Patient Engagement

Payers have been putting the focus on consumers by building better transparency and trust, according to Zipari CEO and founder Mark Nathan.

Microsoft Chief Medical Officer Simon Kos sees a need to improve healthcare and so the software giant is focusing on such areas as AI, population health, public cloud, precision medicine and virtual services.

Brian Eastwood, content strategist at ReviveHealth and a HIMSS19 social media ambassador, says hospitals are deploying the tools in patient rooms to handle low-priority tasks like turning on the TV or closing shades.

David McSwain, interim CMIO at Medical University of South Carolina, says telehealth technology has evolved to the point where virtual visits can now include entire care teams in ways that just aren't possible when clinicians are using phones.

There's game-changing tech on the healthcare horizon, but clinicians need to be on board, says Prof. Jane Griffiths, associate professor and chief nursing information officer at the Dubai Health Authority.

Patients today can engage with their data in ways that create a good relationship with providers -- when the technology doesn't get in the way, claims Joyce Sensmeier, vice president of informatics at HIMSS.

Three things can liberate patient data: The industry must put patients at the center, use standards like HL7 FHIR and get the entire ecosystem working together, say Kari Hedges, SVP at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and Laurent Rotival, SVP at Cambia Health Solutions.

HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf sits down with a panel of luminaries in the field of healthcare to discuss empowering patients and the interoperability rule that gives people full access to their clinical records.

Andrew Mellin, VP and medical informatics physician at Surescripts, says his company's price transparency service allows providers to make choices that are in the best interests of the patient.

Michel Amous, regional managing director at InterSystems, says it's important to enable providers and regulators to focus on patients to improve the quality of care delivered and reduce adverse events.