The world of healthcare is constantly changing – both in terms of our tools and inventions and in how we approach things and where our priorities are at. But we also know that being knowledgeable and informed on the entire landscape of healthcare is crucial to being a good Health IT leader who can effectively lead their teams. This leaves us with the big question: in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape, how do Health IT leaders stay informed about regulatory changes, industry standards, and technological advancements to make informed decisions and guide their teams effectively?

So in search of the answer to this question, we reached out to our amazing Healthcare IT Today Community! The following is what they had to share with us.

Don Rucker, Chief Strategy Officer at 1upHealth

Keeping up in healthcare IT is a two-front battle. On the one hand, change is driven by the extraordinary innovation unfolding broadly across the industry. Today in particular you need to add AI technologies and approaches to your classic tech stack of networks, APIs, databases, and whatever vendor apps you have. On the other hand, US healthcare is a federal policy-driven game. So you have to read the data for payment winds – often quality and interoperability. Your job is to blend the tech stack and the payment stack.

Wes Wright, Chief Healthcare Officer at Ordr

Treat your vendors like partners. They are the people who have time to research and read about their specific industries. Most of the people working inside of healthcare IT don’t have the time to really raise their heads up and look at what’s coming over the horizon – they may not have time for activities like going to conferences or reading industry publications. That’s where I’ve always depended on my vendor partners to let me know what might be coming at me over the horizon, from a regulatory and compliance standpoint.

Caryn Hewitt, RN, BSN, CENP, CPHQ, Senior Director of Consulting Services at CenTrak

Stay informed by keeping a pulse on other professionals and health systems in the industry – what they are doing and finding successful can help inform Health IT decisions. Health IT leaders are also putting themselves in the clinicians’ and patients’ shoes and truly understanding the challenges can help leaders stay on top of wide-ranging issues to effectively guide their teams.

John Johnson, Chief Information Officer at Savista

The evolution of healthcare regulations, standards, and supporting technology will continue to challenge Health IT professionals to keep pace with the rate of change. Health IT leaders must adopt a variety of approaches to continually build their knowledge. Health IT professionals should approach continuing education holistically through:

Continuing Education Courses: Periodic training related to healthcare regulations, technology advancements, and industry standards can help Health IT leaders adjust their strategies. These courses can be done via webinar, providing some schedule flexibility to the participants. Additionally, certifications can be achieved by adding to the Health IT leaders’ credentials.

Join Professional Organizations: Joining organizations such as HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is a great way to build a network of professionals. Through the network, Health IT leaders can engage in discussions to learn from peers. Attending organizational events can also help Health IT leaders gain insights into the latest trends and best practices.

Vendor Relationships: Vendors and technology partners are an extension of the Health IT professionals network. Leveraging these relationships to understand their latest solutions and best practices is a great way to stay current. Attending vendor-sponsored events can also support ongoing knowledge development.

Research: Health IT leaders should take time to research emerging trends in Healthcare IT. Subscribing to industry journals, monitoring government websites, and engaging in online communities can help Health IT leaders keep abreast of changes to healthcare policies, regulations, and supporting technologies.

Ritesh Daryani, Chief People Officer at Edifecs

First and foremost, people working in HIT need to keep the people – the patients and the providers – at the heart of their initiatives from processes to infrastructure to coding. The tech we implement and use must benefit the patient and ease the administrative burden of our provider community.

Another required skill is adaptability. If there is one thing constant in healthcare, it’s change – be it for regulatory compliance, medical advancements, or newer concepts like AI. Anyone working in HIT must understand the need for a flexible technology foundation and innovate on top of that.

Finally, anyone working in tech needs to be able to weigh the value of hype vs. reality to understand how to create true value. For example, AI is everywhere now, but anyone evaluating AI solutions needs to understand the importance of the data that is fueling the AI learning model – if the data is biased or bad, the potential outcomes will be too.

Brent Dover, CEO at Carta Healthcare

Unlike in other fields where AI can train itself, healthcare AI requires a guided process with humans actively involved in training the technology. There is also no quick fix to the problem of healthcare data intricacy. However, one proven method of gaining health leaders’ trust in AI is to have certified healthcare data experts take on the dual process of performing their tasks while AI training. As the trainers familiarize themselves with the technology, the latter also grows its capability of performing tasks accurately. Although the full training process can take up to several years to complete, this human-centric approach both improves AI in healthcare’s accuracy and impact, as well as provides a solution to other prevalent issues such as cost and the nursing shortage.

Nick Stepro, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Arcadia

As advancements in healthcare technology have evolved, so too have the requirements of successful health IT talent and the needs of their healthcare employers.

AI & Data Science: Take, for example, the growth in AI. Advancements in generative AI mean that powerful data science is available at the end of a simple API. This type of democratization means analysts and programmers can practice at the top of their skill level and solve additional business challenges than a team of data scientists could do previously.

AI & Automation: We’re also seeing AI automate and obviate certain lower-level tasks like component coding/configuration. This means the people that will be successful in the future will have strong system thinking and the ability to chain together novel solutions using increasingly automated subcomponents.

CIO and Strategy: The office of the CIO/CTO has evolved from reacting to business strategy towards a key influencer of that strategy. This changes the mix of talent and qualifications, requiring strategy acumen, an understanding of policy and regulatory environments, and big data foundations.

Empathy and Clinical/Ops Understanding: When IT operates on an island, velocity and quality suffers. The best performers are those that understand clinical and operational workflows, and concepts like payment reform and revenue cycle. Being able to speak the same language and understand common challenges and opportunities can help health IT talent better solve organizational challenges with technology, even if the challenge itself is non-technical in nature.

BJ Boyle, Chief Product Officer at PointClickCare

Embracing technology to streamline care transitions will be a win/win for providers and patients. Taking friction out of the healthcare environment in 2024 will allow us to simultaneously streamline care and reduce administrative burden for all clinical staff, not just doctors. As the industry embraces value-based care, it’s important for us to consider all of the ways that technology can help organizations be successful in these value-based care arrangements.

Five years ago, clinical staff didn’t have enough information about an individual patient’s care transition. Now, the same care teams struggle with having too much data and too little time to sort through it all. In 2024 we will see more organizations embracing customized technology (AI, language models) to curate personalized insights and drive risk models. This will in turn result in more accurate care and enhanced efficiencies on the provider side. Technology will be the key to enabling providers to lead or participate in value-based care – optimizing all providers’ roles in an evolving healthcare ecosystem.

Jody Beaverson, Chief People Officer at ModMed

Health IT is a fast-paced industry that is constantly evolving due to technological innovations and shifting patient expectations. To keep up, health tech companies must build a culture focused on learning and development. By leveraging internal tactics such as stay interviews, frequent recognition, extensive learning programs, and quality training, health tech companies can foster leadership skills and, as a result, remain competitive in an evolving job market.

Matt Hollingsworth, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Carta Healthcare

Although the adoption of AI in healthcare is nothing new, there will continue to be a growing need for AI technology in 2024 and beyond. With an overall lack of manpower in healthcare, as seen in nursing and staff shortage trends, AI looks like the best solution for retaining existing manpower at competitive compensation rates while increasing efficiency in workflow and improving clinician job satisfaction. According to the National Library of Medicine, the key to successful AI implementation is to do it in a clinically relevant way that clinical caregivers can get behind. It’s not only about the technology, it’s about how technology and caregivers work together in a trusted way to believe in, train, and commit their AI solutions to provide long-term value.

Judy Jiao, Chief Information Officer at National Government Services

In comparison to the rest of the healthcare industry, the health IT sector is fast-evolving, complex and dynamic. To effectively develop and nurture leadership skills within this field, health IT executives should consider the following three-dimensional approach.

Width: Understand the healthcare IT landscape and its many stakeholders. Health IT professionals must be able to navigate the complex healthcare regulatory, privacy, and patient safety environment. Moreover, they will need to embrace and overcome challenges with data availability, system integrations, and interoperability.

Height: Deep dive into particular healthcare issues and become an expert in your field. Rising health IT professionals should invest time into understanding a handful of specific healthcare needs to cultivate a differentiated skillset. Additionally, they should fully comprehend the business value and impact of solving such problems and develop relevant, optimal IT solutions.

Depth: Constantly look for opportunities to innovate and evolve. It’s imperative that health IT leaders drive innovation; however, responsibility is equally essential. Therefore, the most effective leaders will nurture and invest in cutting-edge IT projects, while simultaneously instituting the necessary guardrails for developing such solutions.

Matt Mohebbi, Head of AI and Research at Brightside Health

With the extension of pandemic-era prescribing flexibilities, it’s clear telehealth is here to stay – particularly in mental health. There are two major topics at the top of every health IT professional’s agenda: interoperability and AI. For interoperability, leaders need to look for avenues to foster more data sharing and care collaboration between physicians – beyond EHRs. For AI, health leaders must create, and enforce standards for use.

While this is being driven from the top levels of government – including President Biden’s Executive Order, which was a step in the right direction – there are a few areas that fall short of the ultimate goal. For example, I’d like to see more transparency around models being produced today to make it much easier to use AI responsibly, particularly in areas like healthcare where the bar must be very high.

Such much good advice here! Thank you to everyone who took the time out of their day to submit a quote and to all of you for reading this! We could not do this without all of your support! How do you think health IT leaders stay informed about regulatory changes, industry standards, and technological advancements to make informed decisions and guide their teams effectively? Let us know in the comments down below or over on social media. We’d love to hear from all of you!