2024 HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum Informs Decision-Making and Strategic Planning with Demos, Discussions and Solutions

Hundreds of healthcare and technology professionals shared their knowledge and experiences at the 2024 HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum for implementing AI/ML to advance care delivery, workforce sustainability and system security. 

The forum took place Sept. 5-6 in Boston, where attendees packed session spaces and received answers to their most pressing AI questions during keynotes, panels, presentations and Q&As with experts. 

Rob Havasy, HIMSS senior director of informatics strategy and MC of the forum, said in an interview with Healthcare IT News on the sidelines of the event that AI is moving at an exponential rate. He said people at the forum have illustrated how AI technology is more mature than it was six months ago. He also highlighted the recently released HIMSS AI Global Policy Principles, which was spurred by HIMSS members looking for guidance. 

“We’ve really tied to put a basic framework around the regulatory aspect, what we hope to see from regulators about the ethics of AI, the ethical use of AI and the way AI should work in clinical settings to help elevate the care experience not just for patients but also for the caregivers, who we know have been under stress certainly since the pandemic but even longer as they’ve adapted to technology like EHRs,” Havasy said. “As always, they’re ever-evolving. We’re always listening to our members. We're always aggregating their feedback and so we’ll see those principles evolve in the coming months. 

Dr. Anne Snowdon, HIMSS chief scientific research officer and CEO of SCAN Health, said during a panel discussion that with the rapid evolution of AI, it is critical to have technology work for the workforce, and not the reverse. 

“It’s one thing to digitize processes, but if a nurse is spending 240 hours in an EHR, that’s 240 hours not spent helping a patient get through what is — typically in a hospital setting today — a life-changing and far too often a life-ending experience,” Snowdon said. “What we’re going to examine today is the vision for what’s possible, what’s achievable and ensure technology restores and supports the humanity in healthcare. The million-dollar question is, what does the back-end infrastructure have to look like in order for that goal to be achieved?” 

AI will also be top of mind at the upcoming HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum, taking place Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in Washington, D.C.