Wide Variety of Topics at #AHIMA21

The 2021 edition of the annual AHIMA conference was virtual for the second year in a row. This year’s event featured a wider array of session topics, a more diverse set of speakers and a different technology platform. It was, in my opinion, even better than last year’s event from an attendee perspective.

David Pogue

My favorite session was the keynote delivered by David Pogue – CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and former New York Times tech columnist. To me, Pogue is the next Bill Nye. He spoke about the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices.

Pogue shared a fact that I was floored by:

It turns out most people who bought a smart thermostat did not use any of the smart features (like remotely accessing it, having the temperature adjust based on the distance you are away from your home, etc). Instead, they just kept the temperature set to 70 because it was “too complicated” to figure out how to use the advanced features.

This doesn’t bode well for makers of medical devices that are meant to be used for remote patient monitoring. If people can’t figure out how to use a smart thermostat, how are they going to use a complex medical device? We’re going to need a lot more focus on user interfaces…or maybe we just need voice controls.

Pogue pointed to smart speakers as the savior of IoT. In his opinion smart speakers from Amazon, Google and others are what IoT devices should be – simple to use, fits in perfectly to our lives and doesn’t require a lot of change to accommodate them.

Health Inequity

The world of connected smart devices – whether for consumer or medical use, is predicated on access to broadband and smartphones. Several speakers at #AHIMA21 reminded the audience that this access should not be taken for granted or presumed for all patients.

In her keynote, Megan Ranney share these statistics:

  • 79% of White American households have broadband vs 66% of Black and 61% of Hispanic households
  • 82% of White American households have a desktop or laptop computer while only 58% of Black and 57% of Hispanic households do

Ranney summed up the situation in healthcare beautifully with this quote from Sky Gilbert:

The challenge of health equity was laid bare for all to see during the pandemic. Before that, the problem was hidden. But when COVID-19 first arrived, it did not impact the population in the same way. Those with lower incomes, living in more crowded conditions, and who could not afford to take time away from work ended up contracting the virus at much higher rates than others. I like to think eyes were opened.

AHIMA Foundation, the charitable arm of AHIMA, is taking on health equity by focusing on the challenge of health literacy. At #AHIMA21 the Foundation announced the creation of a steering committee to “support the organization’s consumer-centered Health Literacy for Health Equity campaign and programming. The Committee will be instrumental in shaping the strategic direction of the upcoming consumer campaign, as well as driving the Foundation’s holistic vision to nurture a solutions-based, resource-dense hub for consumers, advocates and healthcare industry stakeholders.”

Inspiring Messages

There were many inspiring messages shared by #AHIMA21 speakers. Here are some of my favorites.

Overall Impression

I was impressed with the breadth of topics at #AHIMA21. It was not just HIM and Health IT topics – though there were still plenty of those. By sprinkling the event with sessions on leadership, HR/talent management, and Zoom fatigue – the organizers made it more interesting and enticing for attendees.

About the author

Colin Hung

Colin Hung is the co-founder of the #hcldr (healthcare leadership) tweetchat one of the most popular and active healthcare social media communities on Twitter. Colin speaks, tweets and blogs regularly about healthcare, technology, marketing and leadership. He is currently an independent marketing consultant working with leading healthIT companies. Colin is a member of #TheWalkingGallery. His Twitter handle is: @Colin_Hung.

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