Oct 12, 2017
emids got a front-row seat to emerging health technologies in action at the annual Health 2.0 Fall Conference, held Oct. 1–4 in Santa Clara, California. We had the opportunity to network with payers, providers, and startups demonstrating the latest innovations for advancing interoperability, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning in healthcare.
The conference, which drew more than 2,000 industry leaders and entrepreneurs as well as healthcare disrupters like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and more, is one of the nation’s most influential health tech gatherings. Sessions featured rapid-fire product demos and thought-provoking panel discussions exploring the potential of these transformative technologies for solving healthcare’s biggest challenges, including managing the influx of patient data, responding to value-based care pressures, and providing more consumer-friendly care.
The event kicked off with a provider symposium examining technology’s potential for helping providers navigate the changing healthcare policy and consumer landscape and how institutions like Cedars-Sinai and UPMC are using accelerators to innovate from within. An afternoon Internet of Things (IOT) in healthcare workshop followed, giving participants a closer look at the ins and outs of building a connected health device from the ground up.
Monday’s keynotes were delivered by former U.S. CTO, Aneesh Chopra, who served under President Obama and explored the regulatory side of health technology; and current U.S. CTO, David Greenstein, who shared updates on the government’s efforts to improve interoperability and data sharing. Morning breakout sessions spotlighted innovations from groups developing consumer-friendly healthcare technology, from Cigna’s newly launched concierge service model to the eP3 Network Consortia, which is using distributed ledger technology to deliver precision healthcare that preserves patient privacy. Afternoon sessions focused on the promise of big data and analytics for transforming care and uncovering population health insights and featured speakers like Jason Pyle, CEO of BaseHealth, whose evidence-based predictive health platform optimizes health and disease management for member populations.
The second day of sessions took deeper dives into interoperability, AI and blockchain, which emids is expanding its involvement in through a partnership with Hashed Health. Highlights included a discussion exploring roadblocks to digital innovation in health and wellness. Sessions also showcased the possibilities of AI through a virtual reality headset that enables medical students to work on a virtual 3D model of the human body.
The conference wrapped with a strong emphasis on consumerism and its influence in shaping new technologies and health models. Standout start-ups presenting at Health 2.0 included Bright Health, a health insurance startup dedicated to serving consumers; Sensoria, which makes smart fitness apparel that can track heart rate and capture other health data; We Are Curious, which uses personal data to drive precision healthcare forward; and Genesis/Aging 2.0, an innovation platform focused on improving the lives of seniors.
Seeing the many ways innovators are using digital technology to harness the power of healthcare data and solve the issues around it was eye-opening, said Rebekah Panepinto, Senior Director of Business Development for emids.
“As data experts who specialize in helping enterprises manage data, we enjoyed seeing all of the emerging technologies that are helping solve different pieces of the data puzzle for healthcare payers and providers,” she said.
Attending the conference gave emids the opportunity to participate in these data conversations and explore possibilities for future partnerships.
“We’ve got the services and resources to not only help organizations build the technology for many of these initiatives, but also help them with a successful implementation,” Panepinto said.