Envision takeaways: How digital transformation is reshaping healthcare

By Chris Mateo, Senior Global Industry Marketing Manager, Health

October 2, 2018

Microsoft Envision 2018 was an incredible event for businesses across all industries. I was truly blown away by the number of stories that highlighted just how dramatically new digital technology is transforming the world of healthcare.

The event was packed with interesting sessions exploring this shift, shining new light on what digital transformation means in practical terms for healthcare organizations, care providers, patients, and society at large. I’d like to share a few of my healthcare highlights from Envision 2018.

Aneesh Chopra highlights how health analytics benefit society

Having served as the first US Chief Technology Officer under President Barack Obama between 2009 and 2012, Aneesh Chopra is one of the world’s leading authorities on how technology can drive major societal change.

Calling on recent experiences from his new position at the head of clinical analytics company CareJourney, Aneesh spoke with Microsoft Research CVP Peter Lee, sharing his views on how data is being used to drive innovation that has a real impact on patients, communities, and society as a whole.

Aneesh explored different ways healthcare organizations can master data and analytics to unpack what society really needs through the development of a common architecture for health data exchange, exploring different business models, and building partnerships with community organizations to address social determinants of health. He concluded his session challenging healthcare organizations to embrace and support the growth of data interoperability to enhance and scale the way we deliver care.

Population health gets personal

In one of the most informative and practical sessions at Envision, Jaclyn Wainwright, CEO of AiR Healthcare, joined Dwight Raum and Dr. Peter Greene, CTO and CMIO of Johns Hopkins University, to discuss how new technology is helping them make the move toward precision medicine.

AiR Healthcare uses its innovative AirCare solution to give all clinicians instant access to needed behavioral health patient data through easy-to-use devices, helping them deliver effective, personalized healthcare. It’s quickly had a measurable impact on both the company and its patients—supporting a behavioral health recovery rate that’s almost three times the national average.

For Johns Hopkins University, large amounts of data from clinical care, genomics, and even wearable devices serve to rapidly identify the best treatment options for individual patients and help healthcare administrators better understand and predict disease progression at scale.

These are two very different experiences, but together they demonstrate just how broadly analytics can be applied to improve individual patient outcomes today.

The future of healthcare awaits in the secure cloud

As business and consumer demands shift, many healthcare companies are looking to cloud services to broadly transform operations.

Alan Payne, VP and CIO of Aetna International, walked us through his company’s cloud transition, sharing how in just six months Aetna laid the foundations for total transformation by moving to the secure cloud.

From embracing AI to improving the efficiency and productivity of existing operations, the cloud shift is already enabling Aetna to achieve a remarkable amount. According to Alan, these changes are going to play a huge role in his company’s future, something that I know will have resonated very clearly with many of the other healthcare professionals at the session.

Ready to lead your company to digital health transformation?

Digital transformation in healthcare can take many different forms, as shown in these informative Envision sessions. If you’re wondering where your organization should start on its transformation journey, try our new interactive assessment tool.