HLTH 2022 Takeaways 4: Data-Driven Decisions | Provisions Group

Guest Authored by Eric Thrailkill

• More in this series:
  • Read HLTH Overview Here
  • Read Part One Here
  • Read Part Two Here
  • Read Part Three Here
  • Read Part Four Here
  • Read Part Five Here

The convergence of factors listed below has accelerated opportunities to leverage data analytics

• The exponential growth of cloud computational resources, combined with a declining cost per unit of compute and storage components
• More than a decade of EHR (electronic health record) implementations as a result of the HITECH Act (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) of 2009
• Bipartisan congressional support of the 21st Century Cures Act (2016) with rules, interpretations, and implementations bridging multiple administrations
• Venture capital, private equity, and financing sources for innovative solutions targeting to the utilization of advanced analytics (AI/ML) in areas of diagnostics, discovery, treatment, and population health initiatives
• An exponential growth of data from wearables, sensors, consumer data, mobile devices, genomic sequencing, and other sources

Much of the “promise” of lasting health and healthcare benefit relies on the availability of real-world data and the development of real-world evidence.  

HLTH featured many sessions, and many exhibitors, discussing and displaying the potential of advanced analytics, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, leveraging data from claims, administrative sources, EHRs, consumer datasets, sensors, wearable, and remote patient monitoring devices.  

David Feinberg, MD of Oracle Healthcare, noted, “I think we will be free from having nurses spend 50% of their time at the computer ….they will be at the bedside and the voice and those kinds of innovations will capture what needs to be put into the system of record and doctors and nurses will be free from the computer terminal.”  Combined with Oracle Cloud, Feinberg noted, “healthcare will use all of these sources of data to make better decisions about patients, about populations, and about their healthcare operations.”  Oracle’s recent acquisition of Cerner will be interesting to watch as the companies merge and mature products.

On display at HLTH from the Announcement Stage (COTA, Syllable, Commure), numerous Tech Talks, David Feinberg, Chairman of Oracle Health (moderated by Heather Landi of Fierce Healthcare) and John Halamka, MD - President of the Mayo Clinic Platform (discussion of the Coalition for Healthcare Artificial Intelligence).