Welcome to our post-HIMSS review!

AGFA HealthCare attended HIMSS24, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s Annual Meeting dedicated to improving healthcare in quality, safety, cost-effectiveness and access.

An estimated 30,000 vendor and provider attendees travelled to Orlando in Florida to educate, advocate, and strategize on the challenges facing healthcare providers. This year’s theme was “Creating Tomorrow’s Health” – the keynote session focusing on the role of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in shaping healthcare’s future. HIMSS President and CEO, Harold F. Wolf III (Hal), opened this year’s keynote session  -speaking about the need for healthcare IT’s focus to quicken the pace of digital health adoption, as well as the need for improved access and outcomes.

General Summary

• As I talked with attendees in our booth, and in different areas around the show floor, AI was a main focus, but so was cybersecurity and the cloud. Discussions centered around how do providers utilize these innovations to further their organizational goals and provide the best care for their community. It was almost impossible to have a conversation without the topic of Artificial Intelligence or Generative AI coming up. Vendor after vendor had some reference to AI in their booth signage – and if that wasn’t front and center – then cybersecurity or cloud took its place, and AGFA HealthCare was no different.

Artificial Intelligence

• In the area of AI, AGFA HealthCare featured our RUBEE® AI Packages – multi-vendor, curated AI algorithms that can be seamlessly embedded within AGFA HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging.  In multiple demonstrations, attendees appreciated AGFA’s approach for 2 main reasons;
  • Firstly, how deeply embedded into the workflow the algorithms are and;
  • Secondly, our practice of curating the best algorithms from multiple vendors to create a clinical pathway for those radiologists to stay focused on what’s most important: patient diagnosis and treatment.
  • However, healthcare providers are still trying to figure out their AI strategy, how clinicians will use it, and how to fund it without a proven ROI or reimbursement.
• AI shared the spotlight with cybersecurity in healthcare as a topic of conversation. While healthcare has been an increasing focus of cyber criminals and cyberattacks, the recent news of an attack on another vendor provider, and the impending federal investigation, was on peoples’ minds.  Many speakers spoke on their experience, such as Mark Johnson, Hackensack Meridian Health’s Chief Information Security Officer, who experienced a cyberattack five years ago. In his session, he shared valuable insights and stated their vulnerabilities were reduced by 90% over that time period.

Johnson had maybe one of the best quotes on this subject, “If you’re standing still in cyber, you’re getting left behind.”

Cloud

• Cloud also dominated discussions and presentations during HIMSS24, as the benefits of cloud – scalability, flexibility, and security – have many touch points across the healthcare digital ecosystem – from EHRs to tele-medicine to imaging management. Our very own Charles Morris spoke in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) booth on the subject of Cloud.

Of particular interest was the overview of the 5 generations of PACS Radiology client – and how AGFA HealthCare now uses the new fifth generation: no client download required, full fidelity all the time and no GPUs.   More on that in another article, but contact AGFA HealthCare if you want to learn more. 

Cybersecurity Transparent

We were proud once again to receive the prestigious recognition of Cybersecurity Transparent Leader, awarded by Censinet, which provides access and insights into the overall preparedness of vendors and products in the different aspects of cybersecurity. This year marked the fourth straight year that AGFA HealthCare has been recognized.

A proud moment for AGFA HealthCare

Aside from the AI, cybersecurity and cloud conversations, we had the pleasure to attend the Best in KLAS Award Show and celebrate along with many of healthcare’s other finest provider partners. The Best in KLAS designation is awarded to the software and services solution providers that have the broadest operational and clinical impact on healthcare organizations. AGFA HealthCare was extremely thrilled to accept awards for the Best in KLAS Universal Viewer for our XERO® Viewer as well as the Best in KLAS award for Radiology PACS in the Middle East.

Thank you Orlando! We look forward to our return in 2025!