Three Key Takeaways from CHIME23 Fall Forum

By Robert Schad, Vice President, Product Development, TeleVox

The CHIME Fall Forum is an event that really distinguishes itself from other large healthcare conferences. Instead of a big convention center filled with hundreds of booths with vendors displaying their latest innovations, CHIME Fall Forum is a small, focused show that IT leaders attend to get hyper-focused on solutions and results. 

In recent years, the event has undergone a focus shift to patient engagement. Healthcare leaders are looking for solutions that solve patient engagement issues they are experiencing today. These leaders want solutions that integrate with their existing systems yet are flexible enough to adjust to future needs. They also strive to go beyond basic patient communication to provide meaningful and actionable data that can help measure effectiveness and ROI. 

Beyond the focus shift, here are three additional takeaways from CHIME23 Fall Forum:

Optimism

It seems like most other conferences I have attended recently – including past CHIME Fall Forums – have focused on threats to healthcare organizations, whether it be security issues like hacking or financial challenges threatening the company’s bottom line. Yet, at CHIME23 Fall Forum, I felt a calmness that was permeating throughout the event. Instead of fear and panic, there was a focus on process and workflow improvements, addressing prominent issues, including patient engagement. Camaraderie reigned supreme as attendees demonstrated a real interest in learning about how their peers are solving similar problems. I left the show feeling optimistic about the industry’s ability to work together to solve these challenges.

Artificial Intelligence

AI tools have the potential to revolutionize healthcare and allow clinicians to focus more on the patient and their experience. At the same time, we know AI is still in its infancy, and there was a healthy dose of cautious optimism about its place in the healthcare industry. There was a sense at the CHIME Fall Forum that many healthcare leaders are engaging in purposeful deployments, or test cases, of AI where they can test and evaluate the results. We know that the opportunities for AI are endless, ranging from AI- based patient relationship management to actual diagnostic work, and companies that harness smart AI to deliver meaningful results will quickly grow their standing in the healthcare industry.

Opioid Management

Healthcare continues to lead the fight against Opioid abuse, so much so that there was an Opioid Task Force at the CHIME23 Fall Forum that discussed how IT can evolve to help save lives. We, as an industry, need to break down barriers and silos in technologies to share data that will prevent individuals from falling victim to the opioid crisis. This is another area where AI can play a leading role in helping to proactively identify situations where there is a higher likelihood of opioid abuse to occur. Solution providers like TeleVox assist by creating systems where information is disseminated quickly without violating privacy laws. 

These are just a sampling of the hundreds of conversations held each year at the CHIME Fall Forum. While our industry is thriving, there are many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I would encourage anyone in healthcare IT to attend future CHIME events and be engaged on the key issues facing the healthcare industry. Together, we can focus our attention on solutions that deliver measurable results to our partners, our customers, and patients across the globe.