With all the new technology flooding the healthcare system, it’s crucial to be able to use and understand it all. One of the speakers at CONVERGE, Kenyon Crowley will explain how he is helping providers get up to speed with the latest in health IT. At the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS), he leads a research portfolio aimed at improving the design, adoption, integration and effective use of information systems in healthcare.
Kenyon will be speaking on the second day of MedCity CONVERGE at 11:05 a.m. The third annual CONVERGE is July 15-16 in Philadelphia.
Payers, providers, medtech, pharma, digital health, startups and investors will all come together at CONVERGE to focus on healthcare’s greatest opportunities and challenges. Check out the agenda and register today.
To highlight the speakers before the conference, we asked them each a few questions.
What or who inspires your work in healthcare?
The main thing that inspires me is the potential to improve the healthcare experience for everyone – patients, their loved ones and those delivering clinical care. In 2004, I took a role at a federally-qualified health center network to help with a CFO transition. Previously I worked for a Fortune 500 financial services firm and a $70-million VC-funded e-commerce startup that dot-bombed. The difference in the application of information systems was striking. Seeing the writing on the wall and the opportunity to enact positive change, I dedicated myself to helping support the digital transformation in healthcare.
Also, in 2010, a close family friend died from rectal cancer. To protect his PHI, I will call him Nick. He was a wonderful man, a small business owner in his early 60s without regular health care. His death could have been prevented had he been engaged and adhered to simple preventive care guidelines. I know there are a lot of families out there, that given easy-to-use, satisfying and effective experiences with the health system will be more likely to live longer, healthier lives and provide their wisdom to grandkids and others.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
I am also driven to support the social determinants of health. Seeing the detrimental health impacts of loss of social connectivity with aging people, as I saw with my own grandmother, who was an amazing and vivacious woman, but began having health issues after her mobility was affected. I have a special interest in solutions that can support social support for seniors.
As far as who inspires me, I was incredibly fortunate to sync up with Dr. Ritu Agarwal, one of the pre-eminent thought leaders in the health IT domain and the founder of the Center for Health Information & Decision Systems (CHIDS) at the University of Maryland. Teaming with Dr. Agarwal and a range of incredibly smart and passionate scientists, and private and public sector partners, I have had the opportunity to work at the epicenter of health system transformation leveraging digital technologies and learned so much and continue to learn everyday.
What do you think is the most important change happening in healthcare today?
The changing power dynamics, where transparency in quality, cost and patient choice will incentivize better competition, not just in cost and outcomes, but in the total health system user experience. This is happening through the confluence of EHR adoption, the open data movement, a focus on patient engagement and social technologies.
The most important non-change is the long, slow haul towards interoperability that for all the discourse is moving too slowly.
Telemedicine has been around for a long time. What is finally bringing it to the mainstream?
A changing regulatory environment, easier and lower-cost technology, growing evidence of its effectiveness and payer support.
How long until the term “telemedicine” merges into the general practice of medicine and loses its special designation?
I think the term will stick around for a long while, but its meaning and perception will change. Telemedicine and telehealth will become part of the normal standard of care rather than the exception within the next few years, especially as the technologies supporting it become seamless components within other clinical information systems.
