Health information (HI) professionals are having a profound impact shaping the evolution of healthcare and their influence will only grow as data and technology drive health system transformation. That message was repeatedly emphasized during the AHIMA23 Conference on October 8-10, in Baltimore, MD, as HI professionals from across the US convened to explore hot topics in HI, share strategies to address challenges in the field, and convene with colleagues. “You are the audience I most want to speak to because it won’t happen without you,” said author and podcaster Zeev Neuwirth, MD, to the large audience.
Participants flocked to sessions on artificial intelligence (AI), social determinants of health (SDOH), the future HI workforce, interoperability and data usability, and other trending topics. The Exhibit Hall featured 118 sponsors and innovators and the conference featured extensive career advancement and professional development services and activities.
A few highlights
- AHIMA officially launched a groundbreaking initiative: Data for Better Health will promote the collection, sharing, and use of SDOH data and increase awareness about the importance of SDOH to improve health outcomes. AHIMA President/Chair-elect Mona Calhoun, PhD, MS, Med, RHIA, FAHIMA, told HI professionals, “The future of healthcare—where your zip code no longer determines your ability to achieve good health—is powered on HI and will be built on the work we do.”
- Sessions explored how AI has the potential to transform healthcare delivery and the healthcare workforce and discussed how the use and implementation of AI raises questions around accuracy, ethics, needed skill sets to manage such technologies, and potential bias.
- Paradoxically, while the COVID pandemic was terribly tragic, “it was one of the best things to ever happen to healthcare,” observed Kevin Sowers, MSN, RN, FAAN, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System, Baltimore, and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Accelerated utilization of HI technology that occurred during the pandemic would have taken decades otherwise, said Sowers, bringing us to “a powerful moment when technology and AI are going to advance us even faster.”
- AHIMA President/Chair Jennifer Mueller, MBA, RHIA, SHIMSS, FACHE, FAHIMA, reminded HI professionals that they have the power to give voice to every patient’s health story and, through advocacy, to shape policy to transform the healthcare ecosystem.
AHIMA announced that AHIMA24 Conference will be held October 27-29, 2024, in Salt Lake City, UT.
AHIMA Congress 2023, Baltimore
AHIMA Congress 2023, Baltimore
