Inspire: the 2024 MUSE Conference took place May 28-31 in the vibrant city of Denver, CO. This event brought together MEDITECH EHR users to share innovative ideas, valuable learnings, and opportunities to network with industry peers. Hosted by Medical Users Software Exchange (MUSE), Inspire spanned multiple days and covered many topics ranging from staffing optimization, member engagement in healthcare, and strategies to create efficiencies or boost revenue. Here’s a recap of the key themes our team took away from this meeting of MEDITECH users.
Advancing Technology for All
The healthcare industry has introduced many different patient-facing tools as well as technologies and often, they don’t all work together. During his session at the 2024 MUSE conference, Dr. Craig Joseph, CMO of Nordic Consulting Partners, highlighted the importance of Building Patient Engagement with Human Centered Design. He asked people to look at how the journey is connected, not just the points of member engagement in healthcare. Your workflow, EHR, and other systems should just work, making it effortless for patients. Start by “Getting Rid of the Stupid Stuff (GROSS),” for example:
- Streamline patient scheduling.
- Reduce check-in steps.
- Declutter patient portals.
- Automate routine processes.
Helen Waters, EVP & COO at MEDITECH, emphasized a full spectrum of care and connecting touch points along the patient journey. At the core of it all, she noted the importance of thinking about both Health and Tech Equity. “Techquity,” as defined by Techquity for Health Coalition, HLTH Foundation, is the strategic design, development and deployment of technology to advance health equity, and acknowledgement that technology can inhibit advancements in health equity if not implemented intentionally and inclusively. As we think about advances in AI for healthcare, it is imperative that techquity is at the center of it all.
Pragmatic Approach To AI in Healthcare
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword in many industry events, and the 2024 MUSE Conference was no exception. However, the focus here was less on new ideas and more on what organizations should do to prepare themselves for AI. Dr. Mark Snowise, during a panel conversation titled Lighter Load, Better Care: The Impact of AI, raised an interesting point, “We trust a doctor to open a chest and operate but we don’t trust them to open AI notes and edit before signing?” This statement opened the doors to the importance of responsible AI use cases, especially when it comes to patients.
Before diving headfirst into AI technologies, a panel including Randall Brandt, Rachel Wilkes, and Dr. Mark Snowise, discussed governance. They suggested creating cross-functional teams now to start conversations and gain alignment, even if AI isn’t yet in your plan. They also recommended tapping into partners for expertise, strategy, and policy language, so you can start with a solid foundation. AI is rapidly evolving and, while we can’t solve everything coming in the future, we can start with what we do know today and trigger the conversation within your organization.
Power of the MEDITECH Users Community
At the core of the MUSE organization is the ability to share knowledge and learn from each other. The small group sessions focused on specific challenges and knowledge sharing. Conference attendees were actively engaged with questions and sharing information, a true community event to learn from other healthcare organizations.
At the end of the day, healthcare is all about people. The 2024 MUSE Conference was designed with the primary goal of connecting people. All attendees left inspired to bring new ideas back to their communities and the people they serve. The conference served as a reminder that together, we can drive significant change and improvement in the healthcare industry.
