HIMSS24 & Innovations from InterSystems

There’s always a buzz in the air during the weeks leading up to HIMSS, and when your wheels hit the ground in Orlando, all that building electricity lights up your whole being.

For the J2 Interactive team, the week was largely spent meeting with partners and customers, connecting on the future of data management and the technology solutions that would power said future. As expected, InterSystems, a global leader in healthcare data management technology, was pulling out the stops, showcasing new technology solutions, presentations on initiatives in the Department of Veterans Affairs, insights on the new CMS rules, and a host of young companies presenting innovative solutions all built on InterSystems IRIS data platform technology.

New InterSystems HealthShare upgrades include advanced language model AI technology, allowing physicians to query a patient’s medical records with questions like, “Is this patient at risk for a stroke?” with the AI responding with stroke-related indicators from the chart.

The AI can also translate notes from pictures into the medical record, including scans of physician shorthand. It’s an advancement that will empower physicians to get the most relevant data out of a patient’s medical record, facilitating optimal care while reducing the burden on the care team. InterSystems Director of Healthcare Solution Innovation, Alex MacLeod, gave an impressive demonstration of the technology, an advancement her team helped to implement.

InterSystems Senior Clinical Advisor, Dr. Russ Leftwich, and U.C. Davis Director of Interoperability and Innovation, Michael Marchant, gave a spotlight theater presentation on the new CMS 0057 ruling. One of the biggest shifts of the new CMS ruling is that payer organizations will begin to own longitudinal medical record data, a massive topic of conversation ranging from the Why to the How. The new data-sharing mandates have also pushed APIs to the top of everyone’s conversations, as the burden of sourcing technology solutions to meet the mandate falls on executive teams. InterSystems has unveiled new Payer Solutions to assist payer organizations with their interoperability technology and compliance with the prior authorization mandate.

While most personnel from the Department of Veterans Affairs were unable to travel due to Federal budget constraints, VA projects and affiliated staff were front and center in the InterSystems booth, giving presentations every day of HIMSS.

The VA has been making massive strides with its modernization efforts. VistA, the tried-and-true technology at the core of the VA system, is getting an interoperability upgrade through projects like VALIP, VDIF-EP, and the VIDF API Manager.

VALIP is a newer platform that strengthens the supply chain and logistics side of VA services.
Built on InterSystems technology, the VDIF- EP is a data integration platform that connects 1361 VA facilities, 300k non-VA facilities, and 700k clinical users, processing over 1.4 billion data transactions monthly. It allows VA systems to speak to other government departments, such as the Department of Defense, the CDC, the FDA, and the Social Security Administration, connections that lead to better and more efficient care for veterans.

The new VDIF Self Service API Manager, also uses Intersystems technology and allows development teams to assemble their own APIs. The VA and the Health Data Management project are actively looking for external partners that have a need to access Veterans medical data.

The J2 crew left the HIMSS conference sleep-deprived but inspired and enthused to hit the ground running upon our return. Our world increasingly runs on data (and coffee), with ever-increasing needs for the technology that connects and enables it.