HIMSS 2019 –KALEIDOSCOPE

This time it was conducted at Orlando Florida convention center which is biggest in the world to the best of my knowledge.  Covering the entire convention center was impossible, even for healthcare enthusiastic like me!

HIMSS 2019 event was a collaborative demonstration given by various companies in the areas of augmented reality, IoT, Telehealth/Telemedicine, Voice technologies, blockchain, interface engines, medical devices, interoperability, cloud etc. Since the last 2-3 years, AI/AR was at a conceptual level and it was difficult to imagine how technological breakthrough was transforming the healthcare industry?

For an industry expert & enthusiastic like me, it was an event of leaning back & witnessing the transforming healthcare industry in next 2-3 years. Technology evolves & keeps providing benefits to healthcare providers as well as consumers. The whole effort has been to reduce the ever-increasing healthcare cost and make a patient’s life better.

This year HIMSS has clearly demonstrated technologies and advancement of AI/AR platforms which are going to be next game changer in healthcare provider world. The real world scenarios of tracking patient’s health and making patient data available to providers were addressed by telehealth solutions companies and generic interface engine solution providers. To me, real bigeye catchers were Microsoft health pavilion, Interoperability booths, voice over technology companies, UBER health & FLYT health booths. Following are some of my observations from HIMSS:

AI/AR – Controlled Augmented reality for medicines

Microsoft had set up intelligent health pavilion and technology-centric educational pavilion to show technology across the healthcare continuum. It demonstrated patient experience, caregiver or provider healthcare solutions guided by tours and live demos by various companies

Live demonstration and discussion by the immersive surgical trainer using Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality and various brain-computer interfaces (BCI) including Neruosky & Muse provided early thought of control interface. In this case study, ‘BRAIN WAVE’ was treated as a mere mouse click which was enabled by a headband.

UBER Health - Game Changer provider services

Uber is delving more deeply into the provider ride business by announcing their app and text messaging service to get patients to-and-fro from doctor’s appointments and the hospital. This will be useful for old age patients who can’t drive and also for the -others who do not -wish to drive to a physician.

However, UBER may not able to replace the Ambulance service as Ambulance services have supplies, equipment’s, and Paramedics for emergencies.  UBER has a long way to match up with the services ambulance provides to the patient.

ALEXA– Future patient care

Voice will be changing the future of healthcare as many companies displayed voice integrated solutions. The main benefit of using voice recognition technology is that voice data can be reused as many times as one desires. This translates to better, accurate, and immediate care available for the patients who need immediate medication and need not wait for calling primary care physicians.

An attempt is made to make ALEXA next future generation physician where ALEXA will be suggesting medications to patients based on symptoms and associated series of questionnaire. This will completely impact PCP in the future as devices like Alexa will be primary care physicians for the next generations.

IoT – next generation patient tracking

By now, all of us are aware of the fact that healthcare and IoT can do wonders in patient care. HIMSS had maximum displays of devices which can be easily integrated with mobile apps. One of the case studies was to track patient medication through a device.

A small circuit based device which fits under mobile and tablet strip attached to it. As the patient keeps taking medication, mobile apps keep track of it and send updates to the physician. A wonderful solution for old age patients, as the app, not just reminds the patient about medication but also keeps the physician informed of the progress.

Cloud – Accelerating healthcare

As more and more patient care solutions are evolving, the need for storing patient data and hosting healthcare applications also increases. Healthcare industry which is regulated by HIPPA & HITECH acts needs more platforms which support the same.

Google cloud was an eye-catcher in terms of having a live demonstration of hosting application in the google cloud while taking care of HIPPA compliances.  In addition to this google, the cloud provides API for interoperability (HL7 V2/FHIR), Machine intelligence, G Suite for patient connectivity.

RPA – Automation in Healthcare

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is the new buzzword! It is similar to AI/AR 2-3 years back. Healthcare ISV’s are integrating their solutions with RPA. RPA will be transforming healthcare in the coming years for both providers and consumers. It will help make providers operations error free, efficient and for consumers, it will save time & money.

Saksoft is engaged with UiPath for leveraging RPA and integrating with telehealth platforms. At HIMSS 2019, Saksoft & UiPath have jointly demonstrated telehealth use cases.

At Faichi (a Saksoft company), we seek opportunities to upgrade our skills & keep watch on current trends in the healthcare industry. Faichi (A Saksoft Company) is in the healthcare space for past 7years. At Faichi we provide expertise in Telehealth solutions, Interoperability, Healthcare Analytics, IoT & mHealth and many more. Faichi at HIMSS always has been an interesting affair as Faichi’s keeps track of the latest trends in the Industry and provide valuable solutions to its customers. Saksoft’s association with UiPath is the best example of keeping with current trends and advancing telehealth solutions.

There is a lot to share and write but some of the things really awed me, which are reflected in this article. The 21st-century kids may not consider visiting a physician if Alexa becomes a reality; IoT brings cheaper devices which will keep track of patient health & medications. Who knows, every house might have a robot doctor soon?