed or fail.

The Change Healthcare Data Breach Provided a Much-Needed Industry Wake-Up Call- We are well over a week into the breach and healthcare organizations of all sizes continue to report severe problems with cash flow, patients’ prescription accessibility, and provider ability to deliver care. As the attack continues to impact both billing systems and care authorization portals, it begs the question, how did an enterprise of such size and influence open itself up to such extreme vulnerabilities and what can we as an industry learn to protect ourselves in the future? 

The Clinical Workforce Shortage Is Not Going to Bounce Back – Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: the clinical workforce shortage. There are simply not enough physicians to meet patient needs. The result? Longer waits for appointments, an increase in costs for patients, and a decrease in the quality of patient care. We need to recognize that we are not going recover from the physician resource shortage without addressing the systemic problems that caused it. We must invest in long-term solutions dedicated to solving the main cause of provider frustration and burn out. This includes making it easier for them to access and analyze the clinical data they need to fulfill their primary job -- delivering high-quality care to patients. In the year ahead, expect an enhanced interest in tools that can break down these administrative barriers for clinicians once and for all so they can focus squarely on care delivery. 

The Home Healthcare Data Surge Is Upon Us: Finding new and innovative ways to safely deliver care outside of the hospital continues to be a top priority for the healthcare industry. But with fresh initiatives designed to meet and care for patients where they are comes more data than ever. It's raining data out there, folks, and most of it's coming straight from the patients themselves. Finding efficient ways to collect this information and synthesize it a way to make it accessible and truly actionable will be essential when it comes to healthcare enterprises successfully managing risk, informing treatment pathways, and closing critical gaps in care moving forward. So, let's get cracking on turning that data into actionable insights. The future of healthcare depends on it.