As we kick off 2024, we wanted to start the new year with a series of 2024 Health IT predictions.  We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes.  In fact, we got so many that we had to narrow them down to just the best and most interesting.  Check out our community’s predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media.

All of this year’s 2024 health IT predictions (updated as they’re shared):

• John and Colin’s 2024 Healthcare IT Predictions
• Health Equity Predictions
• Healthcare Cybersecurity Predictions
• Telehealth and VR Predictions
• Value Based Care Predictions
• Pharma IT and AI Predictions
• Healthcare Interoperability, Data, and Cloud Predictions

And now, check out our community’s Healthcare Interoperability, Data, and Cloud predictions.

Christoph Pedain, Business Leader, Hospital Patient Monitoring at Philips
By the end of 2024, we will see significant moves by hospitals and health systems embracing readiness for Service-Oriented Device Connectivity (SDC). As the next phase in the evolution of interoperability, SDC allows for the secure and near real-time sharing of health data between devices at the point of care, regardless of the manufacturer. The SDC family of standards can replace health systems’ proprietary networks by giving medical devices a common language to speak.

Today, clinicians struggle with workflow integration because multiple devices use proprietary communication protocols and closed systems. Hospitals want to use devices of their choosing and have them connect to one another so they can act on clinical data more easily. SDC promises a future where clinicians can command and control all devices based on open standards and a common infrastructure that can be centrally managed, maintained, serviced, and secured.

||To make SDC a reality in 2024 and beyond, healthcare technology companies must come together to collaborate to ensure all devices and systems seamlessly connect with one another. While competition for the best possible solution remains fierce, cross-industry cooperation can spur new partnerships and breakthroughs that will benefit clinicians and patients.

Wes Cronkite, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at CPSI
I’m predicting a major breakthrough in 2024 in the realm of provider/payer connectivity. As 2023 uncovered some less-than-optimal situations where automation and AI were at odds on either side of the fence, my hope is in 2024 that deeper connectivity and collaboration will make those solutions obsolete in some form or fashion. This will allow the healthcare industry at large to use AI and Automation where it needs to be used, to provide a better patient experience and increase the quality of healthcare delivery, instead of used to increase or decrease profits.

Brian Drozdowicz, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Acute & Payer at PointClickCare
Interoperability Models: Out with the Old, In with the New
Improving interoperability has been a long-standing initiative across the healthcare industry. The intersection of policy and interoperability, as well as emerging care models and interoperability has always been an area where decision-makers must navigate with care – especially as changes come into play. Traditionally, we think about interoperability as HIEs (health information exchanges), but in 2024 I expect to see new models emerge.

The traditional HIE subscriber model continues to become more complex, with challenges in achieving clinical outcomes and maintaining sustainable funding. That said, the industry as a whole needs to find new ways to share data where the economics and the values are balanced. In particular, one emerging model is the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) which advances the principles and benefits established by the Cures Act by establishing a secure technical infrastructure for healthcare networks. I anticipate this will be something every major payer and provider will be focused on and for good reason, as it also has an impact on the ability to advance value-based care. The evolution of interoperability is happening now, and payers and providers need to be on top of TEFCA and HIE updates to provide continued clinical value.

Cristina Hickman, Chief Clinical Officer at Fairtility
AI Will Unlock the Full Value of Interoperability
It’s safe to say that we are beyond the digitization era (converting and recording data) and deep into the digitalization era (developing processes and changing workflows to improve manual systems) – The true potential of interoperability in healthcare will be unlocked through the combination of digitalization and AI/MI when we can understand patters and provide predictions. Despite the historical challenge of healthcare organizations safeguarding data, the healthcare sector, rich in information, is now learning to embrace digitalization, enabling real-time movement of data between systems.

Integrating diverse systems–BD analytics, predictive tools, medical devices, patient portals, EMRs, and more–facilitates real-time information flow, for real time decision making. Applying AI on top of these interconnected systems will propel us beyond basic digitization to healthcare digitalization. This will entail extracting real-time insights on efficiency, treatment progress, and preferences of both patients and clinicians. Decision support based on a patient’s complete health profile will become instantly available.

Sagnik Bhattacharya, CEO at Rhapsody
The winners will figure out how to adopt digital health solutions and integrate them into healthcare workflows at a lower cost.

Healthcare is undergoing a digital transformation, and innovation is accelerating. Unfortunately, a lot of this incredible innovation falls to the wayside because of economic uncertainty and the tightening of IT budgets.

Digital health solutions stand outside of healthcare providers’ IT systems. There’s a gap in getting that innovation into the hands of end users and patients.

Integration is at the heart of closing that gap, bringing providers and healthcare technology companies together. I see interoperability as an enabler to accelerate digital health at a lower cost, reducing the friction between being budget-conscious and adopting innovations.

The teams that streamline repetitive processes, automate manual tasks, adopt purpose-fit solutions to meet diverse needs, and deliver on performance metrics will emerge as the winners.

Healthcare providers and technology companies will no longer think about interoperability. And, we don’t want them to.

Data scientists need to focus on analyzing information to discover actionable insights. Clinicians need to spend their 10-15 minutes in an exam room talking to patients, answering questions, and practicing at the top of their license. Development engineers need to dedicate their work hours to innovating and building the next feature or capability for their products.

Interoperability will just happen as companies like Rhapsody offer integration as a service. Within healthcare, the technology and expertise exist to help providers, payers, public health, health information exchanges, and healthcare IT companies exchange data. Healthcare’s digital transformation happens when integration and interoperability no longer create tension or friction – when providers and digital health companies come together seamlessly.

Interoperability isn’t a goal unto itself. It’s about enabling others to do their work in advancing health and improving outcomes. We will continue to see a shift where interoperability is the foundation for limitless innovation. It’s an enabler for precision medicine, personalized care, and proactive health management.

Jon Maack, President at Definitive Healthcare
Healthcare data is growing at an unwieldy pace – it currently accounts for about one-third of the world’s data volume, and is expected to reach 175 zettabytes globally by 2025. Most of this data as it exists now is unstructured and not easily captured.

Thanks to advances in AI and quantum computing, however, healthcare organizations are beginning to make sense of this tangled web of data across the healthcare ecosystem. In 10-15 years, I expect healthcare data will become ‘fully consumable.’ Once we reach that point, advancements in healthcare will take off at their fastest pace yet, as access to data will help advance drug discovery, predict future disease states and more.

Kevin Coloton, CEO & Founder at Curation Health
This year, health enterprises can’t get caught in the data maximalism conviction. Naturally, you may think a health system must gather as much data or integrate multiple solutions to assess and analyze all available information; however, that’s the least strategic approach. All the data at our disposal is very exciting; nevertheless, the challenge is taking that massive data set and curating it down to a smaller set that is highly actionable and allows the end user to be successful in a value based care model. Data minimalism can maximize clinical results.

Kari Hall, Chief Strategy Officer at PointClickCare
In 2024, EHR data will be crucial for advancing care in conjunction with generative AI. It is an exciting moment in time within the healthcare sector as we’re witnessing the accelerating pace at which technology is both developed and adopted. Generative AI is no exception to this ongoing innovation, with new use cases emerging rapidly each day. For example, caregivers can supplement care delivery with predictive care plans to drive improved outcomes.

In 2024, EHR data will play an even larger role in contextualizing care as adoption of AI rapidly increases across the continuum. Namely, EHR data will provide an additional layer of context for providers leveraging AI, aiding in the reduction of rehospitalization rates and accelerating the transition to value-based care. The depth and breadth of EHR data is key, and more unique data will enable providers to deliver better care to high-needs populations. As providers start to realize that generative AI enhanced by EHR data drives improved care outcomes, they will have the relevant insights and tools necessary to take on risks, improving both clinical and financial outcomes. This promising and dynamic future for AI in healthcare will thrive with the depth of data that can be harnessed from the EHR.

Jackie Papish, Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Data protection will be top-of-mind for healthcare companies in 2024. Ongoing health tech advancements are exponentially broadening risks around unauthorized access and disclosure of electronic protected health information (ePHI)–and the federal government is taking notice. The DOJ, for example, is leveraging the False Claims Act (FCA) to hold accountable healthcare companies who misrepresent or provide deficient cyber offerings, and those who fail to properly monitor and report data breaches.

Since 2021, the DOJ has investigated and recovered more than $1 million from at least two FCA settlements involving health data breaches. Given the health tech market’s rapid growth, there is certainly more to come. Importantly, the FCA’s steep penalties have the potential to cripple any healthcare company–big or small, public or private. As a result, proactive compliance around the handling of ePHI will be more important than ever for the healthcare industry this year.

Matt Donahue, CTO at CloudWave
Continued Growth in the Adoption of Multi-Cloud Architectures
Aligning with the broader themes of financial constraints and strategic decision-making, the overarching trend in the move away from traditional data centers will continue, with organizations seeking to optimize costs, performance, and reliability in the cloud. Similar to cybersecurity, the initial rush to adopt new technologies will give way to a more measured approach, with organizations increasingly reevaluating their cloud spend. The focus will be on finding the right size and fit for workloads to achieve cost-effectiveness without compromising performance and reliability.

For example, migrating healthcare workloads to the cloud without a well-thought-out plan can lead to increased costs, especially if those workloads need to run continuously due to healthcare’s 24/7 nature. Achieving the right balance between public, private, and multi-cloud approaches requires evaluating several factors: performance, cost, regulatory compliance, and security. Not all workloads are suitable for the cloud, especially when safety, regulatory, or reliability issues are a concern. Placing the right workload in the right location is vital to maximizing cloud technology resources.

Recognizing that no single solution is ideal for every workload, many organizations will continue to realize that a multi-cloud strategy incorporating public, private, and hybrid cloud elements is the best approach. This strategy offers enhanced flexibility and control over workload placement, enabling organizations to optimize each application’s environment to match its unique requirements.

Oren Koren, Co-founder and CPO at Veriti
We’re foreshadowing a pronounced focus on the inexorable march towards digitalization and expansive cloud infrastructures. As hospital institutions continue to grasp this digital reality, there are a few challenges that we anticipate to crystalize in 2024:

Manpower and turnover: A hospital’s security apparatus often consists of a compact team that demands unparalleled expertise. As infrastructures pivot towards cloud-native technologies, pressure is exerted on personnel, which may result in a notable turnover among those who architected the original network infrastructure.

Infrastructure and cloud application strategies: The demarcation between on-prem and cloud apps is expected to become more pronounced – meaning that there is a growing recognition of the risks associated with storing sensitive data in the cloud. A retrenchment of cloud initiatives are likely to push healthcare orgs to recalibrate their strategies as they experience data loss and operational friction.

Data integrity challenges: Data corruption issues will increase – specifically, security controls driven by AI, may inadvertently obstruct critical data flows, mistaking routine operations for cyber threats.

Control optimization: There will be a surge in “virtual patching,” a key method that leverages existing security tools to shield unpatched systems. Medical device scanners underscore the ubiquity of vulnerabilities in healthcare systems, leaving the virtual patching approach to be indispensable to safeguard against known threats.

Scott Hondros, MHA, SCPM, Vice President of Services Commercialization & Strategy at CenTrak
Secure cloud technology adoption is surging in healthcare and at CenTrak. Moving into 2024, I foresee exponential growth in cloud technology use to expedite clinical analysis and mitigate data loss risks. Cloud data migration simplifies medical record sharing, enhances scalability, streamlines operations, and facilitates telehealth. The healthcare sector must dismantle the silos obstructing data and patient care, with cloud technology enhancing data accessibility, presenting substantial benefits for patients and healthcare professionals.

While cloud solutions and AI are increasingly popular, the healthcare industry must prioritize patient information privacy and data security. Partnering with organizations that comply with SOC2 and HIPAA ensures that sensitive information is managed with utmost care.

Carolina Haefliger, Head of Transitional Medicine at Debiopharm
In 2023, we entered the era of widespread AI adoption, with a focus on innovation and value creation. From a healthcare perspective, we learned that the integration of AI not only has the capabilities to unlock economic value, but the ability to obtain data that helps assess compound activity, mode of action and provide new insights on the results. In 2024, the pharmaceutical industry is poised to embrace more technological advancements, especially in terms of AI, to accelerate drug discovery and development, ensuring that patients obtain personalized treatments faster.

Right now, AI-powered tools are used to identify new drug targets, predict clinical outcomes, and personalize treatments. Using AI, personalized medicine has the potential to allow for more effective treatment of common conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, or rare diseases. The year ahead will be ripe for change as we look to innovations in oncology that lead to earlier diagnosis, better treatment and patient management options, and the effective utilization of resources.

Be sure to check out all of Healthcare IT Today’s Healthcare Interoperability, Data, and Cloud content and all of our other 2024 healthcare IT predictions.