At the HLTH 2024 conference in Las Vegas last week, attendees and exhibitors felt that the air had shifted around artificial intelligence.
While in previous years, the conversations about AI at the trendy healthcare conference were mostly theoretical, the 2024 conference showcased AI solutions that have been deployed to clinicians and patients, healthcare executives told Fierce Healthcare on the sidelines of the conference.
The general HLTH public, too, was more educated about the popular use cases of AI like solutions for improving operations and reducing administrative burden.
Andre Rebelo, director of communications and public relations at Wolters Kluwer Health, said the industry has entered an era of "rational exuberance" in regard to AI.
The overall conversation about AI at the conference was more grounded, sources said.
“Twelve months ago, it was more just a bunch of experiments going on in a lot of press releases,” Greg Samios, president and CEO at Wolters Kluwer Health, said. “This year, you've actually got hospital systems that are saying, ‘I'm using this generative AI solution that's actually [saving time] and reducing administrative burden.”
AI ambient scribe company Nabla said attendees that visited its booth were more interested in the specifics of its product. “In the past the focus was just on giving demos, but now the market is much more educated on how AI is being integrated into the health system,” Nabla executives said in a statement. “This year’s focus was on the degree of customization that we can provide as well as a deeper dive into the construction of our AI framework and proprietary models, privacy and governance, pricing, and the level of automation of clinical workflows supported.”
AI scribes showed up in force to HLTH 2024. Abridge sponsored the conference's Wi-Fi network, complete with its booth number. Suki AI announced a major partnership with Zoom Healthcare during HLTH.
Transcarent, a care benefits company, showcased its AI benefits navigator, Wayfinding, at the conference. “AI was everywhere, mostly in concept, at HLTH,” Transcarent executives said in a statement. “The energy and optimism for meaningful change was inspiring. Seemingly everyone was talking about AI, and we saw a lot of plans to layer on AI to existing offerings, but not many leaders creating net new solutions.”
Christian Egle, Germany, Switzerland and Austria health sector leader at Ernst & Young, observed that the conversation about AI has shifted remarkably over the last three years. “When I look at the conference, I think the post-COVID year, it was a very big hype [for AI],” Egle said. “So I think the hype is still there, but currently we have first use cases … I would say we are now in the real life.”
Editor's Note: Transcarent's AI benefits navigator is called Wayfinding.