This was my fourth year attending HIMSS since I joined HLN, and every year I feel like public health is just a drop in the ocean at this huge conference with more than 30,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors. But for the past several years, it feels like change is coming about, and our single drop feels more like a soft sprinkle, with public health-related content appearing in various places and sometimes where you least expect it.
As a public health professional, the Public Health Pre-conference was a highlight with many interesting speakers and a full room of like-minded people. HLN is proud to sponsor this event, recognizing how important it is for public health and industry partners to come together to move public health information management forward. My HLN colleagues, Marcey Propp and Lilly Kan, joined me on stage to engage the attendees in a discussion titled “Navigating the Modernization Maze: Strategies for Resilient Public Health Systems”. We conducted a Menti poll to canvass the audience on their thoughts and responses on questions about their contribution to data modernization within their organization, the success(s) and challenge(s) they have experienced, what they see is the most important to move Data Modernization work forward, and where on a scale from barely started to on the finish line.
Based on the informal responses from the audience (not a scientific survey by any means), it was evident that public health data modernization is a daunting and challenging effort, but achievable if we all work together. The pre-conference session, together with the ASTHO networking reception, provided great opportunities to meet old and new friends.
Inspired by the call to action heard during the Public Health Pre-conference Data Modernization Forum, I set out through the exhibit hall asking many of the vendors at the booths I stopped at, ‘What are you doing for public health?”I received an interesting mix of responses. I am not sure I am happy with everything I heard, but I do think there is a bit more awareness in the HIMSS community about public health and its current challenges.
A couple of key themes I heard included:
- AI is everywhere, and it is moving fast. Public health, and government in general, is spending a lot of time thinking about policies and guardrails, but we can’t fall behind. We have to find a balance between thinking, planning, and doing – creating policies and guardrails that protect us, but yet still allow for trial and error. More information is now available on the CDC AI Website.
- Policy changes by CMS and ASTP/ONC are on many people’s minds and drew large audiences to any sessions discussing these topics.
- People were talking about interoperability again. While this topic seemed to be fairly quiet for a while, tools are being built to give users more direct access to their data. For examples of these tools, take a look at the WA Health Summary and the Kill the clipboard” use case and apps from CMS.
I am truly impressed by the plethora of public health agencies that engage at HIMSS and create this ‘soft sprinkle’ of public health throughout the conference – specifically those who speak out, present, or exhibit at the conference. Perhaps next year, public health community engagement can cause a torrential rainstorm at HIMSS27?
Additional information
- Public Health Pre-Conference Slides (available only to anyone registered for the conference; download the handout in the opening remarks agenda item from the Public Health Data Modernization Forum).