Last week at the inaugural 2018 Health IT Expo (#HITExpo), we kicked things off with three ThinkTank sessions:
- Going Beyond EHRs – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULVQA4xEIRU
- Practical Innovation – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uc9_BCKQ84
- Communication & Patient Engagement – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60MAP04MoOw
These ThinkTanks were live-streamed via YouTube and were meant to engage members of the #HITMC, #HITsm, #hcldr and other online communities who could not be with us in person in New Orleans. Looking back over the tweets I believe it would be safe to say: mission accomplished.
The online discussion around the ThinkTanks was very rich and involved many different perspectives. During ThinkTank 1 Jim Tate had a keen bit of insight to share based on a comment made by panelist Shahid Shah of Netspective Media:
@ShahidNShah is correct. An #EHR go live is not an event but a process. Not a noun but a verb. #hitexpo
— Jim Tate (@jimtate) May 30, 2018
This was quickly followed by another interesting statement from Shah:
There are 3 types of healthcare CIOs according to @ShahidNShah:
–> Operators of the #EHR
–> Managers of the EHR
–> Leaders of the EHR
The true leaders are the ones making a difference. #HITExpo— Patty Keiler (@pkeiler) May 30, 2018
An interesting suggestion in ThinkThank 1 came from Dr. Fatima Paruk, Chief Medical Officer, Population Health at Allscripts – that it was never too late to get physicians involved in EHR optimization given that they are one of the main users of EHR systems. This was especially relevant given how much EHR frustration contributes to physician burnout.
Doctors need to be involved to facilitate that best practices will be put in place. Fatima Paruk, MD, MPH (Allscripts Analytics) #HITExpo
Yes! Important to note that practicing physicians who regularly see patients & will be using technologies need to have a voice. pic.twitter.com/7K43VGEy9r
— Enlightening Results (@GraceCordovano) May 30, 2018
Jeremy Coleman, one of the HITExpo’s social media ambassadors did an expert job at distilling a 5min during ThinkTank 1 into a single tweet:
#hitexpo panel wide: #EHR needs to do less and interact with other systems more.
— Jeremy Coleman (@jeremycoleman) May 30, 2018
The most interesting comment in ThinkTank 1 was made by Justin Campbell of Galen Healthcare. He suggested that one way to go beyond the EHR was to use the audit log information to identify workflow bottlenecks, training opportunities and UI improvements.
“Instead of continuously adding onto your #EHR, take a moment and listen to what your EHR is telling you today. There is a lot of value in EHRs already.” Great advice from @tjustincampbell #HITExpo ThinkTank https://t.co/aj7mYbVy8R New hashtag? #EHRmindfulness cc #HITsm
— Healthcare Scene (@HealthcareScene) May 30, 2018
The second ThinkTank generated a spirited discussion amongst the panelists and with the online audience when the topic of blockchain technology was brought up. It started when John Lynn made the following statement:
“Blockchain isn’t the innovation in healthcare, whatever it ENABLES is the #innovation.” –@techguy #HITExpo pic.twitter.com/OQCbgx7vak
— Jared Jeffery (@Jk_Jeffery) May 30, 2018
Jared Jeffery from KLAS Research then immediately followed up his tweet with this humorous counter-point:
We’ve had shiny chains for a long time. Blockchain doesn’t need to be another one of them. #HITExpo ? pic.twitter.com/2bvgCHD3Zw
— Jared Jeffery (@Jk_Jeffery) May 30, 2018
I agree with both John and Jared. The last thing we need is over-inflated hype around blockchain in healthcare. The technology itself holds promise but as an enabler of other technologies and processes. Simply slapping blockchain on existing processes is not going to yield the innovation healthcare needs. We need something more. The good news is that some pioneering organizations and HealthIT companies are experimenting with blockchain which will hopefully lead to incremental improvements.
Experimentation and the willingness to do something was on the mind of Jerry Cade – one of the panelist in ThinkTank 2. He had a poignant warning for all of us in healthcare:
“‘Do no harm’ – sometimes doing nothing IS harm. In that light, physicians have a responsibility to #innovate in healthcare. It’s all about patient outcomes. Everything else is ultimately irrelevant.” – Jerry Cade #HITExpo #hcldr
— Jared Jeffery (@Jk_Jeffery) May 30, 2018
In my opinion the most practical piece of advice of the day was shared by Shahid Shah during ThinkTank 2. It’s certainly something I’m going to pay more attention to in the future:
#HealthIT Innovation Think Tank: @ShahidNShah examines #healthsystem annual report to determine where priorities are – its the areas of investment – infrastructure, IT, building. Canary in the coal mine for innovation occurring. #HITExpo
— Justin Campbell (@tjustincampbell) May 30, 2018
Your truly had the opportunity to moderate ThinkTank 3 and it was a blast. We had an amazing set of panelists that included nurses, HealthIT insiders, industry experts and the voice of the patient. It resulted in a robust discussion on the nature of patient experience.
You need to provide positive experiences – we cannot change the odds but we can change the experience
@SunnyTaraVegas @CareCognitics #HITExpo— janae sharp (@CoherenceMed) May 30, 2018
#hitexpo @nursetechexec1 nurses are living integration engines, need #Interoperability help to get back to patient care
— Jeremy Coleman (@jeremycoleman) May 30, 2018
#HITExpo @SunnyTaraVegas #patientengagement is a byproduct of a tool that gives patients value.
— Jeremy Coleman (@jeremycoleman) May 30, 2018
Grace Jaime of Oneview Healthcare shared a keen insight which triggered a round of discussion on the need to clearly measure patient experience and communication effectiveness – If you can’t measure something, you can’t improve:
Practical #HITExpo nuggets from Grace Jaime, RN (@GraceJaime @OneviewHC):
– Involve a patient and family advisory board in your tech decisions.
– If you can’t measure, you can’t improve.https://t.co/cObABq7rez #PatientExperience— Patty Keiler (@pkeiler) May 30, 2018
Grace Cordovano, professional patient advocate, then had this to add:
Things that have a line item in the budget are prioritized @GraceCordovano #HITExpo https://t.co/qZoVk2hwZw
— CareCognitics (@CareCognitics) May 30, 2018
During ThinkTank 3 Sarah Bennight of Stericycle Communication Solutions made an interesting observation about patient advocacy and how it could be modeled after a legal precedent:
Another great idea, @sarahbennight : We have pro bono lawyers for those who don’t have the means to advocate for themselves, but wouldn’t it be great to have the same for healthcare and advocating for patients? #HITExpo
— Joy Rios (@askjoyrios) May 30, 2018
If you didn’t have the chance to catch the ThinkTanks live, I’d encourage you to watch the recordings (links above). The sessions were filled with valuable insights and practical advice that you can use right away. It was a lot of fun to participate in these ThinkTanks and I am definitely looking forward to doing more in the future.
In closing I think this tweet summed up the overall sentiment (from friend Ashley Dauwer at MEDITECH):
So excited to be able to follow along from home! #HITexpo pic.twitter.com/UpYrcjQ53p
— Ashley Dauwer (@amariedauwer) May 30, 2018