By DAVE LEVIN, MD
The 2019 Health 2.0 conference just wrapped up
after several days of compelling presentations, panels, and networking. As in
the past, attendees were a cross section of the industry: providers, payers,
health IT (HIT) companies, investors, and others who are passionate about
innovation in healthcare.
Tech-enabled Services
One of the more refreshing themes of the
conference was an emphasis on how health IT can enable the delivery of
services. This is a welcome perspective as too often organizations believe that
simply deploying technology will solve their problems. In my 30+ years in
healthcare, I’ve never seen that work. What does work is careful attention to
the iron triad of people, process, and technology. Neglect one of these and you
will fall short of your goals. Framing opportunities as services that are
enabled and enhanced by technology helps us avoid the common pitfall of
believing “Tech = Solution” and forces us to account for process and people.
Provider Burn-out and Health IT
Several sessions focused on the impact technology is having on end-users, especially clinicians. One session featured a “reverse-pitch” where practicing physicians “pitched” to health IT experts on the challenges they face, especially with EHRs, and what they need in order to do their job and have a life. This was summed up elegantly by a physician participant as, “Please make all the stupid sh*t stop!” There’s increasing evidence that the deployment of EHRs is a major factor for clinician burnout and the impassioned pleas of the attendees resonated throughout the conference.
Other sessions explored how to we might address these problems with improvements in user-interface design, workflow, and interoperability. Demonstrations of advanced technologies like voice-driven interfaces, artificial intelligence, enhanced communications, and smart devices show where we are headed and hold out the promise of a more efficient and pleasing HIT for providers and patients.
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