It’s a wrap on Momentum 2019, HMS’ annual conference uniting stakeholders from across the care continuum with the collective goal of moving healthcare forward. Several themes emerged over three days of important dialogue, all culminating in the understanding that the time for meaningful, sustainable progress is now — and that together, we are in a position to make it happen.
Here are 10 of the biggest takeaways from the event and, if applied faithfully, 10 of the biggest drivers of higher quality, lower cost, more accessible healthcare.
1. Make It Personal
From communication and outreach to treating the whole person, personalized care wasn’t so much a takeaway of the event as it was a foundational element underscoring all discussions. Proactive risk identification and monitoring, addressing SDoH and targeted, multichannel engagement were continually emphasized as vital to true patient-centric care, especially in high-risk populations.
2. Make It Actionable
At a time when we have more data than we know what to do with, how can we ensure we’re using that data to close gaps in healthcare and not exacerbate them? Representatives from Australia’s Digital Health CRC, a healthcare taskforce comprising representatives from research, academia, government and industry, emphasized the power of innovation in turning healthcare data into action and facilitating large-scale interventions to address some of the world’s most pressing healthcare issues.
3. Collaboration Is Key
That fragmentation is at the crux of inefficient and ineffective care certainly isn’t news, but what this industry forum demonstrated was the degree to which collaboration is in everyone’s interest. Yes, we must work together to transcend healthcare silos and improve the delivery of care, but we must also be consistently engaging in thoughtful, action-oriented dialogue around how we can fundamentally break down these silos. As an industry, innovation is our collective responsibility.
4. It Starts With One
Mick Ebeling, founder and CEO of Not Impossible Labs, described his company’s “help one; help many” mantra — identifying and solving an “absurdity” affecting one person, then leveraging the power of storytelling to make a far-reaching impact. The company’s astounding accomplishments range from designing and 3D-printing prosthetics in war-ravaged Sudan to restoring a graffiti artist’s ability to create art after ALS had left him paralyzed.
5. Knowledge Is Power — If Gathered and Wielded Effectively
In the overarching discussion around population health, it was all about turning insight into outcomes, which, in healthcare, translates largely to the ability to make early and broad-based interventions. This requires both the clinical and non-clinical data to see beyond an individual’s statistical risk and understand the factors that are actually driving the numbers. Using this data, we can apply predictive and prescriptive analytics to address these factors at the individual and population level.
6. We’re in the Business of Customer Service
The “retailization” of healthcare is driving a shift in the way payers and providers must regard their members and patients, according to Lindsay Resnick, Executive Vice President of Wunderman Health. In his keynote address on Generational Healthcare Consumerism, Resnick shared the four necessary elements to effectively engage generationally-diverse groups in a consumer-centric healthcare environment — “know me, motivate me, help me, keep me.” And it all starts with treating healthcare consumers as just that — customers.
7. Disruption Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Better
The word disruption tends to carry an inherent connotation with characteristics like stronger, faster, better — but according to Dr. Joel Selanikio, CEO of the data collection, messaging and visualization company Magpi, a disruptor really just has to be cheaper, or more convenient, than what it challenges to replace. In his keynote address, Dr. Selanikio highlighted the wealth of big data and AI-driven innovation that, in many cases, occurred without us even realizing it, largely by virtue of delivering a faster-moving, more accessible solution than the incumbent product or technology.
8. Technology Empowers Us All
With innovation at the center of the conversation, concerns around how the rapid advancement of healthcare technology will affect various stakeholders were an important part of the discourse. When asked whether low-income populations are at risk of being left behind by technology, for example, Dr. Selanikio emphasized the opposite, noting that technology is generally a reducer of disparity, not a catalyst for it. By placing technologies like diagnostics and health management tools closer to the hands of the consumer, we naturally make healthcare more accessible to a greater number of people — a goal we are all working to advance.
9. To Get Where You’re Going, You Need to Know Where You Are
Adopting innovative models like value-based care can be an exciting prospect, but it takes a real assessment of where you are as an organization to determine whether you have the infrastructure, resources and buy-in to fully invest. As noted during a panel discussion on value-based care, risk-reward is part of the game. Before taking the leap, it’s imperative to have the data to substantiate the investment — and the commitment and capacity to execute long-term.
10. The Time Is Now
Momentum may have been the name of our recent industry forum, but the term more accurately describes HMS’ unwavering philosophy of moving healthcare forward through innovation, collaboration and discussion. We couldn’t be more exhilarated to continue to hit the ground running to advance healthcare for payers, providers and patients. To learn more about the work we’re doing at HMS, visit hms.com.