Recap: dbtech Attends the Annual HIMSS Summit in Arizona

3 November 2023

AUTHORED BY: DB Technology
Healthcare information systems continue to evolve with the developments of digital technology. dbtech was fortunate enough to leverage the opportunity to stay up-to-date with the industry’s latest advancements and attend the Arizona HIMSS Annual Summit, held on October 20th at ASU Skysong in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The event brought together healthcare IT innovators to solve industry challenges. Sponsors included CDW, Nutanix, NetApp, Dell, Logic Monitor, Convergint, and many more. The summit allowed for stimulating discussions, opportunities to expand our network, and the chance to learn from the brightest minds in the industry.

The event included:

  • Various presentations for industry leaders.
  • The chance to learn hot topics like AI and the patient experience.
  • Discussions relating to the challenges and opportunities in the healthcare landscape.

Here’s a detailed overview of the topics and speakers:

Opening Keynote Speakers 

The opening keynote was delivered by Kent Bottles, MD, on the “Uncertainty in Healthcare, Challenges and Opportunities.” During the session, he emphasized that there is still uncertainty in healthcare, even more now after COVID-19, as unexpected changes often follow pandemics. He advised that one should not try to predict what will happen but instead use our brains to tinker and collaborate with experts, embrace tacit knowledge and cognitive conflict, and learn from differing points of view and complex systems-based thinking.

Education Session 1 – State of Health IT Venture & Innovation

The session featured CIOs from local hospitals and VC Investors who discussed investing in innovation. They are willing to partner with small startups who are considered disruptors in healthcare. They are investing in PBM (Pharmacy Benefits Management), AI, de-identified data, patient care portability, reaching remote areas, and more. Regarding AI, there was a lot of discussion about how it conflicted with many ideas discussed in the opening keynote session.

Education Session 2 – Patient Experience, Not Just Clinical

This session featured Dr. Bottles and COPE Health Solutions, at first discussing value-based care, then debating the non-clinical side of the patient experience, such as using technology to collect info from the patient before they walk through the door. Mixed feelings of both patients and providers were shared on this subject. The conversation ultimately went back to discussing AI, demonstrating again how varied people’s feelings are about AI at this game stage.

Afternoon Keynote Speakers 

The afternoon keynote started with Joy Rios from HIT Like a Girl Podcast Live, who interviewed two women in leadership positions in healthcare, Alice Raia, CIO of Equality Health, and Melissa Kotrys, CEO of Contexture. From there, we attended additional speaker sessions, including: 

Education Session – Momnibus: Advancing Maternal and Infant Healthcare

In this session, a Healthcare Program Director from Bryan University and two Obstetricians talked about the importance of maternal health and shared some stunning statistics mostly relevant to Arizona. They also discussed the main points of the Momnibus Maternal Health Act, which is a crucial step to improve women’s healthcare in the United States.

Education Session – AI & ML in Healthcare

The AI panel session included the CEO of Botco AI, the CTO of MST Solutions, a Mastek Company, and the Chief Digital Marketing Officer of Banner Health. They discussed various things, including that AI will be great for diagnostics, predicting SDOH, being used for augmentation, and that there is too much “jumping on the bandwagon.” Training models are still needed, content creators need to be protected, and bias is inherent in AI.

Closing Keynote Speaker

Jeff Butler’s “Being Human in the Age of Innovation” delivered the final keynote. Butler shared how AI will help improve healthcare and outcomes, but there must still be human interaction and human intervention.

dbtech: Constantly Furthering Our Knowledge of the Healthcare IT Industry

The Arizona HIMSS Annual Summit was an excellent opportunity to learn from healthcare IT industry experts and contribute to our commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare software solutions. We aim to contribute positively to the healthcare industry by continuously furthering our knowledge of IT developments. We look forward to sharing our insights in developing the best healthcare compliance software solutions for our clients on their journey to redefining healthcare delivery. 

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