Highlights from the Madaket team, together at our first major in-person event in two years
As a healthcare-focused event, it was obvious that the past two years have been a long, emotional journey for many. But attendees’ spirits were high and there was a constant buzz throughout the week, with nearly 26,000 strong attending HIMSS22 in person.
Going into the event as an exhibitor, we were hoping to make new connections, meet potential clients and partners, and help educate the industry about a better approach to provider data management. We were wildly successful across the board.
As we explained the PDM solution to payers and providers, we could see the “aha” moment in their eyes: the instant they realized just how impactful and valuable the platform can be to save time and money for their organization and the industry at large.
The team took full advantage of their time at HIMSS—they attended and moderated sessions, traversed the exhibit hall, and did their fair share of networking. After four days of listening, conversing, and observing, we walked away with these themes that were the most prevalent.
Key Takeaways from HIMSS 2022
Data and Analytics
It’s all about the data! No, really, nearly every HIMSS exhibitor mentioned data in some capacity, from analytics to access. However, analytics and the use of data are large categories, and it means something different to everyone. It’s important to leverage data in meaningful ways, like to improve performance and outcomes, optimize business operations, streamline clinical care, connect the care ecosystem, and so on.
As value-based and collaborative care continue to expand, organizations need to support and allow data sharing between disparate providers and payers. Regulations continue to dictate this point through the Cares Act, interoperability mandates, and more. By buying into automating every step of healthcare administration processes, payers, providers, and partners can begin to bridge the healthcare data management divide and start to fix what’s ailing healthcare administration.
It’s obvious that zillions of data points are flowing around the healthcare ecosystem. As our CEO Eric Demers shared during his HIMSS22 session, all of the key players must make a collective commitment to harness provider data—and exchange it— all in a fully integrated, automated, and interconnected way. Madaket’s PDM platform is built to do exactly that.
Digital Front Door
One of the buzzwords at HIMSS22 was “digital front door,” or engaging the patient at every major touchpoint in the patient journey by using technology that patients have adopted for everyday use. Many organizations are prioritizing this key health IT system by enabling, creating, or optimizing a digital front door as part of their routine practice.
Along the same lines of telehealth, it will be critical to meet the patient where they are, and the digital front door hopes to accomplish that. From a healthcare administration and provider perspective, the digital front door can help streamline appointment scheduling, online provider search, patient intake, digital billing, and more. This will be an interesting space to watch.
Telehealth
In today’s healthcare ecosystem, it’s become increasingly rare to go a day without mentioning telehealth. Over the past several years, and aggressively accelerated by COVID-19, we have seen a significant shift in the healthcare industry to not only incorporate telehealth and virtual care, but to truly embrace it and prioritize it.
Many vendors at HIMSS were seen diving into the telehealth pool as consumer demand and reimbursement continue to make it a very viable option. Organizations focused on telehealth are expanding rapidly—and it’s much easier now than it was only two years ago.
Conversely, there were conversations with some providers that showed their uneasiness for continuing telehealth services, as it adds more work to their already hectic schedules. With telehealth very likely to be more of a fixture moving forward, there will need to be better solutions to support providers, so they view telehealth as a helpful tool and keep the turmoil at bay.
Workforce Shortage
It’s safe to say that healthcare workers have incredibly critical and often rewarding jobs. However, the pressure of continually taking care of others is bound to eventually take a toll on anyone. Over the past two years in particular, healthcare workers have been selfless and brave, showing up to work every day during the COVID-19 pandemic—they are burnt out, rightly so. A recent poll shared during the event showed that more than 40% of nurses no longer want to be at the bedside; they either want to move away from direct patient care, change industries, or retire.
Hospitals and health system are struggling to staff adequate resources at all levels of their organization. In particular, non-clinical staffing is harder than clinical staffing. Clinical staff fall back on their oath and desire to care for others, but non-clinical working conditions are tough to endure long-term and come with numerous restrictions. Consequently, many non-clinical resources, like administrators, are walking away from the industry.
To combat staff shortages, workforce automation is a necessary step. Akin to retail and restaurants solving staff shortages with kiosks and apps, health organizations are solving staff shortages with process automation, machine learning and AI. Applying automation to critical healthcare administrative functions will cut back on time that’s wasted on these tasks so administrative staff and providers can focus more on higher value activities instead.
COVID Effects
The COVID-19 pandemic forced all facets of healthcare to change, shift, and react. And while it has had unsurmountable negative effects on the healthcare industry, there are some rays of light that shine through.
In general, the healthcare industry has become more collaborative—between providers, patients, and payers—regardless of networks and state lines. Due to the uptake in telehealth and virtual visits, many adopted the “care anywhere” model. Consumers are more in-tune with what is available to them in terms of their health, and they want instant access, just like they get for banking, retail, and other parts of their daily lives.
We’ll wait to see how the industry will evolve over the next five years but coming away from HIMSS it was clear that many of the ways that the industry operated pre-COVID will remain in the past.
Bringing It All Home
We returned from HIMSS22 reinvigorated and enthusiastic about the future. Our conversations and the insights shared by speakers during the event reaffirmed what we believed going in: that Madaket is and can continue to be a difference maker in provider data management. By making the acquisition, storage, and sharing of providers’ data more accurate, faster, and efficient, Madaket is motivated to keep contributing to the overall value of healthcare.
After two years without in-person events or networking, attending HIMSS22 was a combination of anticipation, relief, and joy—it was wonderful to finally reconnect with peers outside of the Zoom meeting room. Here’s to the next one.
Didn’t get a chance to chat with Madaket at HIMSS? Get in touch to learn how our Provider Data Management platform automates your administrative ops and protects your revenue stream.
